GPRS Package from China Mobile

When Internet is shifting from computer, laptop to mobile, it is critical to find out exactly how China Mobile charges you for GPRS. Here is the guide (sorry for posting it late, since I know many people have asked for this information)

Level 1: No Package

If you have a mobile and you haven’t call China Mobile to subscribe to any GPRS package, you are customer of this package. It is the unified fee:

0.03 RMB per 1K of traffic

This is very expensive, as you may calculate. A typical web page is 10K - 100K. That means the shortest page is equal to 1 minute of phone call.

Don’t be silly to use this package, but the majority of visitors are using this package.

Level 2: 5 RMB for 10 Megabytes of CMWAP Traffic

This is much better, 1/60 of the first level (or 0.0005 RMB per 1K traffic).

Before I continue, I have to explain about the difference between CMWAP, and CMNET.

For more carriers, there are only one GPRS network - all mobiles access the Internet as if it is a terminal computer on Internet - they have their own public IP addresses. This is what CMNET exactly means (CMNET = China Mobile Internet)

For CMWAP, you cannot access the Internet. You can only access a very small part of it - those WAP sites directly connected with China Mobile. For example, you cannot use MSN Messenger on your Windows Mobile, and cannot access your email at home.

Of cause, there are many ways to workaround this limitation.

Level 3: 20 RMB for Unlimited CMWAP

If you understand the limitation of CMWAP, this is the package for you:

20 RMB for Unlimited CMWAP

Level 4: 20 RMB for 50M of CMWAP or CMNET

This is the package I am using.

20 RMB for 50M of CMWAP or CMNET

If you exceed 50M of traffic, you pay 0.01 RMB per Kilobytes

To give you some ideas of how much 50 M is, let me share my data.

In March, I used 19M of traffic (40% of the allowrance). This is the application I used:

Gmail (http://gmail.com)

ActiveSync, I have every email in my Exchange email box (and I typically read on my mobile first)

Web pages (Google Reader Mobile Edition, and My Comment RSS) - daily

Other web application.

So I believe it is good for most people.

Level 5: 100 RMB for 800 M

**Level 6: 200 RMB for 2000M **

Level 7: 500 RMB for Unlimited CMNET and CMWAP

I don’t have idea about who should use this level.

Summary

In summary, I suggest 20 RMB for 50 M CMNET and CMWAP access is good for most of GPRS users.