Updated China Unicom 3G Activation Process

Buying and setting up a 3G SIM card is getting better and better. No longer do you have to wait to activate your package, and you can even change your package via SMS.

You can buy a SIM card for ¥150, which includes ¥100 credit.  To activate it you can simply call any number.  For Data, you will certainly want to activate a plan. I recommend the ‘A’ range which offer more data than the B & C ranges for the same price (the latter offer you more phone calls).

To activate the 66¥ package, including 300MB of data, I was instructed by the staff at 10010 to SMS 3GXS66L to 10011.  The activation will happen almost immediately. After your package is activated, you can change it but it will only take affect next month.

Once your package is activated, the excess data rates are dirt cheap (0.3¥ for 1MB), so there is no need to buy a package with some extra buffer room like you would normally do say in Australia. NB. before your package is activated, data rates are pretty expensive.

Mobifone 3G Vietnam

Bought a SIM card for 50,000, seemed to have 50,005 credit. Not bad.

Internet setup details (use Chrome to translate easily)

What I did:

“Valid Until” field for Chinese Visas issued on the mainland

What follows is my story, YMMV – always confirm independently.

I renewed my Chinese tourist L visa (technically, I got a new visa) last month. Unlike those issued outside china which give a number of days for your visit, this one has a “Valid Until” field.

See:

Now I plan to actually travel on the date that was listed under Valid Until. So I thought I better confirm whether I could actually leave on that date, and not have to go the day before (I assumed I could – but I have found, particularly with the Chinese Government, always to check ones assumptions).

Checking was much harder than expected. Took me about 5 hours (on and off working on the problem). So if you benefit from my pain, feel free to buy GPS Log for your iPhone ;-)

Calling the Puding “Entry and Exit Administration of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau” turned out to be neigh impossible for an English speaker. It’s hard to find information about it in English, and of the 3 numbers I tried, only 1 worked, I said “hello” in English to the operator and was transferred somewhere, but the phone just kept ringing (I gave up after 10 minutes).

Fiona helped me by calling and speaking Chinese. The number they gave her to call was 68345199. This is the number of the Shanghai Airport Immigration and Inspection division. I.e. the guys who check your passport – so that’s useful.

They have a pre-recorded message seemingly to address my exact question, but actually it was little help, as the message is barely valid english and they just restate “that is the date it is valid until”, without clarifying. Trying to get the English operator failed (maybe you’ll have more luck than me). So Fiona tried this number, and spoke to the Chinese operator – and confirmed my original assumption that you can exit China on the Valid Until day. Still – best you check yourself.

Remember, this experience was with a Visa issued from inside Mainland china. This is NOT how the overseas-issued Visas work (rather, those are based on number of days for each visit).

A tale of 2M

If you want something done right, do it yourself :-/

I moved into this house back in February.  It has a 1M unlimited internet connection.  I was happy with this at the time, it was better than anything I used throughout 2009, but nevertheless I asked to be upgraded to the best available.  The account is in the landlord’s name (in China, the internet is like gas and electricity – they don’t switch it off between tenants which is really freaking smart).  So I asked my landlord to make it happen.

It took so long I basically gave up.  Until this week, it really started to piss me off (the iPhone SDK is now a whopping 3.5GB which takes a while).

Landlord said he had tried many times to upgrade me at the shop, but they didn’t let it happen.  We tried the chinese language hotline and they said I had to go to the office with my ID card and the landlords.

So today I rang the company (10000), got the English hotline, spoke to #9434.  Asked to be upgraded.  They said sure.  Cost is ¥1958 for the year (pro-rated for the remainder of this year as I’d already paid for 1M). Contract is 3 years with a minimum of 1. I asked what happens if I cancelled it within a year – she said I’d have to go to the store for that (???).  She then asked me the name of the landlord (I gave her the surname but only knew the english nickname – “close enough” she said).  Then she asked me for the ID card number, which fortunately I had from the lease agreement.  And now I will have 2M (and still unlimited) internet in 24 hours :)

I also feel the ripe fool.  Why didn’t I do this back in Feb?  Old assumptions I guess – no Australian teleco would have let me do what I just did.  It seems even the chinese ones don’t – unless you ring the English hotline!  We get special treatment (probably because they know if we go to the shop an hour of miscommunication would ensue).  how nice…

Hope the contract I agreed to on behalf of someone else wasn’t too onerous…  :-/  (shouldn’t be… I think).

