How to Call China from the US (2026 Guide)

China is one of the most-called countries from the United States. Chinese numbers are among the dearest we connect — $1.37/min to landlines and $1.37/min to mobiles through TwinPhone, because Chinese carriers charge high termination fees on incoming international calls and few international routes into China still accept calls from internet providers. The cost is only half the problem. The complexity is.

The first issue is the Great Firewall. China blocks most Western VoIP services, messaging apps, and websites. Google Voice, Skype (now defunct), FaceTime, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger — none of these work reliably inside China without a VPN. If the person you're calling is in China and tries to use any of these apps, they'll likely fail or have severe quality issues.

This means app-to-app calling, which works great for most countries, is unreliable for China. The person on the Chinese end would need a VPN running consistently, and even then, connection quality suffers because VPN traffic gets throttled.

The practical implication: if you want to reliably reach someone in China, you need to call their actual phone number — a Chinese landline or mobile. This bypasses the Great Firewall entirely because the call enters China's telephone network through legitimate international gateways, not through the internet.

That's where VoIP services like TwinPhone come in. Your side of the call travels over the internet (encrypted with TLS + SRTP), but it connects to China's phone network through proper interconnect agreements. The person in China just answers their regular phone. No VPN needed, no app needed on their end, no firewall issues.

The second issue is that US carriers charge outrageous rates for calls to China. AT&T charges $5.00/min without a plan. Even with T-Mobile's international add-on, you're paying for a monthly fee plus per-minute charges that add up fast. TwinPhone charges $1.37/min to Chinese landlines and $1.37/min to mobiles, billed by the minute and rounded up, with no monthly fee — cheaper than a carrier's no-plan rate, dearer than an add-on if you call China every week.

Here are the five realistic options, with honest assessments of each.

1. TwinPhone (Browser-Based VoIP)

TwinPhone routes your call over the internet to China's phone network. You dial from your browser — no app, no download, no contract. Calls to Chinese landlines cost $1.37/min and mobiles $1.37/min, billed by the minute and rounded up with a one-minute minimum. Every call is encrypted with TLS + SRTP. The person in China answers their normal phone, so the Great Firewall is irrelevant.

Best for: reaching a Chinese phone number occasionally, from any country, with no US number and no subscription. It is not the cheapest per minute — Google Voice is, if you have a US number.

2. WeChat Voice/Video Call (App-to-App)

WeChat is the one messaging app that actually works in China — it's Chinese-made and has over a billion users. If the person you're calling uses WeChat, you can make free voice and video calls. The catch: both sides need WeChat installed, and you need to be contacts within the app. Call quality depends on both sides having good internet.

Best for: calling someone who uses WeChat and has reliable internet access on their end.

3. Your Mobile Carrier's International Plan

AT&T without a plan: $5.00/min. AT&T International Day Pass: $12/day. T-Mobile Stateside International: $15/month plus per-minute fees. Verizon: similarly expensive. These plans are designed to nickel-and-dime you. The per-minute rates look okay until you add the monthly fees and realize you're paying far more than VoIP.

Best for: someone making a single emergency call who doesn't have time to set up an alternative.

4. Calling Cards

Prepaid calling cards for China can offer rates as low as $0.02-0.05/min. But the advertised rate is almost never the real rate. Connection fees ($5-1.00 per call), maintenance fees (weekly balance deductions), and per-minute rounding inflate the actual cost significantly. Some cards also have terrible audio quality on China routes.

Best for: people calling from a landline without internet access.

5. Google Voice

Google Voice can reach Chinese landlines and mobiles. The downsides: you need a US phone number to set it up, the interface isn't optimized for international calling, and call quality to China can be inconsistent. Also, Google Voice is blocked inside China, so it only works for outbound calls from the US — the person in China can't call you back through Google Voice.

Best for: existing Google Voice users who want cheap China rates and don't mind occasional quality issues.

