This is not about punting/mongering but well it may help you attain the final objective of picking girls (including on wechat)

We are all so used to having our mobiles with us that not having a local sim is a nightmare and if its with  a reasonably priced data plan theres nothing to beat it.
Read somewhere that a fellow monger went all the way to the ferry terminal to buy the 3G unlimited data sim @ HK$100 per day. That is steep.
I had done my research before going and it paid off so here goes.
You get the sim cards almost any place, including the conceirge at the Venetian. The are also available at the various phone shops opposite the WYNN/MGM (casino). The best bet is to take a CTM prepaid card for HK$/MOP100 which had HK$/MOP 100 credit. Once you have bought it see the code mentioned on the card to activate data plan which costs only 35$ for 1 week with 50mb data and also around 120 min free usage of CTM wifi where ever its available and 30 free local minute usage. So unless you want to watch videos this should easily suffice for 3-4 days after which you can once again re-load with a MOP50 voucher and re-activate the data plan. works out much cheaper than HK$100 per day. I was also able to use it with my blackberry handset (not for bbm & push mail) for surfing (using opera browser)/viber/whatsapp/google maps and all else I needed it.
Though most people now use samsung/iphone's I had a Blackberry handset/ For using the data plan on blackberry phone you will have to tweak the settings a lil. go to settings ->device-> advanced system settings -> TCP IP -> there check APN Settings enabled and in the column for APN enter ctmprepaid. This should get ur data started on blackberry handset.


As for punting my fav VFM place would be Hou Va near Royal hotel. Where else in Macau can you have a nice session for HK$510 for 1 shot :-) the Saunas were too pricy for me :-(

Enjoy n keep posting

[ Last edited by  ggherkin at 12-10-2013 20:18 ]

Thanks for the useful info. What I've been looking for, and have yet to find, is a card that will give me a HK phone number, yet work with both voice and data in both HK and Macau.

Getting the voice to work doesn't seem to be a problem, but the data is another story. For the few days I'm there, I would happily pay HK$100/day to have voice/data that would follow me between HK and Macu, with a HK phone number.

Gherk

sorry to bother, but what is a VFM?

also, is the HK$100 card the lowest? I plan on being there for only 2 days, 1 night and don't think i'll be using all that much data/phone.

VFM = Value For Money.

Gherk

If you are there for only 2 days and will not be making international calls you could choose the HK$50 card from CTM. If you do need to use data you could activate the HKD$35 7 day data pack (50mb) and use the balance HK$15 + the free local min (30 min approx) for the 2 days u r there.

Sanju

ok, thanks for the info. im assuming its just one card, and if i want to activate the data package, i enter in a code into the phone?

Just to add my experience to the info about data plans and SIM cards. When I visit Macau, I always get my pre-paid SIM cards from one of the ladies that hang around at every corner near the vicinity of Sanado Sauna (this area includes saunas like Golden, Windsor, Supreme and Sanado). You will not miss them when walking around that area.

I always get a 3Macau pre-paid card that costs HKD 100 and comes with phone calls and 3G. I will just handover my iPhone to the lady and she will do everything for me from clipping the SIM card to the correct size and activating it. I find that the HKD 100 will easily last me a week for things like WhatsApp, Facebook, browsing, emails and sometimes tethering to another device. I'm not so sure how many MB of the data that gets me though.

Do make sure you get the data plan one. My Mandarin sucks (and Canto is not existent) but I get by by saying "San G ka" (3G card) and they know what I'm talking about. I once bought a card from a vending machine at the ferry terminal and couldn't navigate it for the life of me!

When I need a top up, again I just handover my phone and HKD 50/100 to the lady and she does everything for me. It's just so convenient.

In terms of coverage quality, 3Macau is good and I've never had any problems, even when in the basement level where Sanado is located.

Hope that helps.

PS - Info about 3Macau here http://www.three.com.mo/eng/sim/3g

do the cards these days come with the nano sim cards? i would like to use my iphone5 while im there, but it only has slot for nano cards.

Most SIM cards can be turned into either one when you open them, and if they can't, the place you buy it from usually has a cutter to make it a nano SIM.

k, thanks for the info, much appreciated

Fyi, I bought a 3Macau $100 3G data SIM at the terminal the other week for my Galaxy S3 but couldn't get it to work. Too lazy to call up customer support and just stuck with my Smartone daily data roam package for $168. Will prob take advice and have someone who knows what they're doing to help activate next time.

Thanks OP for the advice. I arrived in Macau to visit family a few days ago. That was the first time I've been back in 14 years and I was a minor the last time I was here. Like other have said you should look out for stands with either the Three logo or CTM logo




Even though I've been here a couple of times before as a kid and most of my family lives here I still get easily turned around. Anyways on my first day I started looking around for somewhere to purchase the SIM. I came across a CTM vending machine on the ground floor of the plaza under the Big Boss Sauna sign (there are free wifi there btw) but decided against it as I rather have someone install and activate it for me. So walking around running errands with my aunt and uncle I finally came across a Three stand. I asked the gentleman if he had any 3G Cards pointing at a picture of it on one of their fliers and he said he was sold out. But he then recommended I go to the CTM store about three doors down. Long story short I walked in and told the gentleman at the counter I was visiting and needed a 3G card to make phone calls and go online (My cantonese is rusty being in the US since I was a baby) and he recommended a $99 MOP option which would give me 1GB of data, 100 minutes talk, and i forgot how many minutes access to Three WiFi around the city. He installed the SIM and activated it for me with no hassle. He even asked me to make sure everything works before collecting the payment. I will definitely recommend this super easy option

This is how the package looks like


BTW I just got back from my first visit from Hou Va.. Turns out my uncle place where I'm staying is 3 blocks away.. It took a couple of days before I could break free of Family Activity to enjoy myself. I haven't even been to the Casinos yet.

[ Last edited by  firebert at 6-9-2013 23:40 ]

Firebert: can you provide the address/directions to the store that sold you the sim card?

The place I went to was near 12 Rua de Pedro Nolasco da Silva I went there only because it was situated between my aunts and uncles apartments. But honestly they're everywhere in tourist areas. There's a 3 store maybe 2 minutes walk down the street from there.

One of the best places to buy sim/reload at any time of day is the Sands Casino lobby.

There is a vending machine there that sells nano/micro/mini sims and lots of load.

I only realized it when I stayed there a couple of trips back.

Do they also sell prepaid phones in Macau, too? I'd rather not lug my iPhone around and lose it when I'm drunk-ass-stupid...

is there any prepaid plans that allows you to use your phone in china (guangzhou) as well as macau/hk?