Fantastic info! Thanks so much for taking the time to write it up. 🙂

CHINA: I bought a SIM card ahead of time from a company called 3G Solutions, which was a really smart idea since they took care of all the bureaucracy and the card was waiting for me at my hotel when I arrived, with English setup instructions. I recommend this since buying a sim card is a really cumbersome experience for foreigners and can take a long time. A really good VPN is a must, since nearly *everything* is blocked by the Great Chinese Firewall. This included Google when I was there, so Gmail, Google Now, Google Maps, and half the features on my Android phone simply didn’t work without VPN. On the other hand, fast internet speeds are available in most major and secondary cities and even in remote areas — I was surprised at how good the data speeds were when passing through populated areas on overnight trains in remote regions of Xinjiang Province, for example. Chinese electrical outlets also accept US/Canadian two-pronged (non-grounded) plugs without adapters. WiFi was easy to find, but a lot of the public and hotel WiFi would block the ports required to access VPN, so you may find yourself counting on mobile data more often than you’d think — buy a good package.

KYRGYZSTAN: I was only in the country for a week and didn’t bother buying a sim card. I found free WiFi surprisingly easy to find, not only in Bishkek but in smaller villages and towns. There was only one day when I couldn’t connect, and that was because I was in a yurt camp near Tash Rabat, which is really the middle of nowhere. Other than that, even community homestays in small villages had free WiFi. There are no restrictions on internet in Kyrgyzstan and I could access everything freely and easily.

UZBEKISTAN: I bought a sim card here, but it was tricky. I needed the help of my friendly local guide, since foreigners can only buy sim cards at official stores and the process is lengthy and cumbersome. Uzbek nationals can buy sim cards from any street stand, but without a national ID, foreigners can forget about it. Once you get your sim card you have to activate it from a different location, and this can take a couple of hours, and it helps if you can read cyrillic since the activation text messages all tend to be in Uzbek or Russian. Once it was activated, my phone had trouble automatically picking up the mobile data settings, and I had to manually copy them from my guide. Connection speeds were pretty good in Tashkent and Samarkand but slow elsewhere. Also, all tech in Uzbekistan — laptops, cameras, phones — is subject to search and seizure by the police at any time, and they WILL stop and search you if they see you taking a photo in vaguely the wrong direction (which could be anywhere) or if they’re simply having a slow day. Make sure your tech is squeaky clean before crossing borders, don’t take photos of any government buildings, subway stations, anything vaguely military, anywhere within viewing distance of a border, etc. Also this should go without saying, but make sure you have nothing on your phone or computer that could be considered religious materials, pornography, illegal activity, etc. They may never check, but then again, they might. WiFi is widely available too, but I found VPN was useful as some social media sites were blocked — not nearly as bad as China, but I did encounter some issues with things like Foursquare and Twitter.

Happy to help guys. It’s been an interesting trip so far.