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1Gbps Broadband Service for Hong Kong
Limax Maximus writes "Hong Kong is planning to launch a 1Gbps broadband home service. Although the idea of using shared infrastructure is nothing new for TV/phone/data this appears to be the first to do this over IP at such high speed. The cost is high - 215 USD a month. Per megabit, however, this is a very cheap service. This kind of solution only really works in town blocks where cat5 cabling is a realistic option."
A lot of Hong Kongers, especially the adolescents, are file-sharers, and are quite fed up with other ISPs in the region, especially the two leading ISPs, Netvigator and HK Cable.
Also, for tech-related services, adolescents in the households tend to be the decision-makers.
Hong-kong has been kept in a sort of Capitalist sand-box in many ways , so it does not suffer the same restrictions as the rest of china. iirc
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
1 gbps is more bandwidth than an OC-48, which run for about 700,000 US dollars/month. I understand that consumers will only use a tiny fraction of their allocated bandwidth, and they don't demand the level of stability that an enterprise line needs. Still, you've got to figure that the ISP need to dedicate at least 50mbps of bandwidth to each customer (approx a DS3), and that would still be about $15,000 a month.
No, our net access is not regulated or monitored by China. China has to maintain some distance from us until 2047, and any action that reeks of Beijing's hand would be met with massive resistance in HK.
Hong Kongers love their market economy and freedoms, often citing it as an example of why HK is a better place to live and work than other rivals in the region like Singapore and Shanghai.
In Japan, you can get 100mps fiber for about $55 a month. That's not nearly as fast, but it's quick enought for anything you might need and lots cheaper.
Still too expensive?, try 40 mps ADSL for about $20 a month...
It is trying to narrow that gap, surely.
However, by law it can't meddle all that much with Hong Kong's affairs, at least not without violating their agreement with the British and pissing off Hong Kong's 7 million people (and many in China who view Hong Kong as a democratic beacon of hope).
After a massive protest in HK, China decided to lay off enforcing Article 23, which dealt with subversion. It also lead, indirectly, to the Chief Executive (our leader) getting sacked. The debate now is when (not if) Hong Kong will be able to elect its own leaders.
There's a large voice of dissent in Washington against China, especially with their yuan policy. I suppose that may be the reason the US sees things over here in a very negative light.
This kind of solution only really works in town blocks where cat5 cabling is a realistic option.
While technically it's often possible to do gigabit ethernet with CAT5, the article actually mentions that the cable drops are CAT5e.
That's not so much China-imposed censorship than censorship by Hong Kongers who are pro-China. It's not so much about politics as it is about business.
Many in the media feel if they report against China's wishes, they will be left out. It's not all too different from what many in the US media feel about the White House.
In any case, the two leading English-language newspapers are, AFAIK, not censored.
FTA "Cisco's ONS 15454 MSPP enables the carrier to converge its legacy voice and data services and a new pay-TV service into a single platform, and at the same time offer Layer 2 and 3 IP services using Resilient Packet Ring (RPR)-ready ML Series line cards. The network enables HKBN to deliver up to 200 digital pay-TV channels via MPEG-2 at 4.5 Mbps to 10 Mbps with DVD visual quality. Its service also features interactive pay-TV elements and enables PC or TV connection with the aid of a set-top box."
No we're not. I can download as much porn, and read as much American/Falun Gong/Tibetan propaganda as I like. They do censor nipples on TV, but I gather you get that too.
There isn't any "imposed", but much of the media is owned by moguls who suck up to Beijing to further their business interests. But notably critical of China is Jimmy Lai's Next and Apple Daily, (along with showbiz gossip). In HK we still have a local relay of the BBC World Service on AM radio, unchanged from before the handover.
The only parts of America that are behind are the areas with monopolistic corporations that have no motivation to offer a more powerful service. In East Wenatchee, WA, the Douglas County Public Utilities District has laid fiber to the demarc( yes, to each and single house) and is offering 100 mbps symmetrical fiber internet service for $39.95/month. http://www.localtelonline.com/dbf.htm The PUD can get away with trampling all over inferior competing providers without getting sued by Charter and Verizon because the city isn't large enough to fight over.
There is no such thing as "unlimited" in Australian Technology.
You're with the wrong ISP. To plug the one I'm with:
ISP.net.au
I just upgraded to the 1.5/256 unlimited plan, and I use quite a lot of the bandwidth on.... err... research. Yeah, research. *cough*
Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
cat5 and cat5e are completely seperate things. Also, cat5e can only handle 1Gb over short distances, which would not be applicable to this sort of situation.
So no, it should be cat6.