We’ve gotten some questions about prepaid SIM cards to use to communicate while in HK. And the good news is, this is very easy to do.

There are at least three major cellphone providers with bricks and mortars everyplace, selling pay-as-you-go SIM cards; these are PCCW, Vodaphone and Peoples (though there are more). Also, every 7-Eleven in the city — and there are tons of them — sell, if i recall, in $50HKD increments, which is about $7USD, and is more than enough for a few days of random ‘where you at’-type conversations. I highly recommend doing this — it is easy and cheap compared to using your US-based service while abroad. You can still do that, but it’s insanely expensive — for you and for others!

Just bring your unlocked GSM phone and swap out your US SIM card with the prepaid HK card, and you’re set. ‘Official’ T-Mobile, ATT, and Verizon (but not Spring/Nextel unfortunately!) phones will be need to be ‘unlocked’. I’m not super-clear on this process, but there are ways … If you don’t want to mess with your phone, are on a non-GSM provider, or own an iPhone, you should bring an older phone or buy a disposable one when you get there. We have a couple of junked unlocked Nokias we’ll bring along too.

Lastly, our HK mobile phone number is 6579.8187 — give us a buzz when you arrive!