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Q: New rules to purchase a SIM card
Hey everyone! Not a question, but more something to inform you!
From the 2nd of September there are new rules to purchase a SIM card for your phone. Now you can only do that by showing your Passport. And also you need to provide a number of a person you know for further verification that you really purchased a SIM card. Another weird rule. Also, please bare in mind that maybe only 20% of retail shops will accept foreign passport because their system can read only Chinese ID cards.
Good luck everyone =) If anyone has more details or thinks I wrote something wrong please feel free to correct me in answers =)
Pretty sure if you buy a SIM card from a corner shop or newsagent etc. they don't give a shit. They sell cola and chewing gum, they're not going to register your passport ffs. If you buy from a licensed store you're supposed to register now. Nothing new here as far as I can see.
aston.villa.f.c:
gotta 'love' the 1 rmb charge these kind of outlets place on buying a phone top up card. tight fisted gets.
Minor clarification: that is not a new rule, but an old rule that is only now being strictly enforced. Take for example this forum - according to the official law, we should all be registered under our full and legal names.
The actual China Unicom/Telecom and China Mobile outlets require a copy of your passport, usual information (like filling out a hotel registry). What you have to be careful of is when they try and register you for every (*&^(*&%(*^% service that will keep your phone busy with advertisements and other crap that you can't unsubscribe from until after the first three months.
Shining_brow:
Like the news - all in Chinese.
Before I had a smartphone, I didn't mind getting the weather reports.. but then they mysteriously stopped.
Pretty sure if you buy a SIM card from a corner shop or newsagent etc. they don't give a shit. They sell cola and chewing gum, they're not going to register your passport ffs. If you buy from a licensed store you're supposed to register now. Nothing new here as far as I can see.
aston.villa.f.c:
gotta 'love' the 1 rmb charge these kind of outlets place on buying a phone top up card. tight fisted gets.
An update to this topic
I received a text message from China Mobile a few days ago saying that I had 14 days to register my card before it was going to be cut off.
Apparently, I had received three earlier messages to tell me but I ignored them as junk, as you do.
To cut a long story short, I went to do it today and there were a few people in front of me doing the same thing.
What you need:
1. Passport
2. PUK code
3. PIN for the card security
If you kept the small square envelope thing the card came in, the remainder of the card you popped your SIM card from has the required info.
Judging by a few of the people ahead of me, if you don't have these things then you are shit out of luck completing the registration. And I guess you need to get a new card and number.
FYI I am in Guangdong so I can't speak to the enforcement of other places
in 2012 i purchased the SIM card through China Uniocm shop. At that time i provided my passport details and its copy. I also recieved messages that i need to verify my details. And when i reached there , got a token and waited for 30 minutes, and when my turn came, they said for you everything is ok because i already deposited my passport copy 3 years back. Then i ask them - can you give me 9 RMB for taxi because you send me message and i came here to complete the procedure, but my paper work is ok as per your system.. they just laughed and said sorry..but i really wasted my 18 RMB to go China Unicom shop and come back to my office as well as my 45 minutes. I really dont like such policy.. sending message to everyone is not a good corporate responsibility.. they must check whom to send and whom not to send such kind of message..
