# Home Broadband in a Beijing Rental: ISPs, Installation, Contracts and Moving Out

> Getting fibre into a Beijing flat: which carrier actually reaches your building, what 300M really costs, the documents a foreigner needs, install day, the contract clauses that bite, and how to close the account before you leave the country.

_Category: longstay · Reading time: 13 min read_

Your lease is signed, the flat is empty, and the first thing you actually need is not furniture — it is an internet connection you can take a video call on. Home fibre in Beijing is fast and, by Western standards, cheap. But the process has a shape most foreigners do not expect: the account is real-name registered to your passport, the price depends on which carrier is physically wired into your building, and leaving early costs real money. This guide walks the whole loop — picking an ISP, the paperwork, install day, the clauses that bite, and how to close the account on the way out. Package names and prices move constantly, so treat every number here as a typical range to confirm at your own address on the day you order.

## Start with the building, not the ISP

Before you compare prices, find out which carriers physically reach your flat. Plenty of compounds — especially 2000s-era 小区 — have only one carrier's fibre in the riser, and some newer buildings have exclusivity deals with whoever wired them. Ask the 物业 (the property management office downstairs), your landlord or agent, or a neighbour in the lift. This one question decides the whole conversation. If a line is already installed, ask whether it can be transferred into your name (过户) or reconnected (重装) rather than newly wired — that is often same-week instead of a fresh install. And if your lease is under about six months, do not install at all: a 5G CPE box or your phone's hotspot carries no contract and no cancellation trip.

- **Ask the property office first** — 物业 can usually tell you in one sentence which carriers serve the block. It saves more time than any price comparison.
- **Look for a line that is already in** — A fibre socket on the wall, or a 光猫 left behind by the previous tenant, means a transfer or reconnect rather than new wiring.
- **Short lease? Skip the fixed line** — A 5G CPE or a big data mobile plan has no contract. See our connectivity comparison for the trade-off.

## The three national ISPs, and how they differ in Beijing

Three carriers matter: 中国电信 China Telecom, 中国联通 China Unicom and 中国移动 China Mobile. The old rule of thumb is 南电信北联通 — Telecom in the south, Unicom in the north — and in Beijing Unicom's fixed-line network is still what locals pick for stability, while Telecom frequently runs the cheapest headline annual packages and Mobile is the most aggressive on price with the most variable real-world performance. All three are perfectly fine for streaming and video calls if the line into your flat is clean. What you should decline are resellers — companies that buy bandwidth wholesale and re-sell it under names like 长城宽带 or 宽带通. Their prices look unbeatable and their international routing is usually the actual problem, which no domestic speed test will show you.

- **China Unicom (中国联通)** — The default pick in Beijing for a stable line. Official channels often waive the install fee, multi-year price-lock plans exist, equipment is included.
- **China Telecom (中国电信)** — Often the cheapest annual single-broadband deal in the city. Check the upload figure on entry tiers if you work from home.
- **China Mobile (中国移动)** — Cheapest and most promotional, with quality that varies noticeably building to building. Many packages require a Beijing Mobile number.
- **The local cable operator** — Some older compounds are wired by the Beijing cable operator (歌华有线 / 中国广电). Workable as a fallback, rarely the best line. ⚠️ 待人工确认
- **Resellers** — Skip them. Wholesale-resold bandwidth gives great domestic speed tests and poor overseas performance, plus murky cancellation.

## What it actually costs

There are two shapes of product. 单宽带 (single broadband) is prepaid, usually a year at a time, with no mobile attached — commonly quoted somewhere in the ¥480–¥900 per year range for 200–500 Mbps depending on carrier and promotion. 融合套餐 (a converged bundle) ties the broadband to a new mobile number and bills monthly, typically ¥79–¥149 per month for 300M–1000M with data and minutes included. On top of that, expect an installation or 调测费 of roughly ¥0–200 — often waived on promotions and longer contracts — and a refundable deposit on the 光猫 and any IPTV box. These are typical ranges quoted by Beijing carriers and their agents in 2026; the same speed can differ by hundreds of yuan between promotions, so confirm the exact package at your address. ⚠️ 待人工确认

- **Annual prepay or monthly bill** — Single broadband is paid up front for a year. Bundles bill monthly to the attached mobile number. Decide by how sure you are about staying twelve months.
- **The install fee is often negotiable** — 调测费 / 安装费 is frequently waived with a longer contract or a current promotion. Ask twice before paying it.
- **Deposits come back** — You deposit against the 光猫 and set-top box, and get it back when you return the equipment in working order with its cables and remote.
- **Watch year two** — Much of the cheap pricing is a first-year promotion. Ask, in writing, what the plan renews at.

