FAST internet?

[JELLOS83]

Hi

I am a freelance translator and next fall I will study in Beijing. I won't want stay in the dorm of the uni but I will rent a place of my own. Since time is money, real quick internet connections are essential. Is it easy to install a modem with a very fast internet connection and how much does it cost per month?

Thanking you in advance

Jelle

[roddy]

Any apartment you're likely to rent in Beijing will already have Internet up and running. Speeds of 1M/2M are fairly common - I'm currently on 1M and should be up to 2M next month. Exact costs I can't remember, something like 140Y/160Y respectively. Domestic connections go up to 8M now, although for 4M and over you may need to have an engineer round.

[BrandeX]

3M here is something like 120 a month if you get a 1 year contract. Thats the highest avail from China Telecom

[guillaumeowl]

Jello, do you have to study in Beijing?

If not, have a look at Kunming. It is often the place foreigners chose when they want to avoid the over-crowded and over-expansive Beijing and Shanghai! It is also well connected by air to the rest of the Country (Beijing, Shanghai Hong Kong) for international flights. Bangkok is only 2 hours away, from there a cheap bus ride takes you to the fantastic Thai beaches:D Yes, I live in Kunming and i like it! The coldest we have in winter is around 5º celsius and temperature for most of the year are around 20ºcelsius. This is why the Chinese nickname of Kunming is spring city.

For the internet you should have a look at "China Tietong" which almost always beats China Telecom on price. For the quality of the service, well... this is china. So if speed and connection quality are essential for your work i would advice you to overkill. If you are used to a 2MB at home try to get a 8MB here in China.

[greenleaf1348]

how is the internet in Kunming actually?? I'm more concerned about latency than speed.

kind of OT, but Bangkok - Kunming is on Thai Airways right? or is there a cheaper carrier...

[guillaumeowl]

I do not know the technical details of my connection, but it seems to me that the connection is not very stable.

On the up side I have to say that most of the time my connection speed is far greater now with China Tietong (with 4MB ADSL-1080rmb/year) that i used to have only 3 months ago with China Telecom (with 2MB ADSL-1500rmb/year). I do peer to peer and i used to be happy when my connection reached 30k/s and it was usually around 15-20k, now it goes rarely under 20k, is usually around 50k and somedays it stay around 80-100k for hours. Getting the latest episode of my favorites show is now usually done in one night, when it would takes days before!

On the down side i have to acknowledge that 2-3 days in a months my connection is so bad that i just give-up peer to peer. Also, 1-2 days a week the connection will be very slow during the first hour and then come back to normal, or they would be moment during the day when it get horribly slow for an hour or two and then back to normal.

Still overall i am far better off with Tietong that China Telecom.

What does OT means?

I am pretty sure that Air China also makes the connection to Bangkok.

[roddy]

Try a speed test on a local server here - that'll tell you what happens when you're not trying to download stuff from abroad.

kind of OT, but . .

Very OT A quick search and if you can't find the answer a new topic would be better.