Phones:

Making phone calls in and out of China -- Susan Simerly, 22 April 1999

To make phone calls at all, you must have a telephone with the ability to make calls both
domestically and internationally. If you live on a campus, this is usually decided for you. If you live in a private home or apartment, this will depend on your landlord and/or whether or not you have to, or are willing to pay a deposit, which is normally required. The deposits seem to vary from Y2000 to Y5000.

However, there is now a great way around this. You can buy a card called an IC or IDD 200. It comes in various denominations. I have purchased one for Y200 and one for Y100 and they are available in smaller amounts. This can be used from any telephone, whether a pay or private phone. You dial "200" + your card number + a pin number and then the number you want to call. It is supposed to work in Mandarin, Putongua and English but I can only get the first two options to work.

You get good rates when using this card, and if you wait until after midnight and before 7 a.m. you can call most countries for only Y9 per minute. The rates do vary from country to country. Otherwise I believe the rates are about Y18 per minute now for calls to most countries. The main post office in your city can give you the current rate information.

For domestic calls you can buy a 'normal' phone card, also in various denominations, but you can only use it in special "card phones" that are now almost everywhere in China.

You might also want to know that both types of cards have lovely and varied photos and have become collector's items.

Using American calling cards -- Linell Davis, 22 April 1999

Susan points out that with a Chinese international calling card you pay 9 yuan per minute on overseas calls. That is a bit more than $1.00.

I suggest getting a calling card from AT&T or one of the other US companies. Then when you are in China you call the AT&T operator (a local call) and place your US call with them. That way you are paying the same rate as for a long distance call in the US. You can do this from any card phone in China. What is better is that you can call from your room even if your building is not set up to handle long distance calls. You are billed for the calls in the US. I have a debit card from AT&T, which means the bill for my calls is paid directly through my US checking account. No bills, no cash, no hassles.

Even cheeper calls with a credit card/phone card -- Grant R Campbell, March 29, 2000

The best way to be able to make cheap phone calls in and out of China, and in any other country, is to register with a credit card company, from whatever country you are from (i.e. USA, UK, France etc) that also has a deal with a phone company. For example, I have a credit card with The Royal Bank of Scotland here in Britain. With this card there is a deal with The Premier Phone Service (which is a US company) exclusive to The Royal Bank of Scotland. For me to use this facility, I input a freephone number specific for that country, then my phone account and pin, and then finally the telephone number that I want to phone. There are many other banks with this facility and they are always cheaper than going with a company like AT&T or BT. They work the same, i.e., you input a local access code, then your telephone account and pin, and then the phone number that you require. The language of the card's recorded menu tree is in the local language of wherever country the card is based in (For me, since the card is based in Scotland, the language is English). Bills are charged to the credit card that you have the phone deal with (For me the Royal Bank of Scotland), and you can set up a variable direct debit to clear this each month (which I have done), leaving you with no worries!!!

I have used this phone deal in France, China, HongKong, Japan, Thailand, Germany, England, USA, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Belarus and New Zealand. It has been extremely useful, and I wouldn't use any others unless they were cheaper, which I doubt that they would be!!

Hope this helps some people. Grant