User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

''China hands' and complete newbies'

I'm not sure about this 'spectrum', whether it helps much. This made me think about how we assume that you don't really have to learn about culture, you just kind of absorb it if you live here. To some extent that is true, on a superficial level, but learning about culture requires just as much effort as learning the language.

Anyway Catherine, I am pleased that, despite me bagging your effort up front, there has been plenty of comments. 加油！

Posted on: Car Crash

Hi Jenny - thanks for 私了/sīliǎo - is there are any connection between the 了 meaning settle, finish and conclude; and the use of 了 le to signify completed action. It seems too much of a coincidence.

& for the useful comment.. 'The police encourage it'

This is practical, and acknowledges limited police resources. China has about one-tenth the police resources of most Western countries on a per-capita basis. Chinese police cannot afford to investigate a lot of matters. Knowing this makes people more careful too, although first-time visitors to China find this hard to believe. Aspects of Chinese life can be dangerous but people generally try to avoid risk.

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

Yeah, I don't want to argue with a friend either.

RJ is that a trick question about Maccas? (I know you wouldn't do that to me.) Have you been too busy studying the little piece of paper to notice the drive-throughs? Apparently the first Macdonalds drive through opened in January 2007 and they have been opening in other cities ever since. I don't know if we have them here. Why the Macdonalds hamburger can make inroads in China is a good case study in niche marketing. The reasoning is similar to the tele-marketer's maxim that if you ring people up some percentage (2%? 3%?) will buy whatever you are selling. Another 2% or 3% of people will buy something (anything) BECAUSE it is new. I admit to making those percentages up but hey, I'm an economist, it comes naturally, I absorb human nature and it gets converted to percentages.

* PS. Why did you, a red-blooded American, spell 'drive-through' drive-through? It seems thoroughly un-American. Isn't it DRIV-THRU?

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

'I really don't see how this would help solve traffic problems'

Actually I am a bit of a data junkie, if I could match a phone number with a journey to work route by time of day for every phone user in Beijing I think that would be way fun. Names and addresses I am not interested in, although you could imply where most phones lived.

'Isn't it obvious...?'

Well, yes it is obvious when it is happening, but the data would give you something to feed & nurture a predictive model. (People are creatures of habit.)

Could you imagine - you could even let people know by sms what the delays are on their planned route, something most bus and taxi businesses do already. You could win an election on the transport improvements .. if you had an election to win.

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

'Wake up there in bizarro China'

Wha.. wha..wha.. what?

RJ. You still have not got the story straight - there is no 15 digit number to ring in (here in bizarro China - the story above is about Hangzhou in 2006/07.) Doesn't happen. There is no explanation required. And you can go to any kiosk or phone shop in the city. Yes, they all have computers. (They are not newspaper kiosks, they are phone kiosks.) I do tend to go to one of a couple places on my daily route, one near home, one near uni. And there is one on each campus.

And no, it is not because they think I can't do it - here it is the only option I have seen, unless you go for a contract and get a bill. You are not allowed to use their computers, you might muck up their computer games.

Ok, maybe it is not convenient for you, I'll accept that. I just timed the whole process .. it takes me/them 3.8 seconds. I timed the other route too (it is the standard approach in Australia) - that takes me about 25 seconds if I get the 15 digit number in correctly the first time. Oh, plus two minutes buying the card. 2 minutes 25 seconds. Life's too short.

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

This is interesting - I am thinking back to when I first got my sim in Australia - they take a complete set of personal details. I guess this is standard practice in the West, so if China goes this way it will be following standard practice in the West. The same applies to utilities like electricity and water - when you first set up your account you supply your personal details.

The article is talking about two different things it seems: tracking mobile phones if you voluntarily register, for traffic management. There is no suggestion that this would not work if it was anonymous. Then there is the separate matter of whether China wants personal details when you get your phone account - well, as I say, standard practice in Australia. How successful it is in keeping track of people is another matter - you can give your sim to anyone after you have your account.

'Last year, the government began requiring people to use their real identities when setting up mobile phone accounts.' Ha ha, I don't think this will be successful in my lifetime. I operate a few accounts in my landlord's name, for example - phone, Internet, TV, gas, water and electricity. China Telecom (the only one interested in a name) always says to me when I pay the bill: ..are you 王先生? (they use my landlord's full name) and I say 'yes'. Check done, transaction completed.

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

'I thought pre-pay was for pimps and drug dealers'

Ha ha - thanks orangina, you are so kind. :)

I use pre-pay for both mobile phone and 3G Internet in Australia - it gives you a wonderful sense of freedom. Just like those pimps must feel. And my wife has one of the other companies, the same. So we feel doubly smart if we run into coverage problems. There are places in Australia where some companies have good coverage but another does not. (Actually it is the same case in China.)

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

Hi John

I lived in Hangzhou beginning of August 2006 for 12 months. (We didn't cross paths.) I just explained in the other post that a small kiosk would take your phone and call in the recharge amount. You just told them your company and your number (although the number reveals which company.) Apologise if I was a little obscure about the 'piece of paper' - my memory returned and I recall that the kiosk owner dialed in your 15 digit number. That system has been superceded by the on-line system we have in Kunming. Other poddies have noted the on-line system available in other cities.

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

The options for the on-line charging are in kiosks all over Kunming (and this was the case in Hangzhou.) They are just agents, not China Mobile offices. There is always one nearby. These places used to have the recharge card but now it is done on-line. (Wake up Shanghai!) It takes as long as it takes to punch in the phone number and '20' for 20 rmb. There is no long 15 digit number to enter in the on-line system. (See my other post where I describe how my guy does it while playing a computer game on the other screen.)

Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China

'As far as the plastic card thing goes, in SH you can also go to a China mobile outlet and do as you say, so maybe the cards are available where you are too, you just never used them?'

I guess the obvious question is: if given the choice why would you buy a plastic card or 'a little piece of paper' if the easier option is available? We have the card/piece of paper method in Australia and it is a real pain.

If this method is available (and I have never seen it or heard anyone mention it) I don't think it would be popular. In 12 months in Hangzhou the 'piece of paper' method exists but the stall holder just rings in the number for you. (I may have mis-led the population in a previous post about this; it slipped my mind that the shop owner actually refers to a slip of paper when they charge your phone.) I presume that the on-line method (no plastic card or piece of paper) is actually a later and more efficient method - it is done in seconds. My local guy does it while playing a computer game on the other screen - he does not even like to pause the game, although he makes you wait until there is a lull in game activity, punches in your number and the value and then straight back to the game.

Reminds me: the podcast mentions 'pay phones' and how they might not work. All over China you can make calls from little shops (or China Telecom shops) - I wonder if this is what was being referred to? If so, it looks nothing remotely like a 'pay phone' in the West - maybe that should have been made clear to listeners. It is just a phone sitting on the counter linked to a timer. After making your call they tell you how much and you pay the shop keeper. For international calls, calling from these little public phone places is actually about the same price as if you buy an international IP card, so it is a good option.