cell phone provider/buying question?

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rabbit51

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Joined: Sep 29, 2003
Posts: 100

Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 13, 2005 - 11:26 AM
Post subject: cell phone provider/buying question?

I'll be in Shanghai next month, right now I'm in Taipei, I've heard that buying a cell phone in Taipei is cheaper than in China, has anyone had similar experience that can share? My questions are:
- in China there should be post-paid plan like anywhere else, is it worth to buy this kind of plan and get a discount for the phone? Or it's better buy a phone and have a pre-paid plan? In Americas, the post-paid plan is usually half of the pre-paid plan rate/minute, is it the same in China? Just for comparison, a Motorola V180 in Taipei will cost around US$140, I'm not going to use the phone a lot in the beginning.
- which cell phone service provider do you recommend in Shanghai? Unfortunately I couldn't check this kind of info in Taipei, there's some kind of firewall which does not allow me to see website in China, I have to see further if this is the problem of the computer I'm using or it's normal in Taiwan, anyone had experience in getting China's website from Taiwan? Oddly I can access this website without any problem, anyone knows the reason?
- I'm planning in buying a laptop in Taipei, is it a good idea or it's better to buy in China? It's not going to be a heavy duty machine, anyone can share your experience in using Taiwanese brand versu Chinese one?

Thanks for any comments/suggestion,

Edgewood
FooSlinger

Joined: Jan 28, 2004
Posts: 3906
Location: Colonial Shanghai

Posted: Feb 13, 2005 - 11:42 AM

Most Taiwanese brands are manufactured in China, and the ones that pass the quality test get exported back to Taiwan. The ones that don't...

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cyfox

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Joined: Feb 10, 2005
Posts: 120
Location: ShangHai PuDong
Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 13, 2005 - 12:45 PM

I would suggest 'ChinaMobile' s service. 中国移动.
There are packages of monthly plans and discounts on phones, but I dont think that is a popular option here.
You can first visit a ChinaMobile service center and let them explain to you your options.

As for accessing mainland china's website, you can use the proxies in http://www.samair.ru/proxy . I only hope that Taiwan does not block the access by gateways, like mainland does, otherwise, this proxy trick would be of no use.

Andreas
Board Royalty

Joined: Feb 27, 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: 31 N 121 E

Posted: Feb 13, 2005 - 01:48 PM

For the monthly plans you need a Shanghai ID, or put it on someones name who has a Shanghai ID. So for a lot of people this is not an option. However you can buy a prepaid SIM card from one of the many China Mobile outlets.

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