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Make Phone Calls in China

Making Phone Calls in China
Upon your arrival in China, you may give your family or friends at home a call to say you have safely arrived. When calling, "00" should be added in front of the country code. For example, when calling to United States, you shall dial "00" followed by the country code, region code and phone number.

Apart from making international calls from your hotel room, you could also use public telephones which are available in telephone booths. Phone cards, either it be IC Card or IP Card, are required. Making phone calls with IC Card, issued by China Telecom, is a bit expensive at the rate of around 10 RMB per minute. As for IP Card, the rate for making international call varies, as it issued by various companies. And the rate is mainly cheaper than that of IC Card. Meanwhile, IP Card is much more convenient as it can also be used with your hotel telephone. All you need to do is following the instruction on the Card.

Those cards are available in post offices of most hotels and newspaper booths on the street. Please be aware that some of the IC cards or IP cards can be only used in certain provinces or regions and during a period of times. Thus, you shall have a check before you purchase them.
If you own a phone with local SIM card, you could make international calls directly after subscribed to the service. But please note that the rate is not cheap.

For more information, please call your SIM card supplier accordingly as below.
China Mobile: 10086 (24 hours service)
China Unicom: 10010 (24 hours service)
China Telecom: 10000 ( 24 hours service)
English service is available.
Skype and Rebtel are also lovely choices, aren't they?

Making Domestic Calls
Domestic calls could be made by using hotel telephone, IC and IP cards. If you have a dual band or tri band unlocked GSM phone, you can use it in China. You can also buy a SIM card in China for use in compatible phones.

For those who are planing for a long-term stay in China and excluded from above situation, purchasing a mobile phone and SIM card sounds a nice choice. We may suggest buying a mobile phone in a mall where you will not be cheated and a SIM card in newspaper booth, store or post office. And the rate for a SIM card is around 50-100RMB. Sometimes, you could purchase one with 40RMB. The luckier the phone number, the higher the rate. Chinese people has a special thing on numbers. It's also a good choice to ask our tour guide to assist you buying one.