Does anyone know of a place where you can rent a local Taiwan cell phone for a few weeks?
I’m coming to Taipei next week to check things out and interview for English Teaching jobs for a possible move there next year. However I may need to make a lot of calls, and don’t want to run up serious charges using the hotel cell phone.
Any thoughts?
Taiwan uses tri-band phones with removable SIM cards. The airport you land in will have cell phone services:
cksairport.gov.tw/english/st … 1_fac.htm#
Or just borrow a spare phone and buy a pre-paid SIM card. The cards are available at convenience stores all across the island.
You can buy a sim-free phone here for NT$3700, just over US$100. That’s how much my Nokia cost. If that’s in your budget it may be an option. Renting one would probably cost as much.
Hang on a sec, I got my bands mixed up. Taiwan uses the GSM 900/1800 system (as opposed to the GSM 1900 system in the US). So you can use a dual or tri or even quad band cell phone here, as long as it supports the GSM 900/1800 system. Did I confuse you enough?
Thanks. Do you know how much a rental costs, approximately? Or what the average per min rate is on a prepaid SIM vs. a rental phone? Are there any websites out there that explain options?
Thanks again for your help :bravo:
I’ve never heard of rentals here. Considering how cheap phones are, I don’t know that there’s any market demand for them. You can buy a used phone in any nightmarket for around NT$1200 (US$35) if you just want communications.
The SIM cards are a little harder to get nowadays. I had to go to a dodgy Indonesian food place which sold them without demanding the apparently-now-required two forms of Taiwan-legal ID. You could also pick one up in Snake Alley (I saw a couple of carts selling them there three weeks ago).
FarEasTone’s SIM sells for about NT$600 (US$18) and gave me enough time for a month. After that, they charge more for refill cards (most people keep buying the refill cards because they want to keep the phone number that their SIM is programmed for); my bill was running about NT$300 per week (US$9).
The following website can save you some money when you call. Please chcek if interested.
Public pay phone:0800-800-011-Select the language-enter the password#- enter the no. you wish to call.
Cell phone :0809-085-099-Select the language-enter the password#- enter the no. you wish to call.