Go HK and China. What sim card to get??

[xiaofan]

I mentioned earlier that WireGuard VPN Server on OpenWRT Singapore home router also worked fine.

I have two WireGuard VPN servers. Now the first one does not seem to work. So I used the second one. And immediately after the SpeedTest, it stopped working for a while.

Looks like GFW has already very efficient way to detect WireGuard traffic and then may throttle the speed.

This method may or may not for your use case. Just browsing the internet may still work.

Here is the speedtest result, 100 Mbps Fibre Internet, Huawei AX2 (AX1500 rated), Poco X7 Pro, WiFi

With WireGuard VPN Client.

Without WireGuard VPN.

 

[xiaofan]

Now going back to the first WireGuard VPN server and it works again. Tying the reply using WireGuard VPN Client now

FYI: HWZ Forum is blocked in China.

YouTube video defaults to 720p. It seems to only go up to 1080p60 HDR on my Poco X7 Pro.

 

[xiaofan]

SIMBA roaming, no issues with 1080p60 HDR YouTube video.

MeWatch live TV works fine.

Singtel Cast live TV works fine (tested with the free CH501 JiaLe).

StarHub TV+ seems to work fine as well (tested with the free preview channel)

Singapore Pools website works fine.

TikTok seems to works fine as well but I do not really use TikTok.

Now I have used 920 MB roaming data on SIMBA.

 

[dexboi]

yup HWZ is blocked in China when i was there last mth.
i suspect is because the whole HWZ is littered with Google Ad codes all over the place hence the whole site can't load at all (due to China's firewall on anything related to Google).

SIMBA is ok, EIGHT is also ok.

 

[xiaofan]

Tested CUniq 4G S$9.9 plan roaming data with YouTube, meWatch and TikTok as well, all are working fine.

YouTube is only up to 1080p on Poco X7 Pro phone.

 

[xiaofan]

Tested free voice roaming call using Eight Mobile and SIMBA, both are working fine to call Singapore number and China number.

However, there is one problem, looks like many numbers in China now default to block international call.

Same for Singapore, you can choose to block international call and SMS, often during the initial setup stage.

 

[loganrunning]

Singapore Pools website works fine.

very important update!!!!!

 

[xiaofan]

Interestingly giga data eSIM (bought from giga Shopee official shop at S$1.86, 5 days, 1GB), is the only one which can connect 5G NSA (China BroadNet).

Typing the reply on this data eSIM.

MeWatch and TikTok work fine.

Somehow can not connect to Speedtest server.

 

[chenaz]

I just returned from china. I bought a data sim from trip dot com only 12 dollars 20gb for 10days. Whatsapp and everything can use. Don't need research so much. Esim download and activate at sg and when u landed. Instant access. Just that u don't have china number. When using meitun u can just put a fake china number. Ask them contact u in app and monitor the location yourself to go down in time.

Alipay is seemless to youtrip or trust card for below 200rmb to avoid 3% transaction fees.

If u don't mind losing some rates. U can use ocbc paynow to pay directly. OCBC bank now support ailipay payment directly .like like how u pay in sg

 

[xiaofan]

Interestingly giga data eSIM (bought from giga Shopee official shop at S$1.86, 5 days, 1GB), is the only one which can connect 5G NSA (China BroadNet).

Typing the reply on this data eSIM.

MeWatch and TikTok work fine.

Somehow can not connect to Speedtest server.

This morning it connects to China Mobile 5G network and the speed is pretty fast.

Poco X7 Pro.
Starhub SpeedTest server.
IP address shows Starhub.

 

[xiaofan]

I just returned from china. I bought a data sim from trip dot com only 12 dollars 20gb for 10days. Whatsapp and everything can use. Don't need research so much. Esim download and activate at sg and when u landed. Instant access. Just that u don't have china number. When using meitun u can just put a fake china number. Ask them contact u in app and monitor the location yourself to go down in time.

Alipay is seemless to youtrip or trust card for below 200rmb to avoid 3% transaction fees.

