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Telephone System in China

China's telephone system has been completely modernized in recent times, and both international and domestic calls can be made with little fuss. Local calls are frequently free of charge and long distance calls within China are fairly cheap.

In China, the telephone services are classified into three types - the local telephone service, the domestic direct dial (国内长途,DDD) telephone service and the international direct dial (国际长途,IDD) telephone service. The manually connected telephone services are chargeable by a basic calling time of three minutes while the direct dial services by one minute.

Local or long distance domestic calls can also call from private run phone booth, usually charged by minutes. These phone "booths" are found on most streets, inside small shops or tucked down alley ways. A phone sign usually indicates where one can be found. They are very easy to use and cheap. Simply make your call and the assistant will tell you the cost afterwards.

For direct domestic long distance calls (DDD), dial the domestic prefix '0' plus area code and the number. Rates are different according to the distance. For direct international calls (IDD), dial the international access code 00 plus country code plus area code and the number.

Phone cards can be found everywhere, especially in major cities and in Post Office, at telephone exchanges, big hotels and guest houses. Today, the IC and IP cards are the most common and widely used. IC cards are credit card sized with a golden chip at the end of one side, in units of RMB30, RMB50 and RMB100, and can be used throughout China. IC telephones can be recognized by their yellow colors, the card slot, and the absence of a coin slot. There is a button on the IC telephone that can switch the machine to English language. The IP card is the best value for overseas calls. These cards do have an expiry date. They can be bought on the street or at Post Offices across the country. For an international call, the cost is RMB4.80 per minute. To make a call, simply follow the instructions in English on the back of the card.

Most streets, shops and restaurants have public phones. Be sure to give incoming callers your room number, since it is sometimes hard for receptionists to remember foreign name spellings.

In hotels, local calls are generally free or only charged a nominal fee while domestic long-distance and international calls will be charged a variable service fee, ranging from 10 to 20 percent.

In some large cities, you can now buy IP phone cards which can save you money. Hotels, post offices and telecommunication centers have telegram, fax and telex facilities.

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