China eSIM for travel

Every China plan on this page runs on China Mobile, from the fixed plans, 100 MB for 7 days up to 50 GB for 180 days, to the day pass. Coverage is mainland China. China Mobile is listed as 5G on these plans, so you're on 5G where China Mobile has built it and on 4G/LTE elsewhere.

One operator also means one network to rely on. Where China Mobile has no signal, your phone has no second network to switch to, so on a remote route it's worth downloading what you need while you have coverage. If the phone doesn't find a network after landing, open its network settings and select China Mobile by hand.

Other mainland networks come only with wider plans: the Asia plans that list 12 or 20 countries use China Unicom on the mainland, while the Asia day pass, its 19-country fixed plans and the global plans list China Mobile and China Unicom. Both are covered further down.

Every plan on this page sends its traffic out through Hong Kong, so no China plan here has a mainland Chinese IP address. Any website or app that reads your IP address sees a connection from Hong Kong, not from the mainland.

Day to day, that can mean a site opens its Hong Kong version or asks you to confirm your region. The IP address row under Technical specs states the exit for the plan you select.

The exit country is the only thing the routing changes. The eSIM is a data plan for mainland China; it doesn't change which services are available there, and SIMAREA makes no promise about any particular website or app.

A China plan covers mainland China only, even though its traffic exits in Hong Kong: where your traffic leaves for the internet and where the plan works are two different things. Hong Kong and Macao are destinations of their own, with a Hong Kong eSIM and a Macao eSIM.

For a route through all three, look at the Asia eSIM page, but pick carefully. Only its plans for 12 or 20 countries cover mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao together, and on those the mainland runs on China Unicom. The Asia day pass and the 19-country plans include the mainland and Hong Kong but not Macao, and the 7-country plans include none of the three. The Plan details tab lists the countries of the plan you select.

The global eSIM includes mainland China, on China Mobile and China Unicom, and Hong Kong, but not Macao.

With one operator and one exit on every China plan, the choice comes down to the trip itself. Decide in this order:

1. Where else you're going. Mainland China alone: a China plan. Hong Kong or Macao on the same trip: compare the Asia plans that cover all three first, or buy a separate plan for each stop.
2. How long. Fixed China plans last 7, 15, or 30 days, plus one plan of 180 days with 50 GB for a long posting or a semester. The day pass runs for the number of days you set at checkout.
3. How much data. Fixed plans range from 100 MB to 50 GB. A trade-fair week spent on hotel Wi-Fi needs far less than a month of video calls; the trip data calculator gives you an estimate.
4. A daily allowance or one amount. The day pass gives you a fresh allowance every day, while a fixed plan gives one amount for the whole term. The next section weighs the two.

Whatever you pick on this page can be topped up on the same eSIM, day pass included, so starting small is safe if you're not sure.

If you're after an unlimited China eSIM, the day pass is the nearest match, with a limit worth knowing. It gives you 1 GB a day at full speed; after that the connection slows to 384 Kbps until the day resets. You choose the number of days at checkout, and the count begins at your first connection in mainland China.

384 Kbps keeps text messages and email going, but maps load slowly and video mostly won't play. So the pass suits days when 1 GB covers what you do online, with Wi-Fi for anything heavy. If your days are data-hungry, a 30-day fixed plan of 10, 20, or 50 GB has no daily cap and lets you spend the data unevenly.

The pass runs on China Mobile and exits in Hong Kong, like everything else on the page.