Best SIM Cards for Tourists in Hong Kong

FutureHandling checked the prices of the major prepaid SIM cards available in Hong Kong. We believe that most tourists nowadays would like to use data on a 3G network, so we have focused our comparison on 3G prepaid cards that include internet access.

Three HK

Three HK prepaid SIM costs HK$98.

Local Airtime Charge at $0.1/min*

10,000 Intra-network SMS*

Local Data Max. Cap charges at $28 per day & $338 per month

As for iPad prepaid SIM cards.

Three HK offers a prepaid SIM card especially made to be used with the iPad for HK$198. Monthly charge at only $18, you can enjoy local data 50MB + Unlimited Wi-Fi + 10,000 Intra-SMS.  Local data with max cap $18/day & $168/month.

More info here.

PCCW

PCCW offers a prepaid SIM card for HK$198. They also offer other cheaper cards but we focused this comparison on cards that provide 3G data access. Their fees are more expensive and their price table is more complex to understand. Their cap charge of data costs about 3 times more than Three HK’s.

Data services
Local data service
15-minute	$10/15 minutes	Charged on a per 15-minute basis. Usage of less than 15-minute will be charged with 15-minute fee. Connect to the internet via mobile data and/or Wi-Fi as many times as you like within the 15-minute session.
Daily cap	$68/day	Maximum per day charge cut-off time is 23:59. New daily cap starts at 00:00.
Monthly cap	$598/month	Maximum per month charge cut-off point is the last day of each calendar month. New monthly cap starts on the first day of each calendar month.
Roaming data service
Per KB	$0.12/KB	Charge on a per 20KB basis Roaming data service is default activated for your convenience. For roaming coverage details, please checkhere.
Messaging services
Intra-network SMS		$0.8 each
Inter-network SMS		$0.8 each
International SMS		$3.0 each

PCCW currently does not offer a prepaid SIM card for the iPad.

More info at the link.

Smartone

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get much info on their website. They provide two types of cards. A card that costs HK$48 and another one that costs HK$80. It seems that they don’t have an unlimited data SIM card available.

As for prepaid SIM cards for the iPad, the website doesn’t mention about it.

Smartone says that they offer stored-value SIM cards and Micro-SIM cards.

More info at the link.

Out of these 3 major operators, we recommend Three HK. Their prices are highly competitive and their price table is easy to understand. If you are planning to stay in Hong Kong just for a few days or weeks, Three HK is your choice.

Moreover, Three HK offers prepaid cards for a variety of devices, including the iPad.