Hi there

I wonder if anyone has experienced the same problems when trying to open an internet account with China Telecom, because I'm slowly getting confused about this.

Last Wednesday my wife and I went to China Telecom to open an internet account with them, our useless real estate agent joined us to do the translation. We ended up signing a contract for 6 months (not sure how long we will stay in Shanghai) and were told we could not pay them straight away but had to dial their hotline the next day to find out when we could go back to the shop and pay them. I tried my best to get them to speed up the process as it seemed odd and friends of us were able to pay them straight away, but the language barrier was too big or it was too late in the day or my arguments were useless or all together.
Ever since Wednesday I've been calling their hotline and get informed that the system has not chosen us for payment yet and that I have to call them again tomorrow. No way they can speed up the process, I have to be patient and wait for maybe a week or so. I'm wondering whether this i normal? Did you also have to wait for several days until you could actually PAY them? We will have to wait another few days once we have paid to get the connection installed, and risking to sound spoiled - I somewhat rely on a working internet connection these days...

Appreciate your comments on whether this is a normal procedure and I'm just loosing my nerves here and should be more patient and go with the China flow of things or whether I should just forget about China Telecom and go to Unicom or somewhere else where I get better (e.g. faster) service.

Thanks

You knuckelhead !

Get a trusted Chinese associate to open an account with his number and transfer it to your address.

Duh, I must be stupid because that's what have done. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Construction Bank, "Excuse me, I'd like deposit 100 into the home number"

"Certainly Sir, this way please"

Stupid. I lay down on the floor and say stupid.

Just ask a senior Chinese person with IT smarts to help you. You'll have ADSL in hours, calls to Europe and Australia at your fingertips, plus fast Internet.

Tust me. PM for further info.

Z

I think they might have changed their system, but all I had to do was go and tell them what I wanted. I had to pay a 600rmb deposit and wait for the first bill to come a month later (they screwed up and it came 2 months later). Anyway, I payed it and every month I get a bill in the mail that I pay at a convenience store. About 200rmb/month, 3m internet, IPTV, and home phone. All I payed on the first day was the deposit which had to be paid in cash. No one helped me. All you should need is your passport. The 600rmb deposit was to guarantee I keep the package for one year and the package couldn't be changed for the first year.