If u don't mind losing some rates. U can use ocbc paynow to pay directly. OCBC bank now support ailipay payment directly .like like how u pay in sg

Nice reports.

I thought OCBC app only supports AliPay+ and not normal AliPay and may not work well with street vendors. So you have no issues?

It will soon support normal WeChat Pay and AliPay as per the report in the WeChat Pay thread.

It looks like the final piece will be complete in Q1 2026 for OCBC users to be able to scan both Wechat Pay and Alipay QR codes to pay in China.

https://www.straitstimes.com/busine...wechat-pay-qr-codes-to-pay-merchants-in-china

 

[froztheart]

Nice reports.

I thought OCBC app only supports AliPay+ and not normal AliPay and may not work well with street vendors. So you have no issues?

It will soon support normal WeChat Pay and AliPay as per the report in the WeChat Pay thread.

AliPay+ is backward compatible so it should work for all too.

 

[xiaofan]

Good thing about giga eSIM: they will send email about 50%, 75% and 95% dada usage.

Usually giga uses China Mobile and China Unicom as roaming partner. It is interesting to see China BroadNet as the roaming partner yesterday but today it is China Mobile and with faster 5G NSA speed.

Anyway, this is just an experiment at S$1.86 (5 days, 1 GB) to try out eSIM. Higher data plans are a bit expensive from giga.

 

[froztheart]

Good thing about giga eSIM: they will send email about 50%, 75% and 95% dada usage.

Usually giga uses China Mobile and China Unicom as roaming partner. It is interesting to see China BroadNet as the roaming partner yesterday but today it is China Mobile and with faster 5G NSA speed.

Anyway, this is just an experiment at S$1.86 (5 days, 1 GB) to try out eSIM. Higher data plans are a bit expensive from giga.

Yes, there's a new player - China BroadNet, 中国广电, and apparently established since 2022.
How's the connectivity on China BroadNet?

 

[007Mi6]

Now in Xinjiang. Using Simba and CM Link.

Simba can use TikTok (most of the time), Google Map, Google search etc no issue. Pretty smooth.

CM Link on the other hand cannot use TikTok at all. Google search works but Google Map cannot work.

 

[xiaofan]

Yes, there's a new player - China BroadNet, 中国广电, and apparently established since 2022.
How's the connectivity on China BroadNet?

So-so.

China mobile is still the best. My Eight S$8 per month plan can only connect to China Mobile 4G only

China Telecom is supposed to be better than China Unicom in the South. China Unicom may be better than China Telecom in the North.

But I do not see difference between SIMBA (China Telecom 4G network) and CUniq (China Unicom 4G network) this time.

 

[froztheart]

So-so.

China mobile is still the best. My Eight S$8 per month plan can only connect to China Mobile 4G only

China Telecom is supposed to be better than China Unicom in the South. China Unicom may be better than China Telecom in the North.

But I do not see difference between SIMBA (China Telecom 4G network) and CUniq (China Unicom 4G network) this time.

China Mobile is their equivalent of Singtel for us so expected to perform. haha

Yes, no difference from my experience whether roaming or using CN SIM itself.

 

[xiaofan]

Now in Xinjiang. Using Simba and CM Link.

Simba can use TikTok (most of the time), Google Map, Google search etc no issue. Pretty smooth.

CM Link on the other hand cannot use TikTok at all. Google search works but Google Map cannot work.

Indeed SIMBA is pretty good for China roaming. I use it on my main Poco X7 Phone (roaming data and voice). The main Singtel SIM is on to receive SMS but data roaming is OFF.

On the other hand, Eight (roaming voice and data) and CUniq (roaming data) are both fine as well on my secondary Poco X7 Pro. meWatch and TikTok are working fine.

Next trip I will try CMLink.

 

[007Mi6]

Update on CMLink

Google map works…. But much slower and not as responsive as compared to Simba.

 

[Dystopia]

qns: why u guys use google map in China??

I'm using Amap all the time for navigation.