The second tourist spot I went to after moving to Beijing was the Summer Palace, and the thing I remember most distinctly about that day had nothing to do with the place. It had to do with my friend, Tim, answering his cell phone and saying, “Hey! Yeah, I can talk. Isn’t it pretty late there, though?” Turns out he was talking to his friend back in Ohio. I remember feeling ridiculous amounts of envy that he could possibly afford to have people call his China phone, and suddenly needing my computer to call overseas seemed so constricting. So here’s the knowledge that Tim shared and the way our friend, Chris, taught us to explain it to those back home.
First, if you don’t know about Skype, download it immediately and start using it. It doesn’t cost anything if you call other Skype users from your computer, but it allows you to call phone numbers anywhere for about two cents* a minute plus a once-per-call connection fee that’s somewhere between 4 and 9 cents. This comes in handy for things like calling your credit card company or your computer-illiterate friends. The biggest difference that the people you call will notice is that the number you call from will be either weird or unknown, but usually that doesn’t trip them up too much.
This is where people start getting confused. You can also have Skype forward calls that come into your computer to a specified number (in our case, my China cell). It can take quite a few rings on the line before it actually goes through to your phone, though, so it’s a good idea to warn callers that they will probably have to let it ring for what seems like a rude and annoying amount of time. It’s quite a fun feeling to be out and about the city and receive a call from the States, so I recommend at least trying it. The fees for this are the same as above plus whatever it costs you to talk on your phone normally.
Now, all of this is great, but it requires those calling you to get on Skype to do it. What we learned fairly quickly was that this is not going to work for the majority of your loved ones. Luckily, Skype knows this and has the online SkypeIn number to simplify the other end of the call. You pay $60 a year and get to pick a local number (assuming your country is one of the twenty-five countries Skype currently supports), so your family and friends can call an in-country number that calls your Skype account. If you’re online, you’ll see their call pop up right there. If you’re away from your computer and have Skype call forwarding on, the call will go from your computer to your specified number, and suddenly you’re comparing their current shopping experience at Target with the Jingkelong you’re wandering around.
I know: I’ve lost half of you. That’s okay. If you’re on the expat end of things, ask the next fellow expat you meet to explain how they use Skype or simply take my advice and get the SkypeIn number, put $10 of Skype credit on your Skype account, and forward calls to your China cell.** If you’re on the home-country end of all this, simply go with our friend Chris’ explanation:
I have a magic phone number. When you call this magic number, it makes my phone in China ring. If we somehow get disconnected, though, you have to call me back because you don’t have a magic number, so I can’t call from China to you.
*The charges are different for currencies other than USD, so check with Skype if you’re using Euros, etc.
**I should mention that if you do have calls forwarded, you may want to make sure your phone is on silent when you go to sleep because inevitably your loved ones will sometimes get the time difference wrong and accidentally call at 3am your time. Though it’s a wonderful thing to hear a long-lost voice, the middle of a REM cycle tends to be a bad time to catch up.
Do you use Skype? If so, what features do you use? If not, what do you use to make your international calls?
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I’ve always LOVED the “magic number” explanation!
I use call-forwarding from skype to my mobile phone in China, but I’ve had less luck with getting a magic number. I got one based in Sydney but it never worked – the call didn’t come through to my Skype. It’s probably about time to try it again, though…
I think Skype is really helpful, especially in china. you can keep in touch and on pc it cost nothing. But randomly I would get disconnected, every time meantioning something related to the government…^^
It’s true, you lost me in the third paragraph.
And I’m not quite sure I fully get the “magic number” explanation, but it’s okay. We can just Skype on Skype!
(No, I’m NOT blond/blonde)
(Wait, does it have an ‘E’???)
I am moving to Beijing in less than 60 days. I need to know about cell phone companies, plans, phones, coverage and $$.
first time on blog so thanks in advance.
Rich
Rich,
First let me say congratulations on moving to Beijing.
Mobile service is relatively cheap here. There are two main companies, China Mobile and China Unicom. I use China mobile. If you have a SIM card type phone (t-mobile, AT&T) it should work fine in China, you’ll just need to buy a Chinese SIM card (>$10) and you’ll get a Chinese phone number with a small balance.It’s more of a prepay system, but you can buy refill cards at any little shop in Beijing. Minutes are cheap, most people pay less that ¥100 ($15) a month, if you use it for business and are on the phone a lot it might be ¥200. I use an iPhone (which needs to be unlocked and jailbroken) so I also have a data plan added. It costs me ¥20 ($3) p/month for 150mb of data. It just subtracts it from my current balance. The data speeds aren’t great, no video, no streaming, I just use it for email some google searching and maps and I never use more than 150mb.
Hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions.
Also Tv stations. Cable tv. I’m thinking about going no tv but my kids will revolt.
Rich
Check out “italkBB”, a Chinese VOIP telephone company with American head office in Virginia. You get a free Beijing local number with a subscription. Good service.
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