where can i buy the transport cards for the mrt and buses? does 7/11 sell that?
also where to get a prepaid sim card… i dont want to sign on a plan??
also which provider is best?
MRT cards can be had from MRT stations. They can be topped up in either stations or 7-11s. I’m not sure if 7-11s can issue the cards or not.
The best pay as you go sims I am aware of are Taiwan Cellular or Taiwan DaGuDa as it is said more commonly.
They can be had at most phone stores, or Taiwan cellular shops.
Top up cards can be purchased at convenience stores, phone shops and at many other places. You will need some form of ID to register the number in your name. A company rep will call after the card is initialised to ask who is using the phone and you will need to reference your ID document.
I understand you have to buy them at the little box office they have at the entrance to each MRT station, but can be topped up at 7/11 and other convenience stores perhaps. Last year when I bought one it was 500nt for the card including 400nt worth of stored value.
taiwan “daguda” is actually taiwan mobile english.taiwanmobile.com/ . i know they have a prepaid sim where you can use your passport to register. most other kinds require you to have an arc or tw id card. another big provider is chung hua telecom, which also provide fixed line and cable. the third largest is far east telecom.
the mtr/bus easycards are $500, there are counters or kiosks within all mtr stations. $100 deposit, $400 worth. convenient store top off’s are $500 minimum while the kiosks or counters in mtr stations can do lower or other denominations. you can also use easycards to make purchases in convenient stores these days (there’s a cap on the amount but i don’t remember, like 500 or something).
Hmmm, it seems they have changed to a specific name for their mobile division. I hadn’t noticed that.
One heads-up on the pre-paid SIM card. I would recommend using 7-Eleven’s “Open” card for the simple fact that 7-Eleven’s are everywhere, therefore you never have to go far to recharge. I would also strongly discourage buying a SIM from one of the 5,000 Mom-and-Pop shops (I made this very mistake back in the day). The big three carriers are fine but you may find experience some difficulty finding a recharge card outside of Taipei. Oh, and AFAIK, you can also buy MRT cards at 7-Eleven as well, provided they haven’t run out of them, as well as add balance. It’s been so long since I used my card I’m not even sure anymore. Good luck.
how do you say " i want a PREPAID sim?" inchinese coz i dont want them to sell me a comprehensive plan lol
Does the pre-paid SIM expire after a certain period? Is it possible to retain the same phone number indefinitely using pre-paid SIM?
Yes, it does expire. I think the term is one year. This is only as far as the 7-Eleven “Open” card is concerned and AFAIK. And yes, you can keep the number and renew the SIM. In fact, you get a call from someone at the phone company about a month before it’s supposed to expire – hope you speak Chinese bcuz they no speaky Engrish.
Generally speaking, in reference to the previous post asking about how to say PRE-PAID in Chinese, unless you go to one of the Big Three telecom companies, all SIMs you buy around here are pre-paid. I have never heard of someone getting roped into a contract against their will or unknowingly. Maybe it happens, but logically, it doesn’t make sense for someone to do that, especially when they figure you aren’t going to be here in six months anyway.
P.S. In Chinese, pre-paid card is said yu4 fu4 ka3 [you foo kah].
+1. I’m here in Taipei for 3 months learning Chinese and that’s what I’m currently using. It was very easy to get from the 7-11. They didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Chinese and the clerk helped me fill out the form. I needed to show them 2 pieces of ID (passport and drivers license). I suspect their rates are higher than other companies but it’s not too bad.
Would anyone have a comparison with the other companies mentioned in this thread? With OPEN, I’m paying $2/SMS and $0.71/6 seconds of talk time…