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Hi there,
I’ve just arrived in Chengdu and have signed an employment contract to be here for at least two years. I’m looking to get a new phone, preferably an iPhone, as mine is broken. I was hoping I could sign a contract and get a plan to perhaps lower the price of the actual phone itself. I’ve heard this can be difficult as a foreigner, but is it impossible? Any tips are greatly appreciated!
Forgive me if this question has been posed before.
Welcome to Chengdu!
This isn’t very difficult to do, I would just go to a larger China Unicom or China Mobile branch and just sign up. Most of the people working there won’t speak English but should have at least one person there who speaks English and can help you (larger bank branches are the same way).
One thing I learned a few months ago is that now only selected branches of China Mobile accept passports to open an account. I was sent on a tour of 3-4 branches, and then finally found one that would do it for our visiting students — it ended up being near Sichuan Universiy Wangjiang campus “Little North Gate” near Hongwasi (红瓦寺街). Anyway, just be prepared for this, and make sure they call the branch they send you to before you go trekking to it (this happened to me where they said a certain branch accepted passports only to arrive having them tell me they don’t).
I had no trouble using a passport to open a China Unicom account at the first branch I tried. There was one employee who spoke a little English, but I definitely had to rely on my Mandarin for most of the conversation. They had brochures (in Chinese) which spelled out the details of various plans, which helped me get the picture.
Does anyone have advice on how to determine whether a branch store is “big” or not? Those are probably most likely to offer solid English assistance.
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