Telephones, Cell Phones, Pagers, PDA's - Made in China

China's telephone system has been completely modernized in recent times, and both international and domestic calls can be made with little fuss.

Local calls are frequently free of charge.

Long distance calls within China are fairly cheap.

International calls cost approximately RMB15 per minute.

Local or long distance domestic calls can also call from private run phone booth, usually charged by minutes. These phone "booths" are found on most streets, inside small shops or tucked down alley ways. A phone sign usually indicates where one can be found. They are very easy to use and cheap. Simply make your call and the assistant or shopkeeper will tell you the cost afterwards. Often they will sit an stare at you while you make your call. It's kind of strange but one of those things.

For direct domestic long distance calls (DDD), dial the domestic prefix '0' plus area code and the number. Rates are different according to the distance.

For direct international calls (IDD), dial the international access code 00 plus country code plus area code and the number.

You can also make your call from the Post Office. Generally, you pay a RMB200 deposit and are told to go to a particular phone booth. When you are finished, a receipt will be issued and you pay at the desk. To make a reverse charge call you can dial the home country direct dial number (108), which puts you straight through to a local operator in your destination country.

Phone cards can be found everywhere, especially in major cities and in Post Offices. Today, the IC and IP cards are the most common and widely used. IC cards are credit card sized with a golden chip at the end of one side, in units of RMB30, RMB50 and RMB100, and can be used throughout China. IC telephones can be recognized by their yellow colors, the card slot, and the absence of a coin slot. There is a button on the IC telephone that can switch the machine to English language.

IP Cards for Calling Long Distance Overseas From China

The IP card is the best value for overseas calls. These cards do have an expiry date. They can be bought on the street or at Post Offices across the country. For an international call, the cost is RMB4.80 per minute. To make a call, simply follow the instructions in English on the back of the card.

You dial an access number, punch in the card number and card PIN number (password), and then you can make quite cheap international phone calls and domestic long distance phone calls. However, not all cards can be used from all public phones!

**The going rate for these cards at the moment is 35RMB even though they say 100RMB on the card itself! This will buy you about 20 - 45 min of international phone time depending on where you are calling**

IC Cards to Make Regular Calls Around China.

You need an IC card to use the regular public telephone booths all over town. Many public phones are owned by China Telecom (Zhōngguó Diànxìn) and only accept China Telecom IC cards. Once again, not all cards can be used from all phones. Some can only be used within a specific province, or to call places within a given range.

Aside from the regular public phones however, there are numerous small shops that sell one thing or another and also offer the use of their telephone. Their telephones have a sort of meter that gauges how much you pay (usually a few Jiao for a short local call).

Here are several useful telephone numbers but most of the operators cannot speak English very well:

• Police: 110
• Ambulance: 120
• Fire: 119
• Local directory: 114
• International operator: 115
• Weather: 121
• Direct Dial Operator: 108