Airport Express in China- traveling soon. Need help pls!!

[Kathiem]

Hello! I will be travelling to China mid April 2012 and will only take my wifi iPad 1. The hotels have internet only - no wifi. Will Apple Airport Express work?? I have heard conflicting stories about its ability to convert ethernet cable to wireless in China. I was told that if i purchased it in the states and configured it here, it wouldn't work. If true, if i bought it in China, would it work? I will go crazy if i can't connect daily!! Please help and thanks in advance.

 

[csllanna]

Hello! I will be travelling to China mid April 2012 and will only take my wifi iPad 1. The hotels have internet only - no wifi. Will Apple Airport Express work?? I have heard conflicting stories about its ability to convert ethernet cable to wireless in China. I was told that if i purchased it in the states and configured it here, it wouldn't work. If true, if i bought it in China, would it work? I will go crazy if i can't connect daily!! Please help and thanks in advance.

Good day, Kathiem,

Thank you for posting over here, we hope that all of our readers could help you to solve you problem.
1) From the Baidu Q&A section, it seems that you are correct: "conflicting stories about its ability to convert ethernet cable to wireless in China", and you need to do some configuration.

Q: 如果将宾馆提供的网线插在AirPort Express上，AirPort Express 能不能直接发射WIFI信号，以供IPAD等设备使用？
A: 不可以，宾馆的线路接上后要进入AirPort Express 进行设置才可以.

2) therefore, it is suggested you can visit KFC, Starbucks where got WiFi svc ( although maybe a bit slow)

Q: 在中国机场，咖啡店是否可以免费上网？
A: 现在很多地方的wifi是电信的，电信是要收费的，但是可以免费体验几个小时，各地不同。电信的wifi信号名称是chinanet。kfc，星巴克等也有wifi但是有密码，点餐的时候可以问服务生要，就可以免费上网了，但是有的kfc不需要密码，但是信号超级弱，而且很慢.

3) And some Q&A section do suggest the tourist needs to concern about the Battery recharging problem, you have to aware of the voltage issue.

Q: 外國版ipad wifi可以在中国用吗？
A: 中国大陆不支持WI-FI .中国没有公用wifi，国外也没有，都是单位、学校自家的wifi热点. 其实你需要担心的不是ipad上网的问题，而是ipad充电的问题，不同国家电压的高低、频率和额定电流差距都很大，电子设备使用要注意安全~

 

[csllanna]

BTW, are you using any mobile phone? Maybe we can try to find the way, let's you Handphone become WiFi base station.

 

[alanchan]

Csllanna, are you talking about the hotspot method?
which use your cel phone to provide an internet connection to your non 4G/3G version of ipads?

 

[csllanna]

Csllanna, are you talking about the hotspot method?
which use your cel phone to provide an internet connection to your non 4G/3G version of ipads?

對啦，我的朋友一直說，wifi iPad可以用手機上網，但貴一點。

我還沒真正去試驗，有那位讀者試過嗎？

 

[alanchan]

I tried before with my friend, don't know the cost....

 

[csllanna]

I tried before with my friend, don't know the cost....

Good to hear that, can you please explain the whole procedure?

For example, how should we start with the Handphone, and then how to configure with our iPad?

 

[alanchan]

I will ask my friend and post it later
because he did everything for me so fast I don't even have a clue what the heck he is doing
but it works....
cheers

 

[alanchan]

I also have a question, if we can hotspot the non 3G/4G version of ipad
to connect to the internet using the cel phone data plan
why do we need to buy an expensive 3G or 4G version of ipad?
maybe in our area, the cost is not a factor
don't know about other area in the world...

 

[csllanna]

I also have a question, if we can hotspot the non 3G/4G version of ipad
to connect to the internet using the cel phone data plan
why do we need to buy an expensive 3G or 4G version of ipad?
maybe in our area, the cost is not a factor
don't know about other area in the world...

如果您有WiFi + 3G/4G的iPad, 那這個iPad就可以放Sim Card, 直接＂act like a handphone＂上網了。

我去年年尾還有用過馬來西亞4G service provide YTL 的YES app, 我就是直接用iPad打電話給我的親戚和朋友，但感覺有點怪，也會不好意思，您想想，我當時就是這麼用.......




圖片來源：
iPad Phone Call