prepaid phones for China

DRNewcomb · 09-06-2012, 02:14

OK. What you probably need is an unlocked GSM phone with all four bands, 900 & 1800 for China and 850 & 1900 for the US. It might be helpful if you got an Asian version for easy access to the common Chinese characters. It would probably also be handy if it were a "smartphone" that also had WiFi and could support VOIP calling. From what you describe your needs being, you probably do not need a 3G phone. It's easy to find a phone that satisfies these requirements for under $150, except it's hard to be sure about easy access to Chinese characters. Maybe some others will have some advice.

At any rate, you could use this phone with a non-contract service while here in the US and then switch over to a Chinese carrier when you go there. There are also some options for keeping a US account active at very low cost.

pwilliams89 · 09-06-2012, 02:25

well from what I've read, triband and quadband work in Asia and the US so it looks like I need those.

I also should have specified, I want a cheap prepaid. last time I used Samsung China Mobile, it worked fine, and was in both English and Chinese. I simply just want to have the phone when I get off the plane. I've already found some sites where I can buy a China SIM card before I leave too. my Chinese isn't so good so I'd rather just buy the phone here, rather than have someone screw me pricewise, which is very common in China even at major retail stores.

pwilliams89 · 09-06-2012, 02:29

I've already found prepaid GSM triband and quadband phones online here. so basically I'd like to know three things: will these phones take Chinese SIM cards? can they read characters (I mean..it will have a Chinese SIM card inside)? and if it takes Chinese SIM cards, can I still call the US because triband is supposed to support both US and Asia?

	(#1)
DRNewcomb (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,465 Join Date: 27 Feb 2004 Location: Mississippi, USA Country:	09-06-2012, 02:14 OK. What you probably need is an unlocked GSM phone with all four bands, 900 & 1800 for China and 850 & 1900 for the US. It might be helpful if you got an Asian version for easy access to the common Chinese characters. It would probably also be handy if it were a "smartphone" that also had WiFi and could support VOIP calling. From what you describe your needs being, you probably do not need a 3G phone. It's easy to find a phone that satisfies these requirements for under $150, except it's hard to be sure about easy access to Chinese characters. Maybe some others will have some advice. At any rate, you could use this phone with a non-contract service while here in the US and then switch over to a Chinese carrier when you go there. There are also some options for keeping a US account active at very low cost.

	(#2)
pwilliams89 (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 9 Join Date: 09 Jun 2012 Country:	09-06-2012, 02:25 well from what I've read, triband and quadband work in Asia and the US so it looks like I need those. I also should have specified, I want a cheap prepaid. last time I used Samsung China Mobile, it worked fine, and was in both English and Chinese. I simply just want to have the phone when I get off the plane. I've already found some sites where I can buy a China SIM card before I leave too. my Chinese isn't so good so I'd rather just buy the phone here, rather than have someone screw me pricewise, which is very common in China even at major retail stores.

	(#3)
pwilliams89 (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 9 Join Date: 09 Jun 2012 Country:	09-06-2012, 02:29 I've already found prepaid GSM triband and quadband phones online here. so basically I'd like to know three things: will these phones take Chinese SIM cards? can they read characters (I mean..it will have a Chinese SIM card inside)? and if it takes Chinese SIM cards, can I still call the US because triband is supposed to support both US and Asia?