China Unicom APN Settings

China Unicom 3G cards.  Can buy for ¥150, with ¥100 credit.

¥66 base plan with 300MB (two variants, make sure you get the 300MB one), or  ¥98 default plan, or more.

Easy to setup, just ring the support number, great english support.

For the iPhone they seem to “just work” (carrier settings seem to be already loaded). For the iPad 3G you may need these settings (under Settings -> Carrier Data -> APN Settings).  Tethering works a treat, not extra charge, just comes out of your included data (as it should worldwide!)

APN = uninet
user = guest
pass = guest

source

ICBC

Signed up a for a new bank account today, BoC is miles away from my home, no handy ATMs either.

Took a bit longer to signup, this ICBC has a longish queue. Took 3 staff to sign me up, passing paper back and forward (the usual). ¥15 to signup, got internet banking working easily, using the free one-time-pad (presumably used for outgoing transfers). All up, no complaints. The website seems cleaner than BoC. Will see how the wire transfer works.

It seems ICBC is more popular, with my very informal poll, and may have more ATMs. Also two times I have tried to use my BoC card outside Shanghai have failed, once in Hainan (apparently the BoC ATM was out of money?) and another in HZ (maybe the bank ATM was not aligned). The g/f has ICBC too so I guess that makes it easier.

Forex rates are slightly better… so that’s good (better than being slightly worse, at any rate).
ICBC 608.82 17:08:28
AUD:
BOC AUD: 608.25 2010-05-12 17:15:20

Kidney Watch 2.0

After some talking with Mr Spiff in Feb this year, and copping some harsh criticism on the last method, it became apparent that work was needed.

Firstly – accuracy. It is hard to get your address in places like Asia and Latin America (generally the places where you need it the most). Chinese addresses are über-long, but at least they have them. In Peru? Forget about it! Even the taxi drivers can’t find addresses that are printed on Peruvian business cards.

GPS fixes this, with your position down to 47m on average, after 30 seconds. More than enough to guide the cavalry (green smoke would help too – but doesn’t fit in your pocket, and may raise questions on a date). The iPhone GPS can even work without a data connection (handy also if you are lost in the bush).

GPS Log now has an export to SMS option that allows you to send your GPS position to your friend by SMS. I have also created a stand-alone product focusing on this feature (this is the product that evolved out of the stand-alone “kidney watch” product ideas). http://gpsme.cc/ (if you have GPS Log, no need to try this one)

This is actually a very useful, potentially life-saving feature. Mum tells me the sad story of a guy who died in Queensland when he got lost in the bush. He had cell-phone signal and phoned 000 nine times but they couldn’t find him. 2 floats that could save your life…

The second, more concerning feature is verification.

i-think22 proposes duress words. My only problem with that is that if you are under duress you may not be able to reach your phone. I prefer the Dead Man’s Switch approach where if you don’t perform an action in a fixed timeframe, the cavalry roll in. Of course, both together may provide even more optimal coverage.

The issue with the Dead Man’s Switch is the possibility that your antagonists may intercept the signal and duplicate it (e.g. Speed), or that you may accidently forget to activate the switch, and be rather red-faced when the cavalry roll up.

I would like to see a customised version of the SMS feature, designed for Kidney Watch. So tell me – what should be in it?

3 Reasons to Buy a Samsung

from a promo tent near XuJiaHui

I wish the rest of the world has such good and cheap food as China

Here’s what US$3.30 buys you in China:

And it’s so delicious. Without the drink it’s only US$2.20.

In most of the world I struggle to find nice food to eat (even disregarding cost), here it’s impossible not to find something delicious, and probably cheap.

Rice Triangles!

Back in China – and the Family Mart’s now have the Japanese style Rice Triangles!

These are the best snack. Costing next to nothing, delicious, fresh and (I think) healty. Great if you’re waiting for transport, great if you’re out drinking, great if you need an afternoon snack.

I am very happy :D

Rice Triangles