China SIM Card, eSIM and Internet Access: What Actually Works

What are my options for data in China?

Three: a local SIM from China Mobile, Unicom or Telecom; a travel eSIM bought before departure that roams onto Chinese networks; or your home carrier's daily roaming pass. The cheapest is the local SIM, the most convenient is the eSIM, and the most expensive is roaming.

The decision turns on one question: do you need Google, Gmail or WhatsApp? A local SIM puts you inside the firewall, where those services stop working without a VPN. A travel eSIM routes traffic through your home country, so everything keeps working — at roughly three times the price per gigabyte.

Most travellers end up with both: a local SIM for cheap data and local apps, and an eSIM kept in reserve for email and messaging. Dual-SIM phones handle this cleanly; eSIM-only iPhones sold in the US work fine in China.

Buying a local SIM in China

Airport counters at Beijing Capital, Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun sell tourist SIMs on arrival: RMB 100–200 for 30 days with 20–50GB, activated on the spot. City flagship stores are cheaper by RMB 30–50 but take longer.

You must show your passport, and the registration is done in person with a photo taken at the counter. There is no way around it — anonymous SIM cards stopped being sold years ago, and vending machines require ID scanning.

Ask the staff to test the card before you leave the counter, and keep the packaging with the phone number written on it. Top-ups are done in WeChat or Alipay, which you can do once the data is live.

Travel eSIMs and home roaming

A travel eSIM costs US$10–30 for 5–20GB over 7–30 days and installs by QR code before you fly. Because the traffic exits through a foreign carrier, Google, Gmail, WhatsApp, Instagram and X all keep working without a VPN.

The trade-off is speed and latency: roaming traffic is routed abroad, so a 300 Mbps local 5G connection becomes 20–60 Mbps. That is still enough for maps, messaging and video calls.

Home carrier roaming is the simplest option at US$5–15 a day, and it also bypasses the firewall. It is only worth it for trips under a week — a ten-day trip at US$10 a day costs more than a local SIM and an eSIM combined.

What is blocked in China, and what is not

Blocked on mainland networks: Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, X, Threads, most Western news sites and Netflix. Some blocked services work intermittently; none can be relied on.

Working normally: WeChat, Alipay, DiDi, Trip.com, Baidu Maps, Amap, Apple Maps, Bing Search, Booking, Agoda and most airline and hotel sites. Apple's own services, including iMessage and Apple Maps, are unaffected.

Install and test a VPN before you land if you need the blocked set. VPN websites and the App Store are themselves blocked from inside China, so a traveller who arrives without one cannot download it later.

Wi-Fi, tethering and data on trains

Hotel, cafe and restaurant Wi-Fi in China is fast and free, but logging in usually requires an SMS code sent to a Chinese mobile number. That is the practical reason to get a SIM or eSIM on day one rather than relying on Wi-Fi.

Public hotspots in metro stations and airports need the same code, and some only accept a Chinese number. Starbucks, McDonald's and most chains use a simple portal instead, which works with a foreign number.

Mobile coverage on high-speed rail is 4G throughout, with 5G on newer lines including Beijing–Shanghai. Tunnels interrupt it — expect drops of two to five minutes in the mountain sections between Xi'an and Chengdu.

Last updated: 2026-10-02 · Reviewed by JoyoTour