Prepaid Sim Cards in HK

[AnotherAmerican]

I have both New World and SmarTone, and I'd recommend SmarTone by far... I bought the card at a booth on the side of the road that was advertising "International IDD Calling" which I know not what it really means, but I've heard that it is the cheapest method of calling. So I tried it out, and so far have made about 5 calls to the US (about 20 minutes each) and have yet to recharge. So that means for $100 and 100 minutes, at worst it is 1$ a minute for international calling (from a cell!!). Pretty good, I think. It advertises it at 50 cents a minute, but I can't confirm if it is THAT low.

As for text messaging, I'd say it's not worth it. It costs about 2-3 dollars to send one sms internationally, and for that money, you can talk to them for 2-4 minutes.

As for CSL, my friend just got his bill yesterday, and while he sends no more text messages than I do, and perhaps makes a few more calls than I do, his bill was about 3 times of mine. So unless I'm missing something, I wouldn't recommend CSL.


[edit] another comparison: CSL 1000$ prepaid card: $.3HKD/minut----New World X$ prepaid card: $.22 HKD/minute

[dchp0]

Yes, 3 is offering 2 SIM cards for $99. Actually it might even be less than $99--i forgot how much it was but I know it was under $100. I bought mine at their main office in Central at the end of May, so not sure if the deal has expired or not.

Yes, I ended up getting these in 2 weeks ago in July ... their IDD rate is quite cheap as well - $1.99 (peak) to mobiles in AU and $0.38 off peak with 1698 (or something like that) .... the US/Canada and UK are even cheaper.

[emperorau]

It all depends on where you call the most though. So if you are like me, I go to China and call from HK to China. I would prefer the one with IDD call to China mainly with roaming as well. I can forward my number from HK to my China mobile number in China but it would be expensive to receive the call then. I would use my IP card in China to call them back then. Unless it shows the number, I will call them back when I am China though.

I got Sunday for 88 HKD. But it doesn't allow for GPRS though. So can't download games or surf the net on mobile. But it allows you to send picture messages though. No deposit needed for IDD calls.

But if you stay in HK for a long while, you should get a permanent number instead. Much more cheaper if you don't plan on calling so many IDD calls though.

People's have 98HKD for IDD calls to 23 countries I think for only 25 cents per minute. Not exactuly sure though.


Everything depends though on what exactly are you looking for though.

[Anthony Green]

If you want FREE calls to many civilised countries, then set up your computer with VoIPBuster.com's program.

Their Beta program is getting better by the day. One can call from computer to any wired telephone for FREE to many countries including UK, Germany, France, Denmark, USA & Canada (I've called all of them)

There are many others too : China, Australia - but NOT HK.

I also use SKYPE.com's program [together with video4skype for video phone contacts between computers].

Skype also has facility to call to phone lines - but you HAVE to pay a small amount whereas VoIPBuster is free - at least for the moment.

And if you *must* buy prepaid SIM cards - the place to get the best bargains is APLIU St in Shamshuipo.

Usually around half the co$t of direct sales at "Orange" shops. I've been using them for ages.

I usually have to "Burn off" residual stored value on the last days before expiry on near unnecessary International calls - I'm damned if I'll let Bloated Plutocrat Li Ka Shing get even more "Windfall Profits" - certainly not from me !

[emperorau]

VOIPBuster "Great news: As from today, VoipBuster is available again for all Beta testers! And on top of that we have added some popular destinations to our list of free countries as well.

BUT: To counter the misuse of our network and to reserve capacity for our genuine testers, we have limited our Free-Calls policy to 1 minute per call. If you want to enjoy UNLIMITED free calls, just register and buy 1 euro worth of credit"

If we are not a beta tester, does it mean we can still call free for unlimited time for the free countries?

Then how do the company make money then if it is free for the popular countries? I'm interested to know that. Their must be a catch somewhere.

Like if I am using this in China to call Canada, it must save a lot of money then.

I would need to know more about this before I download it though.

If anybody have tried this, let us know then.