## What you need to sign up as a foreigner

Broadband is a real-name service: the account is registered to one person, and that person carries the contract. A passport is accepted as the ID. You will also need proof you live at the address — your 租房合同 rental contract, or in some cases the landlord's property certificate — and you will need a working mainland mobile number, because the technician calls it and the verification codes go to it. If you have not got a Chinese SIM yet, do that first; there is no route around it for a fixed line. Then bring the passport, the lease, and either a Chinese-speaking friend or a translation app. The carrier's official app handles most of the flow online if you would rather not stand in a shop.

- **Passport** — Accepted as the real-name ID. The account, the contract and any exit penalty are all in your name.
- **Rental contract** — Your proof of address. Bring the paper lease; if it is informal the landlord's property certificate may be requested.
- **A mainland phone number** — Required to book and to receive the technician. Get a SIM first — see our SIM and eSIM guides.
- **A way to pay** — Alipay or WeChat Pay. Annual packages are paid in one go; bundles top up the attached mobile account.

## How to book it: the channels that work

You can start the order without leaving the flat. Call the carrier hotline — 10000 for Telecom, 10010 for Unicom, 10086 for Mobile — or use the carrier's official app or WeChat mini-program, or their flagship stores on JD and Tmall, all of which check coverage by address and book a technician slot. What you should avoid are the small third-party kiosks in electronics markets and malls: those are usually agents working on commission, selling bundles whose terms you will not fully follow in Chinese. If you want a human, go to a carrier-owned 营业厅 — the big branded store, not a phone shop with a carrier logo in the window — and take your documents with you.

- **Hotlines** — 10000 Telecom / 10010 Unicom / 10086 Mobile. Ask for an English operator if one is offered; otherwise have help ready.
- **Official apps and WeChat mini-programs** — The fastest route for most people: address check, package choice, ID upload and technician slot in one Chinese-language flow.
- **JD and Tmall flagship stores** — Legitimate and often cheaper than the counter, and the installer still comes from the carrier. Read the 合约期 in the listing.
- **A carrier-owned 营业厅** — Best for face-to-face questions. Only a carrier-owned store can normally handle a cancellation later as well.
- **Mall and market kiosks** — Skip them. Agent-sold bundles are where foreign residents most often end up in 24-month contracts they did not mean to sign.

## Installation day

From booking to working internet is usually one to five working days. The technician phones first — this is exactly why the mobile number matters. On the day he runs fibre from the building riser to a wall socket, which can mean a small hole through a wall or a window frame (clear that with your landlord before, not after, if you care about your deposit), mounts the 光猫 — the optical modem, sometimes a combined modem-and-router gateway — powers it up and registers it to your account. Higher tiers often include a Wi-Fi 6 gateway; entry tiers may come with a basic box that struggles with Beijing's thick concrete walls. Be there, and do not let him leave until you have tested the line.

- **Be present** — Someone over 18 whose ID is on the account should be in the flat. The job takes roughly one to two hours.
- **Ask about drilling first** — Older buildings sometimes need a hole for the fibre. Clear it with the landlord to protect your deposit.
- **Test before he leaves** — Run a speed test on your laptop over Wi-Fi and, better, on a cable straight into the 光猫. Check upload, not just download.
- **Photograph the stickers** — The 光猫 carries the account number and serial. This is what you quote when the line drops, or when you cancel.
- **Keep the work order** — The 业务受理单, paper or in-app, is your proof of contract length, package and deposit paid.

## Upload speed, thick walls, and whether you need your own router

Two things surprise people. The first is upload. Entry packages often cap upstream at a fraction of the download figure — around 30 Mbps is a commonly quoted number on cheap tiers — and that is the figure which decides whether your video calls, large uploads and remote desktop actually work. If you work from home, buy on the uplink and not on the headline number. The second is coverage. The free gateway is one box placed wherever the fibre enters, usually inside a cabinet or behind the television. In a Beijing flat with 20–30 cm concrete walls, one box rarely covers the whole place. A decent router of your own is cheap: TP-Link, Xiaomi and Huawei Wi-Fi 6 models in the ¥150–400 range are on JD everywhere with next-day delivery, and a mesh pair is the usual answer for a three-bedroom. One more thing worth knowing before you plan anything clever: home lines generally do not hand you a public IPv4 address. ⚠️ 待人工确认

- **Ask for the uplink number** — Before you pay, ask what the 上行 is. It is rarely in the advert, and it is what breaks video calls.
- **Ask whether the gateway is Wi-Fi 6** — If it is not, plan on your own router. This matters more for newer phones and laptops than raw speed does.
- **Buy the router yourself** — A few hundred yuan buys a materially better network than the free box, and you take it with you when you move.
- **No public IP** — If you need to reach a NAS or a camera from outside, ask the carrier first — home plans usually sit behind carrier-grade NAT. ⚠️ 待人工确认

## The contract: the clauses that bite

The standard commitment is 12 or 24 months. Some carriers also sell multi-year price-lock packages — two, three or even five years — which are genuinely cheaper per month if you are certain you are staying that long. Pin down three things in writing before you pay: the 合约期, the 违约金 you owe if you end early, and the price the plan renews at after the promotional period. A converged bundle also ties the broadband to your mobile number: stop paying the phone and the broadband goes off with it. And watch for auto-renewal — annual packages often roll into another term rather than simply ending.

