Triangle Trip

Furthering my previous post on “How to get prepaid mobile data in Hong Kong and China,” here are some additional benefits and “gotchas” from China Mobile Hong Kong’s (also known as People’s in Hong Kong or CMHK) prepaid plans:

1.  First the benefit:  If you’ve signed up for one of CMHK’s prepaid mobile data plans (one day, seven days or a month), you can access China Mobile’s WiFi Hotspots throughout Hong Kong and Kowloon. “CMHK” is the China Mobile hotspot. This is a valuable free add-on as there aren’t many free WiFi hotspots in Hong Kong. Starbucks and other coffee shops in Hong Kong only provide 30 minutes of free WiFi access with your purchase.

To use the China Mobile prepaid mobile WiFi add-on, you will need to setup a password on your prepaid mobile phone card. To setup a password,  press “*124*<6 digit number of your preferred password>” on your handset.

For example, *124*123456 where 123456 is your password. To use the CMHK Hotspot, you will login using your prepaid mobile number and password. The WiFi network is pretty fast.

2.  Now the “gotcha”:  If you’ve signed up for a daily, weekly or monthly plan and you don’t want to renew the mobile data plan, you must make sure you have deactivated mobile data from your prepaid account. No one will tell you that you will need to disable mobile data from the prepaid plan as I have found out the hard way – watching my HK$50 credit drained to HK$0.15 in less than one day. If you do not deactivated mobile data on your prepaid card, China Mobile will charge you on their regular data rate which is highway robbery. Most smartphones have applications that uses mobile data in the background which will drain your prepaid mobile account at HK$0.15 per KB.

So if you do not want to use CMHK’s a la carte mobile data plan, you must deactivate your mobile phone from using CMHK’s data network. To deactivate from CMHK’s data network, you will need to send the following code using your mobile phone:  “*106*02#”. To re-activate mobile data service, just send:  “*106*01#” from your mobile phone. You can also use “disable mobile data” feature from your mobile phone if it has such a feature. I know that most Blackberries have it.

3.  Another “gotcha” is: your CMHK prepaid card must have a dollar value in order for you to continue to use your mobile data plan. For example, you purchased a one week prepaid mobile data plan for HK$38 and have HK$10 left on your prepaid account. Once your prepaid mobile account cannot fall to HK$0, you will not be able to use your prepaid mobile data plan even thought you have already subscribed for the service.

Having just returned from Europe, where the price of internet access is extremely high compared to the US, I highly recommend visitors subscribe to a WiFi plan from one of the US providers like Boingo, IPass, Wayport or TMobile before heading to Europe – especially if you are staying for more than four days.

A WiFi provider may sound useless if you’re from and travel throughout the US, where you can get free WiFi by buying a cup of coffee or going to a hotel lobby. However, Internet access in Europe is still quite expensive and limited. For instance, the Madrid airport and its airline lounges charge EU 9 (or around US$12 as of Oct 2010) for an hour of WiFi internet access at the airport terminal. A cheaper alternative is to use a terminal kiosk offered by a local provider which costs EU 1 for 10 minutes or EU 2 for 25 minutes. Furthermore, most European hotels charge guests at least EU 9 per night for internet access – some hotels even limit your data usage.

So if you’re planning to be in Europe for at least four days, I strongly recommend you pick up a “pay as you go” global WiFi plan with a US WiFi carrier that allows you to roam without extra charge. For example, Boingo has a US$59 per month Global WiFi plan which allows you to roam with European WiFi carriers while you are abroad. There is a data limit to this plan, so make sure to check the fine print.

Happy travels.

Now there’s all the more reason to room hop for those extra nights! SPG is offering free Internet service to Platinum members:

“As a Platinum member, you have access to our highest level of benefits, which now includes complimentary in-room Internet access. Now when you travel with SPG you’ll enjoy in-room Internet access — on us — at any of our more than 940 participating properties worldwide.”

In addition to the free Internet access, you can get double, triple, and quadruple Starwood points between now and March 31, 2010. Check out my previous post in case you have missed it. Enjoy!