Thread: Taiwan
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  #17  
Old January 30th, 2013, 05:04 AM posted to rec.travel.asia
Spehro Pefhany
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Posts: 78
Default Taiwan

On Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:27:59 -0800, the renowned SMS
wrote:

On 1/29/2013 1:08 PM, Alfred Molon wrote:
In article , Spehro Pefhany
says...
Is there any problem getting cards that work with the verfication
scheme used at, say, Starbucks? I think they only accept China Mobile
and maybe one other carrier.


A mobile phone is not dependent on the infrastructure of a coffee shop.
Maybe you are confusing something.


No, just not spelling out the details.

I think that he might be referring to the use of Wi-Fi.


Yes, that's it. You can't log on freely as you can in North America-
you have to authenticate using a cellphone, but it has to be one with
a SIM card from one or two domestic Chinese service providers. So you
can go in there with your Android tablet or iPad or notebook but if
you don't have a China Mobile or whatever cell phone account, you're
not using their WiFi (apparently it's a government requirement).

I've had to use SMS messages for authentication in other places, but
they didn't require specific carriers.

One thing to be sure that you have is a VPN service for security. In
China the use of a VPN also means that you have access to Facebook,
otherwise you don't.


I use a VPN in local (Canada) coffee shops too- at least if I'm doing
banking or other sensitive stuff. I don't care about Facebook much,
but in the Emirates even Skype was blocked without a _good_ VPN. China
may have recently tightened theirs up to that point too.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
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