Method	Landline Rate	Mobile Rate	Billing	Connection Fee	Encryption	Setup
TwinPhone	$1.37/min	$1.37/min	Per minute	None	TLS + SRTP	30 seconds
AT&T (no plan)	~$5.00/min	~$5.00/min	Per minute	Varies	Standard	Existing plan
T-Mobile Stateside	Add-on rate	Add-on rate	Per minute	$15/mo fee	Standard	Add-on required
Calling Card	$0.02-0.05/min	$0.03-0.08/min	Per minute	$5-1.00	None	Purchase card
WeChat	Free	Free	N/A	None	Encrypted	Both need app
Google Voice	Published, not shown pre-dial	—	Per minute	None	Yes	US number required

*T-Mobile rates vary by plan and may change without notice.

Notice that our China rate is the same for landlines and mobiles, unlike many countries where mobile calls cost 2-3x more. That means you don't need to worry about whether you're calling a landline or a mobile in China — the dialer shows the rate before the call connects either way.

Getting the number format right is essential. Here's everything you need.

Country Code: +86

All calls to China start with +86 (or 011-86 from a US landline). Drop any leading zero from the Chinese number when dialing internationally.

City Codes for Landlines

Chinese landline numbers use city codes of 2-3 digits. Major cities:

• Beijing: 10
• Shanghai: 21
• Guangzhou: 20
• Shenzhen: 755
• Chengdu: 28
• Hangzhou: 571
• Nanjing: 25
• Wuhan: 27
• Xi'an: 29
• Tianjin: 22

Landline numbers after the city code are typically 8 digits in major cities and 7 digits in smaller cities.

Mobile Number Prefixes

Chinese mobile numbers are 11 digits long and start with specific prefixes that indicate the carrier:

• 13X (130-139): Various carriers
• 15X (150-159): Various carriers
• 17X (170-179): Newer allocations, virtual operators
• 18X (180-189): Various carriers
• 19X: Newer allocations

Mobile numbers don't use city codes. A Chinese mobile number looks like: +86 13X-XXXX-XXXX.

How to Format a Complete Call

To call a Beijing landline: +86 10 XXXX-XXXX To call a Shanghai landline: +86 21 XXXX-XXXX To call a Chinese mobile: +86 13X-XXXX-XXXX

In TwinPhone, type the full number starting with +86 and hit call. No need to add extra digits or carrier codes.

Time Zone: CST (China Standard Time)

All of China uses a single time zone: CST, which is UTC+8. That's 13 hours ahead of US Eastern time (during EST) or 12 hours ahead (during EDT). This means when it's 8 PM in New York, it's 8 AM or 9 AM the next day in China.

Practical calling windows:

• To catch someone in China during their morning (8-11 AM CST): call between 7-10 PM Eastern the previous evening
• To catch someone during Chinese business hours (9 AM-6 PM CST): call between 8 PM-5 AM Eastern
• Weekend calls are easiest — you can call at a reasonable US evening time and reach them on a weekend morning

WeChat as an Alternative

WeChat (微信, Weixin) is essentially China's everything app — messaging, payments, social media, and voice/video calls rolled into one. Nearly everyone in China uses it. If you're in regular contact with someone in China, having WeChat on your phone is almost mandatory for casual communication. Use TwinPhone when you need to reach their actual phone number — when they're away from Wi-Fi, when you need to call a business, or when WeChat connectivity is poor.

Here's how to make your first call to China in under a minute:

1. Visit Twin-Phone.com and create an account with your email or Google login.
2. Add credit from $10. No subscription, no monthly fee. Your balance doesn't expire.
3. Open the dialer, type +86 followed by the city code and number (landline) or the full 11-digit mobile number.
4. Check the per-minute rate the dialer shows for that number.
5. Hit call. The connection routes through TwinPhone's encrypted network to China's phone system.

Calls are encrypted on the internet side with TLS + SRTP, and billed per minute, rounded up — a 45-second call bills as one full minute. The adaptive audio technology maintains call quality even when your internet connection fluctuates.

For the latest China rates, visit our China rates page. If you're comparing VoIP options, see our Google Voice vs TwinPhone comparison for a detailed breakdown.

Calling other Asian countries too? Check out our guide on how to call India from the US for similar tips and rate comparisons.