发展中国家冒险之旅：更改手机号码 Adventures in a developing country

Because my wife was working in Tianjin a few years ago, I naively thought it would be a convenient place to sign up for phone service.

因为我妻子几年前在天津工作，我天真地以为用当地的手机号码会很方便。

What I didn't realize was that my colleagues in Beijing would ignore my calls because they thought a scammer was targeting them from another city.

让我没想到的是，我在北京的同事会不接我的电话，因为他们以为我的电话是从另一个城市打来的诈骗电话。

In the end, however, this wasn't the biggest problem. That honor goes to canceling the number at the end of the contract.

不过最后，这还不是最大的问题，最大的问题是合同结束时取消号码。

I'll say here that my provider, China Unicom, delivered terrific monthly service.

在这里我想说的是，我的手机供应商中国联通(ChinaUnicom)为我提供了非常棒的服务。

I could acquire a cell signal from just about anywhere, the internet service was fast, the price was low.

我在任何地方都能获得手机信号，互联网速度很快，价格也很低。

I was in no hurry to drop the number. After all, it appeared on my business cards.

我并不急于注销这个号码。毕竟，我的名片写的就是这个号码。

But my wife kept finding better deals. She has an uncanny ability to spot a bargain. On Taobao she's like a heat-seeking missile, and I'd swear I've seen her iPad smoking after she's done with it.

但我妻子一直在寻找更划算的套餐。在发现便宜货这方面，我的妻子仿佛有一种超能力。在淘宝上，她就像一枚寻求便宜货的导弹，我发誓我曾看到她的ipad被她用得冒烟了。

It was no surprise, then, that one day she found a great phone deal here in Beijing — and with China Unicom, no less, which I already liked.

因此，某天她在北京找到了一笔很划算的手机套餐时，我并不觉得惊讶。那时我还是很喜欢中国联通(ChinaUnicom)。

So my first order of business was to cancel the old number. Easy, I thought.

所以我的第一个任务就是注销原来的号码。我本来以为应该会很容易。

Guess again. I was shocked to learn that to accomplish this I would have to travel to Tianjin and appear IN PERSON at the company's office with my photo ID.

你们猜怎么了，让我吃惊的是，要想注销号码，我必须带上我的身份证亲自前往天津联通营业厅去注销。

It seems in a developing country that you cannot make such arrangements by telephone or internet.

在一个发展中国家，似乎无法通过电话或互联网注销手机号码。

Worse, if you have a refund coming, there's more pain in store for your posterior.

更糟糕的是，如果你需要退款，麻烦会更多。

To collect your money, you must make a second trip to the office to appear IN PERSON after the contract expires.

为了拿到退款，你必须在合同期满后再亲自去一趟营业厅。

That you simply want a different number from the same company matters not.

你只想要一个来自同一家公司的不同号码并不重要。

China Unicom in Beijing is a separate division from China Unicom in Tianjin, and they're not integrated. Accounts are not fungible.

北京的中国联通与天津的中国联通是相互独立的两个部门，他们不是一个整体，号码也不能通用。

Look, I understand about developing countries. Business systems may not be as polished as they are where I come from.

看吧，我了解发展中国家。它们的业务系统可能没有发达国家那么完善。

In the United States, for example, I would simply call my phone provider, identify myself with the last four digits of the credit card I used when I signed up, and that's it. Ta-da! Voila! Bingo! No more phone number. Alternatively, I could do the deed online.

例如，在美国，我会打电话给我的手机运用商，用我注册时使用的信用卡的最后四位数来证明自己的身份就可以注销号码。或者，我也可以在网上注销。

Not here.

这里却不行。

And so, for the better part of a day last weekend, I trekked glumly to Tianjin and back via train and taxi for a transaction that should have been easy to fulfill without leaving home: "Please cancel."

因此，上个周末的大部分时间里，我乘火车和出租车，闷闷不乐地长途跋涉到天津后返回北京，完成了一项应该本来在家里就可以很容易完成的小事——注销手机号码。

Getting a new number from China Unicom in Beijing was a snap.

在北京注册中国联通(ChinaUnicom)新号码是件轻而易举的事。

The office is located near home, so showing up in person was no problem.

营业厅离家很近，所以亲自过去是没有问题的。

But I was curious about the cancellation policy. Surprise! The same rules apply. If you ever want to cancel, you must show up in person again, even if you live in sub-Saharan Africa.

但我对手机号码注销规定很好奇。令我意外的是，北京的手机号码注销规则与天津是一样的。如果你想取消，即使你住在撒哈拉以南的非洲，你也必须再亲自跑一趟。

The final step in getting the Beijing number was the most interesting.I was asked to gaze into a camera, like you do at the bank.

拿到北京的手机号码的最后一步是最有趣的。他们要求我盯着摄像机，就像你在银行办理业务那样。

But the agent didn't just snap a picture: He asked me to bob my head up and down a few times. And then again. And again.

但营业厅工作人员人并不只是简单地拍了一张照片，还让我把头抬起再低下反反复复做了好几次。

That's weird, I thought. Suddenly it dawned on me: He's capturing facial recognition information for a database.

我感觉很奇怪。后来，我突然明白了：他正在为数据库获取面部识别信息。

You'd think a telecommunications giant capable of handling technology like that ought to be able to do a little thing like change a customer's phone number without forcing him to travel in person to Timbuktu — or Tianjin. Maybe customer service is just one of those things that's developing.

你可能会认为，一个有能力处理这种技术的电信巨头，应该能够解决一些小事，比如更改客户的电话号码，而不必强迫他亲自前往廷巴克图(Timbuktu)或天津去更改。也许客户服务只是正在发展的事物之一。