- **Contract length** — 12 or 24 months is standard, with longer price-lock deals available. Never sign longer than your lease or your visa.
- **Early-termination penalty** — Expect to return the equipment and pay a 违约金 — commonly one to two months of the fee, or clawback of the discount you already received. Get the figure. ⚠️ 待人工确认
- **Year-two pricing** — Ask what it renews at. The jump out of a first-year promotion is where most of the budget disappointment lives.
- **Bundle lock-in** — In a 融合套餐 the broadband and the mobile number are one account. Miss the phone bill and the internet stops too.

## Moving out: cancel, move the line, or hand it over

Leaving the country is where this gets expensive, because a fixed-line account in your name does not close by itself and is very hard to close from abroad. There are three exits, in ascending order of cost. 移机 — if you are only moving within Beijing, the carrier relocates the service to the new address for a flat fee, usually far less than breaking the contract. 过户 — transfer the account to your landlord or the next tenant at a carrier store; they take on the contract and you walk away clean. 销户 — cancel outright: return the 光猫, the set-top box, the remote and the cables to a carrier-owned 营业厅, settle any balance and collect your deposit. Whichever you pick, do it while you are still in China and not in your final week: the store visit, the equipment check and the refund all happen in person, and you want the receipt in your hand.

- **Do it in person** — Cancellation normally needs a carrier-owned 营业厅, the account holder's ID and the physical equipment. Not a phone call, not an app. ⚠️ 待人工确认
- **Return everything** — 光猫, IPTV box, remote, power cables and the original packaging if you kept it. Missing items come out of your deposit.
- **Get the closure receipt** — The 销户单 proves the account is shut. Photograph it — it is your protection against a bill turning up next year.
- **Prefer 移机 or 过户** — Moving the line or handing it to the next tenant is nearly always cheaper than paying the 违约金.
- **Do not leave it to the last week** — Allow several working days for the store visit, the balance settlement and the deposit refund.

## Related Beijing guides

If this was useful, these cover the questions that usually come next:

- **Staying Longer in Beijing** — /guides/beijing-long-stay-guide/
- **Connectivity: Short Trip vs Long Stay** — /guides/beijing-connectivity-short-trip-vs-long-stay/
- **Internet in China** — /guides/internet-in-china/
- **Renting an Apartment in Beijing** — /guides/renting-apartment-beijing-foreign-students/
- **VPN and VPS for a Long Stay** — /guides/longstay-vpn-vps-protocol-choice/

- **Ask the 物业 first** — Which carriers serve the building decides everything else. Ask before you compare a single price.
- **Never sign longer than your lease** — Take the shortest 合约期 that still covers your lease and your visa.
- **Get a Chinese SIM before you order** — No mainland number means no booking, no technician call and no verification code.
- **Photograph the 光猫 and the work order** — Account number, serial and proof of contract — all on install day.
- **Buy your own router if you work from home** — The free gateway rarely covers a concrete flat, and the uplink is what matters for calls.
- **Avoid agent kiosks** — Use the official app or a carrier-owned 营业厅. Commission-sold bundles are the classic trap.
- **Close the account before you fly** — Cancel, move or transfer it in person, and keep the 销户单 receipt.

## Where to stay

**KOULING Ruiyue Hotel** — 5m from Guogongzhuang Metro Station · 9.6/10 · US$26  
View hotel: https://12001.net/hotels/ruiyue/

KOULING Ruiyue is 5 metres from Guogongzhuang Metro (Line 9 / Fangshan Line), rated 9.6/10, rooms from US$26. It is a sensible base for the gap between signing the lease and the technician arriving: free Wi-Fi to keep working while you wait, free laundry, and a front desk that can help with the carrier paperwork in Chinese. Ask about monthly rates.

## Where to stay

**KOULING Hotel Beijing Donggaodi** — 7 min walk to Wufutang Metro Station (Line 8) · 9.4/10 · US$19  
View hotel: https://12001.net/hotels/donggaodi/

KOULING Donggaodi has free laundry and parking, a 7-minute walk to Wufutang Metro (Line 8), rooms from US$19, rated 9.4/10. Useful if you are furnishing the flat and waiting on an install slot — park the car, run the washing machine, and work off the hotel's Wi-Fi in the meantime.

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Source: https://12001.net/guides/home-broadband-beijing-rental-setup/  
© KOULING Hotels