CHINA · China Mobile · 5G

eSIM for China

Data on your phone the moment you land in China. No account, no app, no shop.

  • Hotspot included
  • Starts when you connect, not when you buy
  • Your number stays on your phone
See the packs · from 5,79 €

China

Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Choose your pack

Data on the local networks in China. It reaches your inbox in minutes and you install it before you leave.

Choose your data

For one to two weeks of maps, messaging and the odd video.

Buy up to 180 days before you fly: the plan only starts when the eSIM connects at your destination.

How many travellers? 1
China eSIM · 10 GB · 30 days 15,49 €

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Will it work on my phone?

On iPhone: Settings → General → About, and scroll to EID. If there is an EID, your phone takes eSIMs. Every iPhone from the XS (2018) onwards does.

On Android: Settings → About phone → Status, and look for EID. If there is an EID, your phone takes eSIMs. Most Galaxy S20, Pixel 3 and later do.

It also has to be carrier-unlocked. If you bought it outright or your contract is over, it almost certainly is.

Not sure about your model? Ask us before you pay and we will tell you — a person answers within 24 hours.

Compatible phones →

Discount code
Coverage

The networks you connect to in China

  • China Mobile 5G

Your phone picks whichever of these has the best signal where you are, and switches on its own. Nothing to configure.

Work out my data

A trip to mainland China asks more of your phone than most: you pay with Alipay or WeChat Pay, book high-speed trains on 12306 and show a hotel address in Chinese to a taxi driver. This eSIM gives you data on China Mobile, on 5G, the country's largest operator by subscribers. It is data only, and your usual number stays on the phone for calls and texts. Before you go, check which of the apps you rely on you will need there, and set them up at home.

Before you buy

Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai: how much data

The classic first trip is Beijing with a day on the Great Wall, a high-speed train to Xi'an for the Terracotta Army, and then Shanghai. Ten to fourteen days of that means paying for most things by phone, opening a translator at every menu and checking train times, and it sits well in the 5 GB pack, which runs for 30 days.

The 3 GB pack lasts 15 days and covers a week in Shanghai with a day out to Suzhou or Hangzhou. If you add Chengdu and Guilin to the route, video-call home every night or film a lot on the Li River, take 10 GB. The 20 GB pack is for a month in China or for sharing with a laptop through the hotspot. The data calculator works it out for your own route, and all eSIM prices are on one page.

Set up at home, switch on at the gate

Install the eSIM before you leave, with the QR code from the email, and leave the line off. Do the rest of the preparation on the same evening: link your card to Alipay or WeChat Pay, create a 12306 account with your passport details as they appear in it, and save your hotel addresses in Chinese characters.

Many long-haul flights land at Beijing Capital, Beijing Daxing or Shanghai Pudong. When the plane is on the ground, turn on the eSIM line and its data roaming; the 15 or 30 days count from that first connection. Arriving overland from Hong Kong on the high-speed train from West Kowloon, the eSIM starts once it connects in Shenzhen or Guangzhou. For the Hong Kong part of the trip, take the Hong Kong eSIM; for Macao, the Macao eSIM. If you run low, top up the same eSIM without reinstalling.

Questions

Travelling to China, answered

Will the apps I use at home work in China?

Check before you travel which apps you rely on and how you will use them in mainland China. Install the ones you need there, such as a payment app, the 12306 rail app and a translator, before you fly, while you are on your home connection.

Can I set up Alipay or WeChat Pay for the trip?

Yes. Both let visitors link a foreign Visa or Mastercard. Do it at home, where your usual number receives any verification code, and the payments then run over the eSIM data in China.

Which network will I be on?

China Mobile, on 5G. It is the only network on this eSIM, so there is nothing to choose: the phone connects to it once you turn on data roaming for the eSIM line.

Does it work in Hong Kong or Macao?

No. This pack is for mainland China only. Hong Kong and Macao have their own eSIMs, so if your trip starts or ends there, buy that one too.

Who is behind this

A person, not a call centre

Snoozim is run from Barcelona by Ibai Guirado Vera. It exists because paying for roaming by the day on a short trip made no sense. If something goes wrong with your eSIM you write, and the same person who built this answers you, within 24 hours.

Ibai Guirado Vera Founder · Barcelona

Free plan upgrade

Pay for one plan, get the next one

Leave your email and we send you your code: pay for the plan you pick and we give you the next bigger one, same price (for example, pay for 3 GB and get 5 GB). Valid for one eSIM.