Chinese Internatioinal Roaming Charges

Can anybody figure out if the roaming rates for China Unicom and China Mobile are reasonable?

I was wondering if they could solve a few problems we face when trying to hook into telecommunications when back home in the holidays.

Anybody got any ideas on how to exploit utilise these offers?
 
China Unicom Lowers International Roaming Fees By 47%
July 18, 2013 |  Print |  Comments | Category: Business, Telecom & Wireless

After China Mobile announced a decrease of its international roaming fee at the beginning of July 2013, Chinese telecom operator China Unicom now says it will lower international roaming fees in 39 countries and regions, with an average decrease rate of 47%.

After the roaming fee decrease, China Unicom's users who travel to countries and regions like the U.S., South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan will pay less than CNY1 per minute when dialing to or receiving phone calls from mainland China.

For users who like surfing the mobile Internet, China Unicom offers more attractive international data roaming fees. In 11 most visited Asia Pacific countries and regions, China Unicom launched a 66M package for CNY66 on networks of designated carriers; meanwhile, the company launched a 20M daily package for CNY70 in 36 countries and regions.

Starting from 2009, China Unicom has implemented four rounds of price decreases, with an average decrease rate of about 50% for each round. At present, there are over 700 carriers around the world and China Unicom cooperates with 576 of them in 249 countries and regions in opening roaming services.

At the beginning of July 2013, China Mobile unveiled a CNY18 daily international data roaming package in 63 countries and regions frequented by Chinese travelers. Meanwhile, the company said it would include 62 countries and regions, including Canada and Russia, into its CNY1, CNY2, and CNY3 international roaming fee zones. China Mobile lowered fees for 11 times over the past three years.

http://www.chinatechnews.com/2013/07/18/19479-china-unicom-lowers-international-roaming-fees-by-47

sms rates are not bad depending on which country you're in but data roaming is freaking expensive.
Also, if surfing the net overseas on your Chinese data plan, you're subjected to the same restrictions as in the mainland meaning you can't get on the blocked stuff.

I've learned to bite the bullet and just be careful when travelling with my Chinese number... last trip to Italy, i ended up with a good 500rmb bill for a week. before that, Germany/France trip was also to the tune of 600+ but i did use my data plan a  bit.

Australia was the most expensive of all for roaming charges on unicom so far.

I can understand your reservations on using 'Roaming' - any bill over RMB100 month has me looking for the Destruct button.

Some time ago I read that Roaming charges  could be reasonable if some basic actions were taken - from memory, this included switching it so it wasn't checking for updates every minute. I guess though that I would only use Roaming in extreme circumstances.

I use SMS messaging all the time when in China but, for some reason, I rarely think of sending messages back to New Zealand. When I first came to China Telecom told me that I could send SMS messages to any country in the world ... except China. Times have changed and messages get through in both directions . . .  most of the time.

Considering that an SMS message is not costly - I was once told that it costs no more than the domestic rate - I should use them for more than belated birthday greetings.