Subsidies here are crap unless you go for a very high-usage 24 months+ contract.
Also be aware that many network providers expects you to pony up the cost of the handset in advance if you’re spending less than NT$1000 a month on your contract (that’s for the basic fees for call+data) which can end up being NT$20k, although they then deduct your monthly bills from that lump sum, so in other words, you don’t have a bill to pay for the next however many months.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]Ok, let me butt in here with a sensible reply.
As long as you can sign a 3G contract, or get someone to sign one for you, you don’t have to sign up for a certain period of time, it can be done on a month by month basis with no termination fees, even if you only want to use it for 30 days.
I know CHT offers this service as I’ve done it for someone.
However, this means you have to supply your own dongle/phone/3G modem or buy one at full price here.
That’s how simple it is and yes, at the moment, it’s truly unlimited and CHT charges NT$850 a month for it.[/quote]Tack så mycket! 
That’s the answer then 
My wife will be able to sign up if they give me any trouble. No need for dongles as the iPhone works as a hot spot with the latest FW 
On that note though. How’s the performance of the connection? No need getting DSL or whatever if it’s good enough.
Depends on your location, but the best theoretical maximum download speed in Taiwan is afaik 7.2Mbit/s, not that you’ll get it. Upload speed should be 2Mbit/s.
Best I’ve seen running speedtest on my phone is about 2Mbit/s down and 1Mbit/s up.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]Depends on your location, but the best theoretical maximum download speed in Taiwan is afaik 7.2Mbit/s, not that you’ll get it. Upload speed should be 2Mbit/s.
Best I’ve seen running speedtest on my phone is about 2Mbit/s down and 1Mbit/s up.[/quote]
Speedtests? Over 5MBit/s using servers inTaiwan and around 3.5Mbit/s using servers in Germany. 
Well, I guess you’re getting some really good speeds then, I can somehow not quite believe your upload speeds though as that would be nearly twice as fast as most wired services in Taiwan.
You can go to Chunghwa Telecom and get unlimited 3G for $850/month without a contract if you don’t buy a device or accept any promo features…
I have no idea what upload speeds i get or could get - my uploads are small (files of at most a few 10kB in size), and they usually upload “fast enough” (wonder what that could mean in terms of bits/s 
)
What about regular wireless service for one month. I will be visiting and already have a cellphone for use in Taiwan but no service. What are the best plans for one month of medium usage without data or texting? My wife has Taiwan ID if that helps.
Is this with or without an ARC? I’d like to compile the scenarios into an FAQ since this topic of data is coming up more and more often both for short and long term visitors with and without ARCs.
Due to your length of stay, just get a prepaid SIM from one of the Big 3 (Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, FarEastone). AFAIK, the rates should be more or less similar. Pick the network that most people you plan to call use - further minimizes your cost.
A hassle is that they do need some type of ID before handing you the prepaid SIM, which your wife’s Taiwan ID will come in handy
Is this with or without an ARC? I’d like to compile the scenarios into an FAQ since this topic of data is coming up more and more often both for short and long term visitors with and without ARCs.[/quote]
I did it with an ARC and had to put down a NT$2900 deposit which was refunded to me in cash after I cancelled two months later.
Is this with or without an ARC? I’d like to compile the scenarios into an FAQ since this topic of data is coming up more and more often both for short and long term visitors with and without ARCs.[/quote]
I did it with an ARC and had to put down a NT$2900 deposit which was refunded to me in cash after I cancelled two months later.[/quote]
OK thanks. That sounds like exactly what I did back in early 2010 when I had just gotten my ARC and was waiting for the 3GS to show up on Taiwan Mobile. I also needed an ARC to do the monthly plan, and they ended up refunding my deposit when I swapped to the 2 year contract with the 3GS.
The key consideration when this question of data plans comes up really does seem to be about ARC or not. One might assume that a good number of folks who are asking are likely either waiting for an ARC or won’t have an ARC during their stay, so whatever table or FAQ comes out of this needs to cover both scenarios.
Panda, for this, you can simply get a prepaid SIM card from either MyFone or Senao and just buy some credits for it. 500NT should be a good amount to start, and you can reload the SIM at a 7-11 or Family Mart.
I forgot to mention something about unlimited data, Taiwan Mobile have contracts with certain operators in Asia to offer day and week rates for unlimited data roaming. For example I was just in Kuala Lumpur and signed up for 24hrs unlimited data at TW$300. You sign up by SMS and decide when to activate the service for 24hrs, I save a small fortune with Skype and it’s great having access to Google maps etc. in a foreign country.
Yes, it would be most useful to have a (reasonabhly complete) summary! :thanks:
(You can see something similar to this new project of yours: a summary concerning Visa Debit Cards at A guide to Taiwanese VISA Debit Cards - that summary also came about because after a lot had been posted on that topic some people were still confused because one of the most important factors - you need an ARC to get the card - had been unclear.)
Yes, it would be most useful to have a (reasonabhly complete) summary! :thanks:
(You can see something similar to this new project of yours: a summary concerning Visa Debit Cards at [A guide to Taiwanese VISA Debit Cards - that summary also came about because after a lot had been posted on that topic some people were still confused because one of the most important factors - you need an ARC to get the card - had been unclear.)[/quote]
We had a cell phone summary thread in the Tech forum before, but because it was not stickied it just sort of went away to the back pages.
Yes, it would be most useful to have a (reasonabhly complete) summary! :thanks:
(You can see something similar to this new project of yours: a summary concerning Visa Debit Cards at [A guide to Taiwanese VISA Debit Cards - that summary also came about because after a lot had been posted on that topic some people were still confused because one of the most important factors - you need an ARC to get the card - had been unclear.)[/quote]
Here is the old thread:
Yes, it would be most useful to have a (reasonabhly complete) summary! […][/quote]
Here is the old thread:
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … =7&t=87492[/quote]
Thanks… that’s very good info!
And since here (in this new thread) we have additional information about Taiwan Mobile as well and more explicit information to the effect that an ARC is required for a regular service contract (as opposed to prepaid service), i hope one of the moderators will combine these two threads into a sticky “read me first”. 
Maybe “Cell Phone, 3G SIM, 3G internet FAQ (READ FIRST)”
PS: Do you think these threads could be added to the FAQ?
[quote=“mabagal”]I will create a sticky for this at some point because it comes up about once a week it seems.
The easiest pre-paid SIM with unlimited data is from MyFone, aka Taiwan Mobile, aka 台灣大哥大. 350NT for every 5 days of unlimited data then prepaid minutes & text of top of that. So 2100NT/month for unlimited data with no contract. Pretty cheap.
I recommend this to everyone I know who comes to visit, and everyone has been pretty happy with it so far.
There are similar unlimited pre-paid data setups in most places countries in the world where people have smart phones in any quantity. Some are more expensive than others, but the 台灣大哥大 pre-paid unlimited-data setup is among the least expensive in the world.[/quote]
Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but I just found something.
On the Taiwan Mobile you would normally dial 535 to buy a data plan, they have a 30 day plan for 1500 nt (you dial 3 in the Chinese menu to find out about various packages they offer).
That’s great, thanks for the find!