China eSIM
Data for China on China Unicom and China Mobile, from $5.89. It never expires, tethering is included, and refills land on the line you already have, with nothing new to install.
- Networks
- China Unicom and China Mobile
- Typical speed
- 41 Mbps typical, 10 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans for China
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $5.89 | $5.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $2.96 | $8.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $2.38 | $11.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $1.89 | $18.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $1.49 | $29.89 | |
| 50 GB | Never expires | $1.36 | $67.89 |
Every plan works the moment you land. Unused data returns to your wallet when the line closes, and customers get at least 100 MB of free rescue data a month even at zero balance.
What 41 Mbps actually means in China
Typical download speed on Orbislo in China: 41 Mbps. That sits close to the Asia median of 43.9 Mbps, which makes China an unremarkable place to be connected, in the good sense.
The tenth percentile is 10 Mbps. That gap between the median and the floor is normal and it is where the frustration lives: the connection is quick most of the time and noticeably slow in the busiest few percent of moments, typically at transport hubs at peak hour.
That is enough for everything most travellers do: maps, messaging, video calls, streaming at high definition, and tethering a laptop for ordinary work. It is not enough to be casual about uploading a day of raw photographs.
Which networks you will be on
Orbislo carries traffic in China on China Unicom and China Mobile. Your phone is not tied to one of them. When the network you are attached to congests or drops, the profile moves you to the other, and it happens without a prompt and without you noticing anything except that the connection kept working.
This matters more than the headline speed. Almost every travel eSIM sold today resells a single upstream agreement per country, so when that one network has a bad hour you have a bad hour with it and your only option is to buy a second eSIM from somebody else. A profile with more than one network behind it can make a decision you never see.
5G in China: yes, non standalone. Worth knowing that 5G on a travel profile is normal rather than special, and that the tenth percentile above is the number that will decide how the trip feels, not the generation label in the status bar.
What data costs in China
A 100 MB plan for China starts at $0.30, which is $0.00 a gigabyte. That is the number to compare between providers, because a headline price attached to a different allowance tells you nothing.
The comparison most providers would rather you did not run is cost per gigabyte actually used. Independent surveys of travel data put the share of purchased data lost to expiry between 20 and 35 percent, because a plan that expires on day thirty deletes what you did not get through. Orbislo data has no expiry date, so the gigabyte you paid for is still there on the next trip. At the same headline price that is 25 to 40 percent more usable data, and in China it means the effective cost is nearer $0.00 a gigabyte than $0.00.
Because nothing expires, the cheapest way to buy for China is to buy slightly less than you think you need and top up if you run out. Topping up takes about ten seconds and does not involve installing anything. Buying too much is the expensive mistake everywhere else and merely a neutral one here.
Landing in China
Install before you fly, on your home wifi. The profile downloads while you still have a connection you trust, then sits dormant until you land in China and it attaches to China Unicom.
On landing there is one thing to check: data roaming has to be switched on for the Orbislo line. It is off by default on both iOS and Android, and it has nothing to do with roaming charges here, because the plan is prepaid and there is no bill to run up. Turn it on for the Orbislo line and leave it off for your home line, and your home number keeps working for calls and bank codes without costing anything.
One local thing worth knowing before you buy, which we put in the buy flow rather than in the terms: Our traffic leaves the mainland, so Google, WhatsApp and Instagram work without a VPN. Roaming eSIMs are the simplest way to stay on your usual apps here.
Coverage across China
The figures above cover China as a whole, and a national figure hides real variation. We publish separate figures for Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xian, because the difference between a capital and a coastal town is usually larger than the difference between two countries.
Outside the cities, coverage follows the same pattern it does everywhere: the main roads and the tourist corridors are well served, and it thins in the mountains and on the water. No travel eSIM changes that, because it is the same physical network the local population uses. What a multi network profile changes is which of the available towers you get to use.
Getting a local SIM in China
Chinese rules in force since 1 September 2013 require the operator to see a valid identity document before connecting any phone line, and a foreign passport is one of the documents named. An operator that cannot check a document is forbidden to complete the connection.
What is restricted in China
- Google, Facebook, YouTube and X: Chinese authorities control internet access on the mainland, and Google, Facebook, YouTube and X are permanently blocked there. Other websites are blocked from time to time, and access can be narrowed further around key political events and dates.
- Blackouts during tension: During periods of tension, the Chinese authorities may block news reporting, text messaging, the internet and international telephone lines, so a visitor should not count on every channel staying open everywhere.
- VPNs: Chinese cybersecurity rules require online products and services, VPNs included, to be licensed by the Chinese government, and visitors are expected to follow Chinese law on using them.
- Unapproved international channels: Under China's 1996 regulations on international computer networking, networks must reach the outside world through the international gateways of the national public telecom network, and no organisation or individual may set up or use any other channel. The police can order the connection stopped, issue a warning and fine up to 15,000 yuan.
- Cross-border leased lines and VPNs: A 2017 industry ministry notice bars setting up or leasing dedicated lines, VPNs included, for cross-border business without telecom approval. The ministry said it targets unlicensed firms and individuals reselling cross-border telecom services, and that companies needing a line for their own office use can lease one from a licensed operator.
- Selling or lending SIM cards: China's Anti-Telecom and Online Fraud Law forbids buying, selling, renting or lending phone cards, or helping someone pass real-name checks. The police confiscate any illegal income and fine up to ten times that income, or up to 200,000 yuan where it is small or nil, adding up to 15 days' detention in serious cases.
Worth knowing about China
- Our traffic leaves the mainland, so Google, WhatsApp and Instagram work without a VPN. Roaming eSIMs are the simplest way to stay on your usual apps here.
- Article 65 of China's Telecommunications Regulations requires all international communications traffic carried inside the country to pass through international gateway offices approved by the central telecoms authority, which is the mechanism that shapes what a locally connected line can reach.
- China's Anti-Telecom and Online Fraud Law, in force since 1 December 2022, makes every telecom operator register each phone user's real identity, and holds the operators responsible for the real-name checks carried out by the agents who sell their cards.
- The same law caps how many phone cards one person may hold, at a number set by national rules. Operators may run extra checks on, or refuse, an application that looks abnormal, and the telecom regulator runs a system that lets each user look up the cards registered in their name.
- An operator that flags a card as possibly linked to fraud must verify the holder's identity again, and it may restrict or suspend the card's functions if that check is not done or fails.
- A foreign visitor gets a Chinese SIM in person, taking a passport or a foreign permanent residence ID card to a business hall of China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom or China Broadnet. Data allowances on local plans are usually capped, and the operator can advise on a larger data package.
- Emergency numbers in mainland China are 110 for police, 119 for fire, 120 for an ambulance and 122 for traffic police, with 12395 for maritime search and rescue.
- In Xinjiang, visitors meet airport-style security checks at shopping centres, markets and parks, and may be asked to give the security forces their phone number, have their photograph taken and explain why they are travelling.
How China compares across Asia
- Regional typical speed
- 42.95 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, China Unicom, China Mobile
- 5G
- Yes, non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Cambodia, 42 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Indonesia, 38 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 4: Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Xian
