I was tired tonight, so I leave the office – air in office building should be rated as the worst in a city. :-(
Xujiahui is a good place with so many good places. I wanted to go to Starbucks Metro Tower Store to have a cup of coffee and read some materials I just printed out. Starbucks becomes more attractive after the China Telecom Tian Yi Tong (WLAN) service started. I can bring my laptop and the A/C power adaptor to Starbucks. It is the better environment than office to think about business.
At the door of Starbucks, I suddenly thought it may be too luxury to buy a cup of coffee with 26 RMB (3 USD) just for the Internet access. To be honest, Internet access is more attractive to me than the coffee itself.
So I unconsciously stepped out and entered the nearby KFC. I bought a cup of coke (4.5 RMB or 0.5 USD) and sit down.
Half an hour later, when I opened my laptop, I found a new WLAN provider in addition to the WLAN from CTC – the WLAN service from CMCC (China Mobile)
I choosed the new provider CMCC. It connects with the following status:
Not surprisingly, they asked for user name and password before I can access any website. However, the best feature from this service is, their service can be applied by SMS or calling 1860.
Application
Send a SMS to 1860 with the following format:
- Request Password: SQWLAN
- Modify Password: XGWLANMM <Old Password> <New Password>
- Reset password: CZWLANMM
The instruction codes like SQWLAN, XGWLANMM, and CZWLANMM are case sensitive. Passwords are case sensitive.
Fee
0.2 RMB/minute
The fee is charged to the mobile owner and bill goes with China Mobile Bill.
This service is only available for Quanqiutong customers (billed customers). Pre-paid card users cannot use it, according to their website. (Thanks WilliamW to bring up this question)
Experience
This is their timer window.
Comparing with Tian Yi Tong
Named as Sui Yi Xiang (e-Traveler) by China Mobile, this service charges higher than China Telecom, which is 0.1 RMB per minutes. The advantage is, there is no subscription fee and the user name and password is available instantly. I believe it can get big adoption rate.
Now, at KFC, there are two service providers already. I guess other big players such as China Unicom, CNC will join the Metro City soon. The Wifi hotspot competition will become hot…
3 bucks for a cup of coffee? Do you mean mocha or regular coffee?
Thanks for sharing your experience, Jianshuo.
Found the URL for China Mobile’s ËæeÐÐ for the benefit of other visitors to this site.
http://www.chinamobile.com/YDYW/hyyw.asp?classid=1&ClassChild_ID=14&Array_ID=124
Would you happen to know whether China Mobile pre-paid SIM card users can use this service too?
Please note “there is subscription fee” should read “there is no subscription fee”.
Would you be interested in starting a WiFi section, Jianshuo? WLAN Internet access is very useful for business travellers (who are part of your blog’s audience) & it’s most likely they’ll find related, user experience info beneficial.
hi Jianshuo,
i will be visiting shanghai for the first time in october. we will be staying at the Equatorial Hotel and wonder if there are any free Wifi hotspots along HuaiHai Lu or around my hotel? Thank you!!
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the best part is that you will be able to make internation PHONE calls due to the universal wifi standard web interface…. https://evdo.sslpowered.com/wifi-hotspot-router.html shows the router i am using for VOIP.
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I LIKE TO JOIN COMPETITION
One day, I ran into a coffee shop. The owner told me they have a HotSpot. Pointing to a black box. They told me to insert 3 euro to it and the little printer by it print me a slip. On it I found a Password and URL address. I surf for an hour and it cost me only 3 metal. Good!
I also found on the slip it has a web site name. I guess it is the provider or something http://www.com2000.com.hk