Wireless Internet access in Beijing, Shanghai, etc ?

J

John

举人
Not quite as useful as finding a decent pizza in Haidian but does anybody know if there is wireless Internet access in Beijing, Shanghai or any other big city in China ?

By wireless, I mean through either Bluetooth using my Tungsten T3 or Wi-Fi (if/when the Wi-Fi SD card support for Palm is released). I normally use in the UK Bluetooth to my GPRS mobile phone (which pretty much alows access anywhere in the country) but I understand that GPRS is not available (even if one is willing to pay an extortionate rate) in China.

Internet access would be useful to enable me to check my work and home e-mail now and then whilst on holiday. Finding an Internet cafe isn't an option for the former because web based access isn't available.

Thanks
John
 
J

Jim

榜眼
re: GPRS in China

China Mobile provides GPRS in all the big cities and possibly over the entire network. You do have to tell them to activate it though. I am not sure if is available using the prepaid cards. I have an account that I pay at the bank each month the same as a land line.
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
I'm pretty sure it's only available with monthly accounts and not prepaid cards, I tried to set it up on my prepaid phone and they told me it wouldn't work. As for WiFi, I don't believe there are any large-scale deployments as yet but it seems almost inevitable that they'll come along sooner or later.
 
J

josh bossard

秀才
GPRS connection with Bluetooth

Actually I haven't tried this but I got this info from a Beijing PUG group member that seemed to know his stuff.
He said
1) Modify 'APN' to 'CMNET'
2) Modify 'Dial number' to '*99#'

Of course you would need to activate GPRS first.
Wireless internet would be very useful in China and if this or something else works please let me know!
 
J

John

举人
The Mobile High Speed for PalmOS software - http://www.novamedia.de/pages_e/e_mhs_palm.html - seems to indicate that it supports the GPRS services through China Mobile and China Unicom. I don't know whether this refers to all roaming users or, as indicated above, customers of China Mobile/China Unicom only. I've bought the software (EUR 20 plus VAT) but I haven't tried it in China yet.
 
J

John

举人
I got a reply:

John,

The settings would be for users using China Mobile / China Unicom SIM
cards.

There are roaming agreements in place for GPRS between Vodafone and China Mobile. As a roaming user you would not need to change the settings, you would still be using the Vodafone UK settings.

Please note however that GPRS roaming usually comes at significant cost.
Depending on your amount of use it may make sense to use a non-operator locked phone, and pop in a locally bought SIM w/ appropriate settings.

This link may be useful for you:

http://www.vodafonegoingabroad.co.uk/

Hope this helps,

Arno Brevoort
nova media
Click to expand...

Looking at the above link, it does seem to indicate that for Vodafone (my phone service supplier) at least, it may work in China.
 
H

Henry

进士
GPRS in China

Hello from Guangzhou,

I've looked a bit into GPRS, here's the deal in GZ-

You can get (from China Mobile) the "quan2qiu2" or "Myzone" monthly fee telephone service and add GPRS. Does not work on the pre-paid cards. You have these options,

20yuan/month = 1024 KB download.
100yuan/month = 20480 KB (20.4MB)
200yuan/month = 512 MB

Another option is to get a separate GPRS-only card (you can put it in your mobile same as the reg. phone card.)

250 to purchase card, then

150yuan/month = 500MB

Major cities are covered.

I've got a tungsten w, extremely tempting to add GPRS but still feeling guilty after buying such a gadget . . . ah well

Hope this is helpful
Henry
 
H

Henry

进士
Update about wireless mobile cards in China-

The only Phone/GPRS card that works is the 'quan2qui2 tong1' (GoTone).

You need to bring your passport to open this type of phone account.

There is another non-phone option which is GPRS only.

I have a Tungsten W and am able to check my email with no problem using the Versamail program.

I've not been successful with regular web page access (using Web Pro). It seems the 'Host Address' is not correct.

If anybody has advice about this please email me [email='henrybuchtel@ecomail.org]'henrybuchtel@ecomail.org[/email]'
 
J

John

举人
Using Web Pro, have you tried disabling the Palm proxy ("normal" view as opposed to "handheld" view) ? Perhaps there's a problem accessing the proxy from China ?
 
D

digires

Member
Starbucks

Many public spaces in Shanghai offer wi-fi (802.11b) from China Telecom. I have used wireless broadband in almost every Starbucks in Shanghai. Not sure what you need to get a logon these days, I think they offer pay as you go now...
 
J

josh bossard

秀才
another reason to get a Treo 600

I have been using GPRS all over China (including small cities) for almost half a year now. When I landed in Shanghai was was amazed that as soon as I put in the SIM card (quan qiu) I was able to check email and surf online on my Treo 600. And all this without a single tweak, registration, or special software.
I have tried this with other cards (ben di tong) in many other cities and it works fine there too. Just put in the SIM card and the Treo automatically gets the GPRS settings and configures it as default on their networks.
Actually here in Dalian you can fork out 200 yuan/month and surf to your hearts content!
 
C

ColinFMcCulloch

Member
Wireless in Beijing

There are multiple WiFi spots in Wudaokou (NW, Haidian - where the university/bohemian expats mostly hang out). For instance the 'Sculpting in Time' cafe - buy a drink for 10kuai and use WiFi any time through the afternoon.
That said, WiFi always seems slow compared to hard-wired broadband...
 
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