Fantastic blog posts prairiedogg. Are any other Yunnan cities included in the 285 cities getting 3g (or plans in the near future to upgrade them)?

prariedogg. I read your blog post. I'm not sure you've been told the truth about the extra data plan. I signed up in September (ie after the trial) for the 186 basic plan and also bought an extra 2gb of data per month. I don't think my data plan has been cancelled, it still seems to be working. Perhaps the sales person was trying to get you to buy a more expensive basic package. Lets hope its not the case that extra data packages are unavailable. It would be a terrible business move from China Unicom who need to compete with the much more established China Mobile. Most people in China stay in China and do not care that they can't use a TD-SCDMA phone outside the country. This will not be the huge marketing tool they hope for - they need to compete on price too.

Thanks very much prairiedogg for sharing all this research. It's a real time saver.

I've had the same number with ChinaMobile for several years and giving it up now would not be a good move. I guess number portability between providers is out of the question (ChinaMobile to Unicom)?

unfortunately there's no number portability between networks. the first 3 digits of a mobile number strictly belong to a mobile network. you can always change your china mobile to a cheaper package (there is number portability within the network i think) and forward your calls.

I bought a iPhone 3GS 32GB for 6.400 Y, from a small Mac-store on the small shopping street by the University... I am horrible with names, so I don't know the streets name... close to 121 street... small curved street with lots of small shops, packed with students... I think you know which I mean.
Anyhow, the shop's name is BlueRay. They have a small sign over the door with the name and an Apple logo.
If you go there, give Coco my regards (the Swede with long gold hair and red beard). She doesnt speak english, but you can use their computer to translate. I usually use translate.google.com

I paid 500Y up front, and 24 hours later, my iPhone was delivered. As it is from HongKong (specify you want the "imported" one from HK), it is unlocked and has wifi (the one you buy from mainland China lacks wifi for some reason, and they and the ones from USA are locked).
No jailbreaking, no problems when you go home and you can choose the phone company that gives you best price.
They can also get you the latest Macbook (unavailable still in mainland China) for 7500Y.

Let me get this straight... you bought Apple products in Kunming from a bearded Swedish lady named Coco?

I think the best place to buy an iPhone would be 999.com which is located in the PC market area close to Yunnan Univ.
They are straight up with service and pricing. They only sell jailbroken/unlocked phones that are genuine and complete with all features. I buy one every few months from there, and have bought iPhones in BKK as well. This place has the best prices around. Last month, I pd 3800RMB for a 3g 6gb.
BTW, the new 3.1 FW and 5+ baseband version can be jailbroken and unlocked now. Using blacksn0w for the unlock and blackrain for the jailbreak. Easiest jailbreak ever! 1 click and 30 seconds later....finished! Still I would advise rolling back the baseband to ver 4 by using a custom ipsw that is ver 3.12, but does not upgrade the baseband. If your baseband is already ver 5, you can roll it back successfully which is the best option to stay with. DO NOT EVER LET ITUNES DO AN AUTO UPDATE ON YOUR IPHONE!

If its at all possible I'd still recommend getting a Hong Kong model rather than a jailbroken US one. You can still jailbreak which is definately recommended - it immediately becomes a much more powerful piece of kit - but you don't need the carrier unlock and more importantly if you ever accidentally perform an itunes update you haven't turned your iphone into an expensive brick. Hong Kong phones are factory unlocked and will always work with any SIM card. This makes jailbreaking a pleasure rather than a need.

@kickkick
:D No... Coco is a very cute chinese girl. _I_ am the bearded Swedish guy.... with that description, Coco will know who I am. :)

More about jailbraking:
@Greginchina
I agree.
One thing that often fails to be mentioned, is that if your iPhone goes nuts (and all electronic stuff will, eventually) and needs repair, the guarantee is void if you have jailbroken your iPhone.
Another thing is that there are malware out there now, that targets jailbroken iPhones, since jailbreaking not only modifies the carrier-lock, but opens up the root, leaving it vulnerable. Right now, you can protect yourself by changing the root password, but many jailbreak their phone without changing the root password.
As for me, I just don't want the hassle of having to block updates that will relock the phone and I feel safer having the guarantee still in power for when my iPhone decides to have a seizure.

the vulnerability is only there is you install the SSH client (and then forget to change the root password). The SSH client is not needed for most jailbreak users and is not automatically installed.

If you jailbreak you can easily restore to normal in itunes re-validating your warranty (not that the warranty for anything other than a non-wifi Unicom iphone would be valid in China anyway) but by doing that restore you'll break any carrier unlock you've performed so having a factory unlocked model from Hong Kong would be ideal.