I heard some stupid laowai pays 100RMB for the 17908 IP card... Tsk...tsk...

Where did you hear that? Or did you just make it up?

The cheapest way is free.

skype

In taobao it's only 19.80rmb..

..

..

Yeah a bit useless but for those who hates to edit their contact or write down the number you're calling and dialing the number manually.. I think it's still a bit okay price..

It's 100mins for 30rmb.. Which make it .30rmb/min. However, local charges applies.. Like making local shanghai to shanghai call which is first min .20, second min free and third min so on is charged at .10/min. So bottomline is this 30rmb promo is actually 40rmb in total for 100mins.

And only for four countries - US, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.


40rmb for convenience..

skype chat, skype video, skype call, all free... unless your home is where skype is prohibited, I think this is the cheapest...

Skype...

i use an international call back service which is especially useful since you can't just activate international calling on china mobile right away after getting your number and you need to put a deposit down for china unicom. just use skype to dial an international number, let it ring, and they will call you back and you can call any number outbound from it. it's a hassle, but it's by far the cheapest option. it costs me all of something like $0.025 US per minute since incoming calls are free and you can use it when you travel since you can just change the call back number.

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Ms Fugliness wrote:I heard some stupid laowai pays 100RMB for the 17908 IP card... Tsk...tsk...

Is this 'stupid laiwai' you speak of me?

We have a guy near our office that delivers them, 1 IP card is 20 rmb.

Using landlines they go for a long time, if I use my cell phone here to call a cell phone back home in Holland, I can use it for exactly 20 minutes. Is that reasonable?

We use their service on a daily basis so they deliver recharge and ip cards all the time, they even help me recharge and pick up the money a few days later if I'm not around.

I just dial directly. I even use my cellphone when I am in myoffice.

Snuden wrote:I just dial directly. I even use my cellphone when I am in myoffice.

And that's the cheapest way because...?

Its easy.

Skype wins..plus you COULD video chat (quality has improved a lot !)

x-box wrote:Skype wins..plus you COULD video chat (quality has improved a lot !)

Is it just me or does Skype have a built in complacency? It always starts off well, you say to the other person "this is really clear isn't it" you can see and hear them great, but after a couple of minutes the picture starts to break up, the sound starts to stutter and eventually just stops. It seems like it gets a bit too cocky with the good start and eases off and then loses it. You try 3 or 4 times but then just give up and use a land line. Really rather annoying. I guess the Chinese Firewall doesn't help.

TIC wrote:Using landlines they go for a long time, if I use my cell phone here to call a cell phone back home in Holland, I can use it for exactly 20 minutes. Is that reasonable?

Try www.smartvoip.com

Ms Fugliness wrote:In taobao it's only 19.80rmb..

care to share the link? can't find it.

gmail/google voice for free calls/ sms to us and canada

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ExpatNewbie wrote:

TIC wrote:Using landlines they go for a long time, if I use my cell phone here to call a cell phone back home in Holland, I can use it for exactly 20 minutes. Is that reasonable?

Try http://www.smartvoip.com

Can you please give me a 'dummie' explanation of how this works? I've herad of it but no idea what it is. Is it for computer, phone?

ry http://www.smartvoip.com[/quote]
Can you please give me a 'dummie' explanation of how this works? I've herad of it but no idea what it is. Is it for computer, phone?[/quote]

Open a account as usual and buy credits (this is the difficult part - you need to buy through a reseller, so if you have ICBC, BOC online banking you can transfer money to one of the several resellers and they will credit you account with corresponding euros)

Start making calls .. can be used through several options
a). you can download a application on your computer and use it to call directly to the phone number of other person, in this case the call will be charged on a per minute basis based on the location (country) of the person whom you r calling
b). you can give your phone number and the receiving party number and connect .. so you will get a call and u pick it up and the other person gets connected .. same way per minute charge but there a additional one time call set up fee everytime u make a call this way
c). they have a website also, so you can login to the website (3g connection) and do step b.

overall, I find this website to be the cheapest .. and it is free to call phones in many countries ... many going rates are around 1 euro cent, better check the site for exact ones ..

hope it helps !

david_ wrote:

Ms Fugliness wrote:In taobao it's only 19.80rmb..

care to share the link? can't find it.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=2135870602




Speaking of which..i had a bad encounter with the phone cards seller inside Carrefour Jinqiao. The one seller on the ground floor next to the escalator and sushi bar. I was asking him how much is the 17908 card and he told me 25rmb. Fair enough coz taobao cost 19rmb and since i no longer have my pc, i decided to just go for 25rmb. When he saw me pulling my 100rmb note he then told me they don't sell by piece, i have to buy four. Are you fcuking crazy!! I totally lose my cool and yell back at him that it fcukin cost 19rmb in taobao and i can buy it one at a time. And even at this store in zhongshanpark across coffee bean sells it per piece and he is fcukin crazy...after yelling at him he said ok 30 rmb per piece... I finally curse back at him in english - FCUK U!!