M-Zone is a China Mobile pay-as-you-go plan that gets you connected quickly and easily – and can save you a load of cash at the same time.

Getting started:

Simply pick up a SIM card at any authorized China Mobile Service Centre, pop it into your phone and you’re ready to talk or text. You can buy an authentic China Mobile SIM card at a newsstand, a corner store and many airports, but our service centres usually sell them for much less; about 20 RMB (3 USD). Don’t forget to bring your passport when you come to our Service Centre to register.

So now you’re set. There are no monthly fees and no bills to meet. China Mobile will automatically keep track of your calling and texting charges and notify you when you need to buy more airtime minutes.

Adding minutes:

There are thousands of safe and reliable retailers where you can purchase an M-Zone phone card. Most local newsstands and many variety stores sell the cards, which are called “chong1 zhi2 ka3” in Mandarin. The retailer will need to know the first three digits of your phone number to make sure you get an M-Zone card which is known as “dong4 gan3 di4 dai4” in Mandarin.

Scratch off the security seal on the card and simply dial 13800138000 (it’s printed on the card) to reach China Mobile’s bilingual, automated service and key in the security number on the card. Within seconds you’ll receive a text message indicating you have successfully added minutes to your M-Zone account.

Low cost, high quality service

China Mobile prides itself in being one of the most economical mobile operators in the world. China Mobile’s 31 branches around the country have all developed distinctive, toll-saving plans that best suit customers in their area.

Before we go further with some general examples of our discount plans and costs here’s an important disclaimer. The costs shown here are for information purpose only. Each China Mobile branch sets its own fees and plans. Please check with your local China Mobile Service Centre or call our bilingual operators at 10086. Our operators can fully explain and help initiate the plan that best suits your needs and phoning habits. The plan you join will come into effect on the first day of the following month.

Here are a couple of general examples of our fees and package plans under our M-Zone brand.

A 100 RMB (14 USD) charging card can last you for months if – like most M-Zone users – you practice a little cell phone discipline. With M-zone, a phone call made during non-peak hours, usually after 9 p.m., can be discounted by as much as half of the daytime rate which is about 0.25 RMB (about 3 cents U.S.) per minute. For long distance calls within the Chinese Mainland add the prefix 17951 in front of the number you call to get a substantial discount. Please note M-Zone users must first leave a security deposit at our service centre before they can make international long-distance calls. However, they can receive calls from overseas.

Monthly savings plans

We haven’t yet told you about the best part of M-Zone. Even as a pay-as-you-go customer China Mobile’s highly intelligent automated system can set you up with a variety of toll saving plans. You can participate in M-Zone’s low-cost monthly plans that will cut your text message costs or get free incoming calls from within your local area.

Free incoming calls:

If you’re into talking you can get free incoming calls from your local area. For as little as six RMB a month we’ll give you unlimited, no-charge incoming calls. No matter how long you talk to a caller, or how many calls you receive, you won’t pay one additional red fen (or a red cent). Remember though, the call must come from within your local area, but it can be from a landline or even subscribers of other mobile service providers.

Please contact your local branch or call 10086 for details on how to join. It’s often as easy as sending a text message that contains a simple code. In Beijing, for example, just send a text message to 10086 containing the letters KTDT and you’ll receive a confirmation message within seconds. Every month six RMB will be deducted from your prepaid account, and you will no longer pay for a call received from anyone in your local area.

If you’re into texting:

If you’re really into text messaging M-Zone has a plan that can provide you substantial savings over the normal 0.10 RMB per message fee.

By joining the SMS plan in your area you can receive a bulk of text messages for one low monthly fee. Depending on your texting habits you can prepay for 300 or even 1,000 text messages per month. Again, the cost of this monthly plan differs from branch to branch but typically a fee of about 20 RMB a month will buy you about 300 text messages and cut your SMS costs on those messages by about 40%.

If you’re really, really, really into text messaging you can prepay more and get more. You’d be surprised by the number of customers who prepay for 1,000 messages. After all, that works out to only – cough, cough – 33.333… messages a day.

To activate this plan please call one of our bilingual operators at 10086 and they’ll be able to tell you how to participate.

Music and more:

And here we go again: we still haven’t told you why M-Zone is really hot, especially with China’s young people. China Mobile has connected the Internet, the cell phone and M-Zone. Join M-Zone’s low cost music plans and you get an online account on China Mobile’s website, a personalized music box, downloadable ring tones and the latest news and reviews on China’s hottest recording artists such as S.H.E. and Jay Chow. With this plan we also throw in free incoming local calls.

Bring your phone from overseas

Many visitors to China can use their phones from home to get connected to China Mobile’s network by simply switching to an M-Zone SIM card. There are several important things to know about using phones you bring from aboard: if your phone is ‘locked’ by your mobile phone company at home, it will not work with a China Mobile SIM card. Your phone must be GSM compatible and not a CDMA phone. Like most service providers in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, China Mobile utilizes the 900/1800 bands. Most mobile phone service providers in North America use different bands which make phones from there not useable in China, unless they are ‘quad-band’ phones. There may be other technical requirements your phone will need to meet and we will be happy to help test it for you. Bring your phone to any China Mobile service centre and we’ll pop in a China Mobile SIM card and see if we can get you connected with a local number. If your phone from home doesn’t work our service centres sell a wide variety of models of mobile phones at reasonable prices. North Americans should also note that electricity in China is provided at 220 volts and so they need to make sure their mobile phone charger can step up from 110 volts.

More English services:

Now, for a third time we have to admit we haven’t told you the whole story about M-Zone. We’re sure you’ll understand that M-Zone is so big that, for now at least, we’re only able to provide this introduction on our English website. There’s a lot more information on China Mobile’s Chinese website.

There are several other ways to access more details on all our M-Zone plans in English.

Please do not hesitate to contact our bilingual operators by dialling 10086. The call is free and once connected all you do is press two for English and zero for an operator, and you can talk to an English speaker who’s been trained to answer all your questions and guide you through the process of joining our package plans.

As well, most China Mobile Service Centres will have an English brochure on the various M-Zone plans and there is always a staff member who will try their best to explain some of the ins and outs and help you join once you decide which M-Zone plan is best for you.

Disclaimer, it’s short and important:

Finally, we want to once again remind you of our very important disclaimer. The fees mentioned here are all subject to change. The services, programs, plans and fees vary depending on which part of China you live and which China Mobile branch provides your service.