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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."
They are also offering BB100, a 100Mbps service, that is similar to the price of regular ADSL in Hong Kong.
More information here: http://bb100.hkbn.net/BB100/index_e.htm
While per megabyte/second it seems very cheap, you have to consider what your internet usage actually is. If you're only using the internet for an hour or two a day (and who among us doesn't?), then this faster speed internet is a lot more expensive than normal slower service. You're paying more, but not using more. That's not a better value, that's getting ripped off.
Even if you had this faster pipe, what would you do with it? Download more porn? Upload more MP3s?
I see the benefit for a fatter pipe for businesses who need to serve up large amounts of data, but for the average user, faster does very little. It's nothing like the jump from dialup to broadband. We are as fast as we need to be. Page downloads are already instantaneous, how can you seriously improve over instantaneous.
Actually you can run 1 Gb/s over Cat5e cabling. Cat6 is just better suited for it
Don't you hate pants?
Well it will be as soon as someone installs a WiFi AP without changing the default settings. ;-)
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.
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
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.
If China wants to add Taiwan to its territory, why not entice them with offers of free or cheap broadband? This is sure to win more hearts than the current line which is "We'll bomb you to bits and kill you all if you acknowledge the obvious fact that you've been an independent country for 50 years."
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Is that the opposite of a Communist Sandbox? Remember the old joke: "What do you get if you bring communism to the Sahara Desert? Well, at first, nothing. Then, after 10 years, you get a shortage of sand."
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
DVD-quality digital broadcasts, and VOIP-like service (?)
sounds interesting to me.
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.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
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.
Ofcourse ,You need to stop complaining now as the people of Peru are far worse off than you and they shouldnt complain as the people of Papua new guinea are worse off than them and.... so the beat goes on
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
With peer-to-peer, the more popular a download is, the faster it can be downloaded. The limit is the speed of the internet connections of those trading file pieces. There is no central bottleneck. With a few high speed connections uploading, everyone's downloads will be faster.
I'll probably be modded down for this...
Oh come on... This is /., we all know that stack of Playboys under your bed is just an offline backup in case your internet connection fails.
home
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.
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.
But the commercial motivation is probably video on demand, and video phones.
cHina is not monitoring mE. if you think that, you reaLly need to see a Psychiatrist imMEdiately.