@mike4g_air. Sent you a pm with contact. If you didn't receive let me know here.

@cloudtrapezer. thanks for the china mobile warning.

I think Telecom has something similar to what tallamerican posted, but only for 50mb, and a 158 install fee, no TV box. I think if you pay more for the 100mb deal, they throw in a free smart phone. To get the deals you have to pay the full amount upfront, so it's like prepaying for a year. Also, telecom sims only work in telecom phones.

I noticed my Internet was faster during cny since most of my xiaoqu and kunming had left.

There are going to be huge duties, so unless you have rmb to burn, I wouldn't bother. It used to be possible to hongbao a customs official in sz and bring a personal vehicle over from hk, but those days are long gone.

They repaint stolen bikes with ease, so sadly that method only works for cheap or moderately priced bikes. But by all means, still a plus as antitheft measures go.

@Alexez. Security guards are useless worthless the whole world over. I had a guard in LA watch as some thieves just carried my bike off. The guard just pointed a direction with his finger. Actually, security guards are worse than useless. They give a false sense of security.

Do try the cops as suggested. I think there have been one Gok story of the cops pulling off a miracle with stolen ebike.

Also, I suggest people spend on two variety of locks, with each costing 100rmb or more. No need to cheap out on locks if it can avoid that awful feeling you get when you walk to an empty space where your bike or ebike should be.

If they cut off vpns for a week+ like last time, it could very well affect banking and travel as those services use https:// logons and sometimes payment verification systems that are unstable or excruciating slow without a vpn. Also, lots of sites use Google as a provider for servers and functionality. Those would be inaccesible or have limited functionality without vpn.

Add. Lots of banking and credit card sites now require additional verification steps should you log on from another country, so say you logon to chase.com without vpn, there is a high chance they will ask to send an additional pin to your registered email. If that email happens to be gmail, then without a vpn, you'll never be able to pass that verification screen.