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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."

9 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. shouldnt it be by FidelCatsro · · Score: 2, Interesting
    . This kind of solution only really works in town blocks where cat5 cabling is a realistic option."
    Shouldnt that be Cat6 cabling

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    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  2. what for ...? by xlyz · · Score: 1, Interesting


    really: what the use of such a broad band from a normal user???

  3. Firewall of China? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am assuming that Hong Kong is subject to the same 'Net censorship that the rest of mainland China is? Or is this true?

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    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  4. This already exists in Sweden. by pomac · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In sweden www.bredband2.se offers 1 Gbit connections for 118,60 USD. This is without limits.

    For more information and so forth (in swedish) see www.labs2.se

  5. Thanks to piracy by vitalyb · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Now just everyone pause and think. What would people do with these 1gbit streams if there was no (illegal) downloadable content?

    Sure legal content (without DRM) is also an option but since one is not available right now, we have to rely on piracy to increase the demand for bandwidth.

    1. Re:Thanks to piracy by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Interesting
      In HK if we want pirated DVDs or software, we can buy it for about 50c/disk. Less hassle than downloading mostly. Though I suppose BitTorrent will pick up when people want to see the new episodes of Survivor or whatever. (Even though the overseas bandwidth is capped, local P2P will go much faster once there's a local seed or two.)

      But the commercial motivation is probably video on demand, and video phones.

  6. Re:Ok, since people insist America isn't "behind" by register_ax · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I don't "get it". How does "not having anything in the first place" make it cheaper and easier? I'd guess that there would be no difference either way, and it might be a little easier to upgrade in the US if you have cable conduits all over the cities and wiring in the house for it.

    The reason you don't "get it" is because you don't realize the impact of captalist economies coupled with lack of geographical world knowledge. Market economies work as getting a better product to the people at lower prices. Or in the case of British Virgin Mobile not raping me by locking me into a contract. If people don't realize what's being offered to them, and let's face it, AOL advertising will be the pushing force for wider broadband access although this is changing; people are actually starting to get a clue ...

    To get to my point, since telco lines are leased by large corps whose goal is to profit .. they can do so with cooperation of other circumstance. Namely computers have already been bought, what is it? 80% of American homes spent a couple thousand for computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, sound system, printer, scanner, digital camera, fax ... and we keep adding to the arsenal. Of course we also made way for really cheap computers by buying them very expensively; I saw an add recently for a computer for $300 including flat panel 15in ... wow ... not to mention MIT developing a $100 laptop ... double wow. I'm 21 and when I think of it, this stuff has me taken aback. I can't imagine how older people feel.

    But once again I digress ... companies can continue to rape people here because we don't know AND we don't need more, at least we're given that impression. Do you really think other countries have the same sort of threat of getting sued by the **IA? I know they have threatened, but check out Pirate Bay's legal threats section. That's some crazy stuff that I can't have the luxury of experiencing; I can still have the **IA subpoena my ISP for accessing the site, and then potentially tracking data transfer between that link and me ... I mean they are my ISP afterall (comcast; who also had the nerve to try to buy Disney).

    It's not as easy to just say "hey, let's just change this tire" when the threads are obviously still good. That's the perception we have, and the corps can make more money by not spending. I know this is only one person, but I have a 3 Mb down and 386 Kb up for $45/month. I run a web server and email server. It gets pumped through a openBSD 486dx firewall. I have wireless and what not. I occasionally download from P2P networks but more often from newsgroups. I use the internet extensively. I'm connected by a 1900+ AMD XP, 1 GB of ram on linux. I have no plans for upgrading my computer for at least a couple more years either. For the moment this speed is all I need. Would it not be cheaper and easier to upgrade. I guess I could get a 2800+ AMD and another gig of RAM, but would I really see a difference? Probably not. I don't think the majority of the rest of America would either.

    Then again I see how you have a point. I had 512 MiB of RAM before I upgraded a few months back and 3 years ago I had a 15 flat panel which I gave to my grandmother and got me a 17 in flat panel. But it's not really cheaper because I could never recoup what I already had spent in that case. The ram was a good deal, but that's about all you can "add to" and get more. Most everything else is replacement which is mostly what you would have to do with wires and what not with the telco lines. I don't know though, you could maybe put up a few more COs, but then you would forget my other point above, we're made to think we are doing f

  7. Shut up. by Micah · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I pay $84/month for 128k here in Ecuador. I don't even want to hear this! /me rips out hair

  8. Re:Ok, since people insist America isn't "behind" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Unless there is some horrible form of market failure, it would get produced at about how every much people want.

    You mean "Market Failure" as in lack of education? I bet the masses don't even know they could have been getting TV on their cellphone for years now.

    Of course, its not the fault of capitalism that companies don't educate people about things that they plan on selling as an upgrade in 4 or 5 years to convince people to throw away the old phones and buy new ones.