cheap gsm unlocked cell phones
cheap gsm unlocked cell phones
Buy a phone of use my original in China?
Buy a phone or use my original phone in China?
Alright, so I’m going with my orchestra on an international tour to China on Monday.
I’ve asked my other Asian friends what I should do with cell phones.
Some have told me to unlock my phone (I have ATT I think with GSM) and use it internationally. Although I wonder about the high rates and stuff for using it internationally.
Others have told me to just buy a new phone there and use it there. I heard it’s definitely more advanced than the stuff in the US. But I wonder how I’m going to use a plan. Should I just buy a phone card and use it (although I’m not very good with Chinese, so I don’t know how to use it well), and can I bring it back with me to the US and use it (aka, will I be able to use the phone in English, and must it have GSM capability, etc?)
Will either work? Should I use the 2nd one? Which is cheaper? Which do you think I should do?
Well… I just came back from Hong Kong and mainland China. I can tell you both options works. I kind of did both options since I brought my T-mobile phone to China and used it there, and I bought a new pda phone from Hong Kong and use it in USA for my wife (T-mobile) now.
TO BRING YOUR PHONE
1. You need to unlock your phone. The ATT/T-mobile/Verizon – all of them sells us the phone in deep discount, so they don’t want us to take the phone to another wireless carrier. They will unlock the phone if we ask for it after using their plan for a couple months. You can put a T-mobile SIM card to your AT&T phone to see if it works. If it works, it means the phone is unlocked. (Some phones did not belong to this “Deep Discount” group, so the phone is unlocked in the first place.)
2. It needs to be a GSM phone and use SIM card. I will say 90% of the phone on the market does. T-mobile actually helps me to find out if my phone model will work in China. You can call AT&T for the same question. Give them your phone model, they can tell you. (Almost make sure your phone charger accepts 220volts.)
3. Buy a prepaid SIM card once you arrived China and replace you AT&T SIM card with the SIM card you bought. The “Starting package” costs more or less around USD20 – about$10 is the cost of the SIM card and $10 added as your credit for calling. You can buy “Recharge package” contains pin code to recharge credit to your SIM. I bought my SIM at a mobile store at arriving hall of Hong Kong Airport after the restricted area while my p. Nice saleperson that he even installs and testes it for me. The package I bought is a special 1 SIM 2 Phone number that it contains a Hong Kong phone number and a mainland China phone number in 1 SIM card. It does not charge roaming if I use it in Hong Kong and all over mainland China. (Good for me as half of my trip is in HK and half in mainland China. You can ask the saleperson for what SIM is right for you depending where you are going and where you want to call.) P.S> You will get lots of short message shows up like square box as your phone cannot read Chinese. Don’t worry about them, I got over 20 of them during my trip (everytime I arrive a different city.) They are Welcome message or telling you the balance remaining in your SIM card.
TO BUY A PHoNE in CHINA –
1. China does not have good price unless you are looking for a cheap made in China phone.
2. In Hong Kong, you may find lots of advanced phone. The price is fairly cheap, but you don’t have the deep discount as you are joining a calling plan. Not really worth to buy unless you really want something that you can absolutely not available in US. see below
All phones there are unlocked unless they specificated. You can ask the salesperson if they can be used in US. (90% of them YES). My wife wants a PDA phone that can read Chinese for her to read Chinese novels imported from computer. That’s why I was buying in Hong Kong. (HTC Touch – HK$3500 – Touch screen phone – 1GB mini SD card storage functions as MP3 and movie player.) After I returned to US, I actually find Sprint has it, and it is selling for USD500, but only $250 with all the rebates at joing Sprint plan. Not bad for me as I need the phone to display Chinese novel and I don’t care if all function display in Chinese. I did not need to join a different plan what I am using. It may not be good for you, you may need to buy a English version or have it convert to English. You need an adopter for the charger – the charger is 110~220volts ready, but just the shape of the plug. )