In the last post, we look at the city coverage by three carriers.
Here is another comparison of the plans they provide, in terms of price and data.
Before looking at the table, another data point is useful – in September 2019, an average user consumed 8.39GB in data, up ~60% from 5.14GB September 2018, which grew ~2.6x from ~2GB in September 2017.
China Mobile’s plan has two version Personal & Family (the latter includes fixed broadband services).
There is not much difference between carriers, except that –
- China Unicom & China Telecom trying to make a sales at 40GB level with China Unicom being more aggressive.
- Consumers can experience higher speed with a smaller data plan for China Unicom & China Telecom
- Initial discount availability is a little different; all provide discounts between 20-30% for the first 6 month
- Additional data usage (outside of the plan) is priced at ¥3/GB, with first 3GB priced at ¥5/GB for China Mobile
| Data Plan (GB) | China Mobile | China Unicom | China Telecom | avg. costs per GB | Speed |
| 30 | 128 | 129 | 129 | 4.3 |
500 Mbps
|
| 40 | 159 | 169 | 4.1 | ||
| 60 | 198 | 199 | 199 | 3.3 | |
| 80 | 239 | 239 | 3.0 |
1 Gbps
|
|
| 100 | 298 | 299 | 299 | 3.0 | |
| 150 | 398 | 399 | 399 | 2.7 | |
| 300 | 598 | 599 | 599 | 2.0 |