Using 3G iPad in China on China Unicom

[FirstApple]

Bingo! My 3G sim card is working now. China unicom give me the wrong mobile number so when i check on the net i still have money. They have double check the serial number on my sim card and i am looking on another users sim.
In short i just topped up some cash on my sim and now its working back again.

How do you check your balance online? What credentials do you enter?

Go this website :
ÖùúêèÃøÉÃÓªÒµÌü www.10010.com

Then input your mobile number and password provided by china unicom.
Ask someone to read if you can not understand chinese.

Goodluck!

 

[blackgold43]

Bingo! My 3G sim card is working now. China unicom give me the wrong mobile number so when i check on the net i still have money. They have double check the serial number on my sim card and i am looking on another users sim.
In short i just topped up some cash on my sim and now its working back again.

How do you check your balance online? What credentials do you enter?

Go this website :
ÖùúêèÃøÉÃÓªÒµÌü www.10010.com

Then input your mobile number and password provided by china unicom.
Ask someone to read if you can not understand chinese.

Goodluck!

How do you get the password? Do you have to call china unicom? I don't think i received one when i got my card...

Thanks!

 

[FirstApple]

Yeah. The china unicom provide the password for me.

 

[d5222]

In case anyone is trying to use an iPad in China I would like to offer some advice since I could not find it as I was trying to figure it out. I am in Beijing and today I bought a China Unicom SIM which was prepaid with RMB1200. I cut it down and was able to use it immediately.

The APN, username, and password are all "3GNET". Worked immediately and is very fast (at least faster than the internet in my apartment here).

The account consumes RMB80 per month as a minimum and that gives you 1GB of data. If you go over that it is RMB150 for 3GB, RMB200 for 5GB and RMB300 for 10GB of data.

The SIM card I bought also came with a USB modem but of course once the SIM is cut down you can no longer use the SIM in it so that is a bit of a waste. The only thing that would be better for me would be a SIM that did not charge a minimum each month as some months I am not in China. But overall it is a good plan and very easy to implement.

The card I bought is referred to as 无线上网卡 (wu xian shang wang ka).

Thank you so much for this info from back in June. I am about to move from Seattle to Beijing and wondered how things are working with China Unicom for 3G? Has your opinion changed since June. Would you recommend buying the 3G iPad for use in China vs the Wifi plus a mifi device?
Many thanks!

 

[jculp]

I use my iPad every day. For me, the iPad's value would be greatly diminished if I did't have the 3G capabilities. 3G data in China is cheap, fast and extremely reliable. Make sure that you go with China Unicom's data plan. China Mobile uses a much slower technology.

 

[pdb6251]

My opinion is the same, China Unicom is the way to go. I have had no problems at all except for occasionally traveling to remote areas and loosing the connection or having a slow connection. In the big cities it works flawlessly and excellently.

I guess the only other note is that I am not sure if the plan I described is the most economical. One other poster referred to buying a prepaid sim at the Bai Nao Hui (Buy now computer market). It sounded like his plan was a little less and perhaps easier to buy than the one I purchased unless you are fluent in Mandarin in order to shop at the China Unicom centre. The guys at the computer market are so keen to sell to you, you do not need to be able to speak Mandarin (although it will help).

I was just happy to get mine working at any cost so I was less concerned about the cost.

Regards.

 

[Rob K]

Hi Everyone,

I have been through this thread but am still not quite clear.

Is a PRE-PAID 3G micro-sim available in China?

Regards,

Rob

 

[pdb6251]

I had to cut down the SIM. But I believe the iPad is now in the Apple store in Beijing so they probably have micro-SIMs now. Cutting is easy though and if you go to Bai Nao Hui they will do it for you.

 

[d5222]

Thanks

Thanks for the advice!

I assume it's similarly easy to change sim for and unlock my iPhone?

Thanks, again.

 

[IpadOne]

Can find easily in mobile wholesale market Simcard cutting tool for 60 RMB , so can be use if travel in some place where don’t have micro sim card

 

[vctm]

Hey everyone,
I went to the local China Unicom store near my office in Shanghai to enquire about iPad 3G subscription and here is what I got :
- 1245 initial payment (45 for the SIM card, 1200 for the line, at least that's what I understood)
- 96 per month for 3GB in Shanghai, 500Mb in the rest of China
Then what the sales guy told me was that I would have to pay those 1200 every year to keep the line !
I know the iPad hasn't been around that long so I guess nobody would know if that's true, but has anyone had concurrent info?

 

[IpadOne]

Hey everyone,
I went to the local China Unicom store near my office in Shanghai to enquire about iPad 3G subscription and here is what I got :
- 1245 initial payment (45 for the SIM card, 1200 for the line, at least that's what I understood)
- 96 per month for 3GB in Shanghai, 500Mb in the rest of China
Then what the sales guy told me was that I would have to pay those 1200 every year to keep the line !
I know the iPad hasn't been around that long so I guess nobody would know if that's true, but has anyone had concurrent info?

Hello, what the guy told you is not true at all, according to my chinese wife your card is valid until have credit inside and at least you can refill for 300 , 600 or 1200 RMB …. from the day one of the ipad3G i have a 1200 RMB in my 3G and yet no clean the credit ….

Important point …. keep the pack of your sim card as you will need it for refill your card

Hope that help

 

[vctm]

Hello, what the guy told you is not true at all, according to my chinese wife your card is valid until have credit inside and at least you can refill for 300 , 600 or 1200 RMB …. from the day one of the ipad3G i have a 1200 RMB in my 3G and yet no clean the credit ….

Important point …. keep the pack of your sim card as you will need it for refill your card

Hope that help

Hey, thanks a lot for your answer.
All this doesn't really make sense though: If you pay for a monthly subscription (here 96RMB, I saw 80/150/300 in the first post of this topic, that was in Beijing) then why would you need to buy credit to put in your card?
When it comes to phone its either monthly payment or crediting your account, not both. Maybe the guy was just wrong about the monthly subscription... I'll try another agency... and will keep you posted.

 

[IpadOne]

Hello, what the guy told you is not true at all, according to my chinese wife your card is valid until have credit inside and at least you can refill for 300 , 600 or 1200 RMB …. from the day one of the ipad3G i have a 1200 RMB in my 3G and yet no clean the credit ….

Important point …. keep the pack of your sim card as you will need it for refill your card

Hope that help

Hey, thanks a lot for your answer.
All this doesn't really make sense though: If you pay for a monthly subscription (here 96RMB, I saw 80/150/300 in the first post of this topic, that was in Beijing) then why would you need to buy credit to put in your card?
When it comes to phone its either monthly payment or crediting your account, not both. Maybe the guy was just wrong about the monthly subscription... I'll try another agency... and will keep you posted.

Hi i only talk about prepaid Sim Card, as for my iPad i don’t need at all data plan … as a P-P Card is enough for my use in China of my iPad … for my mobile totally different

 

[ipad 3gsolutions]

In China, only China Unicom 3G sim card works on iPad since it adopts worldwide regular UTMS/WCDMA/HSPA network. Download/upload speed up to 7.2/5.76Mbps. Nationwide coverage. The APN setting, if iPad doesn't connect automatically, is:

APN: 3gnet
Username: leave it in blank or any words
Username: leave it in blank or any words

For those iPad users who just pay a short vist to China, can choose to rent a iPad sim for use. The below links gives you a clue: http://www.3gsolutions.com.cn/page/ipad3grental

For those iPad users who stay in China for months or even years, can choose to buy prepaid iPad data packages. The below links gives you a clue: http://www.3gsolutions.com.cn/page/ipad3gsale