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Making economical overseas long distance calls
Making overseas phone calls dialing direct from your hotel will be expensive. There is an easy way around this. You buy a long distance calling card, known on the streets as an "IP Card". With it you dial a local access number from your hotel (which should be free or cheap), enter the card number and pin, then do the dialing.
 Cards are "valued" at 100, 50, 30 and 20 Renminbi but are actually worth half that. So although the guy at the newstand may beg to differ, a Y100 card costs just RMB50. You can find phone cards at most newstands, groceries and from hawkers on the street. If you cannot get the card at a good price then try someplace else. Times change and there are many brands of IP cards but I have had the best luck with the China Unicom one, pictured below. This is not to say the other brands don't work - buy a low value card and try them. You can identify the China Unicom card because the access number is 17910. Other companies have different access numbers. Other warnings: Some phones may not be able to dial the access number. Cards may not work throughout China - you might have to get local cards in other cities.
For a card valued at Y100 and costing RMB 50 I was able to talk quite clearly to the USA for 37 minutes total. (Note Y = Yuan (dollar) and RMB = Renminbi (people's currency) and Yuan is just another word for Renminbi.)
You scratch the card to see the pin number - if it has already been scratched off then someone has used it. For international directory assistance dial: 100
More on communications in Beijing:
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Once you dial the access number number follow the instructions on the back of the card. Be sure and enter both the card number and pin. With some cards you may need to press # after entering the numbers. It will then tell you the value left on the card.
When you dial overseas enter 00 + country code + area code + number. If you don't enter the "00" it won't work.
Experiences/comments from readers:
Have something (helpful) to say about phone cards?