Job Discussion Forums

[ChrisHenry15]

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[BleedingBlue]

Basic questions that can be resolved on Google or any search engine.

There are no unlimited data plans - but the cost is negligible. All in all, spend your time being productive instead of playing with the internet all day on some little telephone.

Food bought in markets in not even an issue to consider. Prices vary location, season, etc.

Taobao is NOT difficult to setup. I did it myself and I do not speak Chinese. Install "Youdao" dictionary and it will give you real time, pop-up translation that is "correct enough" for you to understand everytihng. I have used it and bought online for 6 years and never once made a mistake. And, you will not find "decently priced" foods, etc. online - the price is high due to import value/tax/etc. But, you can buy nearly anything you want at 6x or more the price of the equal item back home.

China is not a third world country unless you choose to live in a third world village somewhere. You are considering things that are not really issues.

[ChrisHenry15]

Thank you for your reply.

[Unchained English]

So, you are thinking of coming to China and you want a nice foreigner experience? Think again. China doesn't care about pirating "The Theory Of Everything" which is up for an Oscar nomination (bad movie anyway, I stopped watching 30 minutes into it and would prefer a documentry on Hawking, not his first wife's exploiting ways)

So, let's look at your troublesome worries.

[direshark]

BleedingBlue is our resident hostile troll but his answers are satisfactory here.

[SearchingChina]

800GB a month? You mean 800MB, right?

[direshark]

[Unchained English]

[fpshangzhou]

Regarding the 3 topics the OP posted,

1. Stick to the pre-plan from China Mobile. Most foreigners that I've ran into go this route, as it's quite convenient to recharge your phone at any corner shop found quite easily throughout the city.

2. Definitely visit the neighborhood vegetable/fruit markets found outside or mom&pop shops readily available in any city or village areas. The prices are significantly lower and the turnover of the fruits & vegetables are daily, unlike in a supermarket where they can sit there untouched for days for a higher price.

3. I would have to agree with another poster about not using the mobile as a credit card to purchase things as the locals do. One reason foreigners I've chatted with is the communication barrier between 3rd party sellers who need you to confirm the product you purchased. Unless you are able to converse in Chinese, use cash or have a local friend do it for you. My colleague helps me purchase items and talks to the vendors and I just pay my colleague, and I also treat him to lunch or pay him an occasional commission fee for assisting me. Very convenient. As for the safey, there's nothing you can do if someone commits fraud or gains access to your phone and starts using your card and you won't even know it until it's too late.


Cheers,

Aaron

[asiannationmc]

Depends on 3G or 4G

Unicom has the best 3G but coverage is less than China Moble, but I would not use 3g on China Moble is slow, while Unicom has faster 3g, the 4G is round the sme speed. I use a phone with two sim cards places and China Moble is regular service with paid dial-out, and free messages and receiving calls for 5 rmb per month .... get a cutie, then she can add free calls between you and her (and 4 more of her family of fiends) the other is Unicom and I use the 3G as it is fast enough to get F.B. and Weixin plus has a allot amoutn of time and messages and a sh*tload of data transfer. I pay round 65 per month for that but every three months they return round 30 for the last 3 months .. in other words find some one savy and you can really save.

[Simon in Suzhou]

Sorry for the hostile answers here. I love how people think its their job to force their ideals/values on others rather than just helping people with the information they asked for.

1. I have a pay-as-you go sim card (have had both china unicom and china mobile). No need to get a plan. I can't spend more than about 30 RMB a month, and I use my data A LOT. After living in SK, you will be disappointed at the internet and data speeds, though. I've gotten used to it, though. Feel free to spend as much time on your phone as you want, as opposed to the "advice" here. Just turn off your data when you're not using it (might need an app for this for the iphone) and you won't be charged extra while not using your phone.

2. I lived in SK for 5 years. You are going to LOVE the prices of fruits and veggies here. They cost next to nothing in comparison. As others have said, find out where your local farmers market is when you arrive, and learn the Chinese numbers pronto so you can understand how much the price is. Depending on where you are, you might be one of the only foreigners who shops there, and the locals will be delighted to see you! Some of my favorite people are in the farmer's market.

3. Taobao is fantastic. You can get almost anything on there. I shopped online in Korea as well. Have a Chinese friend/coworker help you set it up. Once you get acquainted with it, it's easy to negotiate. The hardest part will be figuring out where your deliveries will arrive at. They probably won't come to your door. You'll have to go to your school gate or some other nearby place to meet the delivery driver. The message from the delivery driver will be in Chinese, so its good to have a local friend to help you interpret this! A good english guide to taobao is: http://taobaofieldguide.com/ I'm not sure if it's totally up to date, but this site enabled me to shop online on my own without having to have someone else shop for me.

[hdeth]

I have been a lurker here for a while. I live in outer Beijing.

Just changed my cell phone plan (got ripped off by the FAO when I first arrived here as I thought he was helping me get a good plan, but he pocketed most of the money). For a city-wide plan, about 36rmb/month for either unicom or China mobile per month for a relatively small amount of minutes and text messages + 1gb data. Amount of texts you can send go up the longer you stay on the plan, but most people use wechat anyways. 60rmb for a national plan I think. My gf has China mobile and I use unicom. Speed has been fine but I don't know what you're used to. Almost as fast as the internet at my apartment sometimes. Coverage is great. Keep in mind that no matter how fast the internet is in China it will cap out around 400kb/s when viewing sites outside of China unless you have a direct fiber link (in which case the great firewall is bypassed as well). There is one room at my school that has one and I assume it's expensive.

Price of fruits and vegis is not that bad in supermarkets. Still pretty cheap. But the open-air markets or buying from street vendors usually the quality is better and the prices are cheaper. Fruits and veg are very cheap everywhere I've been in China.

I'm not sure about some of the comments about taobao. I order from my phone all the time but use a debit card. It stores my card information online but I have to put in a password whenever I order something. I had to get a card in my gf's name because Taobao's ID verification for foreigners was crazy. There's some way to pay some money at the post office or something and they'll give you essentially a charge up to your Taobao account. I would use that as a foreigner probably. Having to have a student do something for me I would feel like a child. Get a debit card for everything else (your school might require you to use a specific bank to receive your salary, I'd use one from them to keep it simple). I keep about 200-300yuan and some smaller bills for paying at markets and such.

[asiannationmc]