作者：wanderer 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
Quite a bit different from any other provinces in China, the wireless phone communication options had been very few in Shanghai.
While in many other provinces including Guangdong, Chongqing, Tianjing and Beijing, when the service called "Xiao-Ling-Tong" or "Little Smart" by China Telecom had been very popular and welcomed by the local mobile phone users and expanded crazily, here in Shanghai our only choices for wireless phone communication are the services of GSM mobile provided either by China Mobile or by China Unicom. And both of them charge very high comparatively. According to the online survey by www.younet.com , which was the best Chinese online community of mobile phone users all over china, Shanghai's mobile phone service fees had been remaining the highest among all China Provinces for quite a long time.
China Telecom Shanghai branch spokesmen once said early last year that Shanghai city was not the right place for deploying the service "Xiao-Ling-Tong", because there were too many skyscrapers and high building constructions which would greatly affect the communication signals of "Xiao-Ling-Tong", which based on PHS technology and using much weak beams to transmit signals.
Well, things had some change potentially from March 2003, when I saw in some small shops and on the eachnet online bidding webiste, there some advertisement of selling Shanghai local "Xiao-Ling-Tong" for about 2,000 RMB for the phone plus whole year (to be exact: before Dec 30, 2003) unlimited time and unlimited number of times for local calls (including local mobile and local land-line) of both outgoing and incoming. Really sounds nice isn't it? Coz that's really unlimited! You can even call some pay numbers such as 168xx without extra payment. But I should note two things: First, the signals were not well covered in the city. In many particular outdoor places even open and spacious areas, I always experiencing the problem of failure to access the network (a good example is Xujiahui), and signals almost vanished quickly and completely when moving from outdoors to indoors. Second, China Telecom played a vague role in supporting this service. They had never explicitly announce the service nor did they officially advertised anything about "Xiao-Ling-Tong" in Shanghai. And the phone I had got should be not very legal and in other words from a "Black-Market".
Besides this, the not-so-good networks of "Xiao-Ling-Tong" in Shanghai had been working for a year now. And I also had learned later from the online discussion knowing that this "Xiao-Ling-Tong" network technology was quite a bit different from other "Xiao-Ling-Tong" among China, which uses CDMA 1900MHz band but not the common PHS system.
Since May in the year 2003, Shanghai Telecom's "Xiao Ling Tong" service was doing promotions in the suburb area of Shanghai first, such as Songjiang, Fengxian and Jinshan. And the system was based on the PHS system network. While in the city downtown, the existing network was still CDMA 1900MHz (also known as CDMA WLL).
Until in Dec 2003, the first TV commercial advertising Shanghai Telecom's "Little Smart" or "Xiao Ling Tong" service was broadcast on some local TV channels. There have been much discussion online and news reports about the "Xiao Ling Tong" network in Shanghai afterwards.
(Image courtesy of shphs.com, DM of Shanghai Telecom's "Little Smart"/"Xiao-Ling-Tong" new lunar year 2004 promotion)
The "Xiao-Ling-Tong" service provide by China Telecom Shanghai branch was operated by the Wireless Communication Business Unit of Shanghai Telecommunication Corporation (Shanghai Telecom). By visiting their newly built website (zh-CN), I was able to get more information about the "Xiao Ling Tong" services in Shanghai.
(Image courtesy of pchome.net, people buying RMB60/mo "all-you-can-call" CDMA WLL "Xiao-Ling-Tong")
Actually, "Xiao Ling Tong" is now doing promotions in Shanghai. In downtown, system based on CDMA WLL network, the price is 60RMB/mo for unlimited time and times for local calls. (Pchome.net reports (zh-CN) ). Well, but for this option, you have to pay extra about 1500RMB for a CDMA WLL phone which is not compatible with PHS/GMS/CDMA 1X. In suburb, the system is PHS and only available in Songjiang, Fengxian, Baoshan, Jiading, Qingpu, Jinshan and Chongming. Price list in the table below
I. Open New Account: |
RMB110 |
II. Monthly Rent Fee (including CID display) |
RMB30 (RMB25 for Chongming) |
III. Calling fee: |
For outgoing local calls (within same area):
RMB0.22 for first 3 mins, RMB0.11/min afterwards;
RMB0.15/min (cross areas) |
For DDD,IDD,17909 same charge rate as other land-lines |
For incoming calls: free |
SMS: RMB0.08/(sms entry) |
| IV. "Xiao-Ling-Tong" Phone Price: |
UTStarcom 700-UC RMB630 |
| UTStarcom UT218 RMB768 |
| UTStarcom UT318 RMB858 |
| UTStarcom UT618+ RMB1490 |
| UTStarcom 718-U+ RMB1868 |
| UTStarcom UT108 RMB828 (out of stock) |
| ZTE (Zhongxing) C218 RMB770 |
| ZTE (Zhongxing) A268 RMB880 |
| ZTE (Zhongxing) V767 RMB1058 (out of stock) |
And before Feb 15, 2004, save extra if new subscribers sign contract for 2 years of minimum monthly expenditure more than RMB48 (including RMB30 for the rent fee), they can get a free phone. (According to Shanghai Telecom's official website shphs.com)
作者：wanderer 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
