China mobile prepaid card

Upon arrival in PEK in my delirium tremens after an almost sleepless
night I bought a GSM prepaid card of China Mobile at the airport for 230
yuan with just 50 yuan of airtime on it (later the concierge in the
hotel told me that the telephone number costs 180 yuan).

I can make local and international calls, can receive local calls but
cannot receive calls from outside China or from Skype. In these cases
the caller gets the message that my mobile phone is switched off, even
if the mobile is switched on, connected to the network with a good
signal.

I googled and found somewhere mentioned that for international calls you
have to register the card with your name with China Mobile. Is this
true?
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe