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Olympic Media Village – Most Expensive Internet In the World?
An anonymous reader writes "Working for the Olympics as an IT contractor, I recently moved to the Media Village (where all of the reporters live) and was surprised the there was no free internet. BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games) is charging a ridiculous amount of money for ADSL service: for 512/512 it costs 7712.5 RMB (1131.20 USD); for 1M/512 it costs 9156.25 (1342.95 USD); for 2M/512 it costs a whopping 11,700 RMB (1716.05 USD). That is for only one month! For extra features like a fixed IP? That costs an additional 450 RMB (66 USD). I just can't believe that not only do I have to deal with the Great Firewall of China, but also pay through the nose to use it!"
I just can't believe that not only do I have to deal with the Great Firewall of China, but also pay through the nose to use it!
As far as I remember, it is a specific requirement from IOC that the journalists have full access to the entire internet, so probably the connections go past the firewall. That said, it is still ridiculously expensive ;-)
Oh please.. I pay about $6k/mo. for my business's Internet connection (2mbps).
I am not an Internet company. This is for our office of 17 employees.
SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS A MONTH!
And yes, they do block things at will here too. They didn't in the past (at least not for the businesses in the free zones). Now they do.
So, sorry.. no sympathy here.
This guy must be a noob. Try get the same kind of service any any kind of national conventions in US, then you wouldn't be surprises with how much they charge.
In Beijing across the street from the train station, you'll find the International Youth Hostel. On the third floor there's the backpackers' club where they have six machines hooked up to the internet.
They charge 3RMB an hour. If you book it for the entire month, I'm sure it would cost much less than 7712.5RMB :)
For your information, a hostel room with two beds costs 180RMB and you share the shower/sinks/bathrooms. I stayed there for a couple of days. It was worth every penny and it was impeccably clean. I highly recommend it.
Internet cafes are still only 1 dollar an hour, and our office here in Beijing's connection with 2MBps up/down and 4 static IPs is about $130/month.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
Yes it does - that way you can charge twice as much. Seems the chinese have really got the hang of this capitalism thing.
I will have a sig when the market demands it.
That's not outrageous, the company I work for paid roughly the same prices for a 3 day convention at the Opryland/Gaylord Hotel in Nashville TN.
[translation]Fuck you Chinese government! I really would like to say more than just these few words but the high charges aren't affordable. If only I could be able to write that I disapprove entirely of these high charges I wouldn't have to be abbreviated and could say if I have been abused or tortured or not. If I could afford to tell if I have been tortured, trust me, I would just say it. Anyway, I will have to sign off now because I am late for a protest march in Tiananmen Square. I should be back soon, sorry I had to make this so short. Next time I will see if I can get a discount or not. I will see you later, bye bye \. ..By the way, what did you think of the Batman movie? It was awsome! You really should see it if you get the chance. Heath Ledger was good, I think Oscar for sure, not [saying that] just out of sympathy. Now I will see you later, bye bye, \.[/translation]
Just callin' it like I see it.
TITLE: New charges suck
Fuck you China Government. I really would like to say more than just these few words, but the high charges are not affordable.
If only I could be able to write that I disapprove entirely of these high charges I wouldn't have to be abbreviated and could say if I have been abused or tortured or not.
If I could afford to tell if I have been tortured trust me I would just say it.
Anyway I will have to sign off now because I'm late for a protest march in Tianamen Square.
I should be back soon, sorry I had to make this so short.
Next time I will see if I can get a discount or not.
Laters, bye bye \.
By the way, (i) what did you think of the Batman movie? It was awesome, you really should see it if you get the chance. Heath Ledger was good, I think Oscar for sure, not just out of sympathy.
Anyway, I will see you later, bye bye \.
> stick a satellite dish out your window
This is illegal in China unless you have authorized licenses to do so, and acquiring a license is time-consuming.
However, sharing the connection using a wireless router sounds fine.
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
News flash: Define "China". Hong Kong and a couple of other cities? Sure. But communist China is still alive and well. See Special Economic Zones.
Oh and just because the US defines a country a certain way, doesn't mean it's true. See People's Republic of China versus Republic of China, and don't let the names give you any assumptions.
Seriously, a lot of America needs a history lesson before we're going to start to understand what's backing a lot of Chinese decisions.
try going to a Conference/Exhibition. At BIO 2008 in San Diego, you were paying about that much for 4 days internet access.
I lived in Beijing until very recently and the lowest cost was about 99rmb per month (3month contract) for a 10Mbps connection w/o any limits. That was a static private IP.
ADSL with a dynamic/public IP started at about the same for 512/512 and went up from there.
Pretty cheap, I thought.
Max.
Heh, the prices are... interesting. Normally 10M optical cable with 32 fixed IP addresses costs about 8000-9000 RMB a month in Beijing. The kind of 2M/512k ADSL you mentioned costs 180RMB per month from the same ISP that is taking 11700RMB in the olympic village for it.
You use your own VPN anyway if you care.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
There's no competition -- Olympic vendors are given monopolies.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
They have been moving somewhat but they are going to get lots of bad press during the next couple of weeks.
Here are some examples
Lots of live concerts, inside bars, non-government concert halls, etc have been told they could not perform, via a police crackdown. Also since any live concert of any type needs a permit the office giving those permits has not been giving them out to non-government organized events for the past months, for the time during and leading to the olympics.
large parts of the city have been placed off limits to anyone who does not have business in that area, and if are a tourist you have no business.
Restaurants are being told what they can serve during the Olymipic time period.
Doctors are being told that they cannot perform elective medical surgery, this is more because the government wants to make sure enough trained medical personal are available.
Everyone is required to carry ID and police are allow to stop and perform full searches and verifiication of residence and belongings at any time.
Even more lockdown on travel for Chinesse, it is easier for a forgiener to travel around the country then it is for a citizen.
This guy must be a noob. Try get the same kind of service any any kind of national conventions in US, then you wouldn't be surprises with how much they charge.
Rates for DNC: http://www.qwest.com/dnc/
http://www.qwest.com/dnc/downloads/Democratic_Convention_Rate_Guide_July_2008_v7_16_final.pdf
The organizing committees for the Olympic Games always charge an excessive amount of money for everything. As a contractor, I'm sure you have absolutely no idea what your room is costing, but I'm sure it is around ten thousand dollars for a mere three weeks. And the media housing is not a four star hotel.
Check out the rate card if you are really interested in cost inflation. A chair rental in the press center is usually between $300 and $600. And this is not for a nice adjustable chair--this is for a chair that would cost $30 to $50 retail.
Heck, everyone gets in the act: when I visited China last year, a first class direct business fare from New York City was under $1500. For the Olympics, that same flight was well over $6000.
You may also think the food at local restaurants is affordable, but I can assure you that the local merchants have probably doubled or tripled their prices.
There is nothing given away for free at the Olympics. Except for pins. And you usually have to trade for them.
Incidentally, here are a couple of other quick tips: China is not a democracy, don't drink the water ever (the locals don't), and make time to visit the Great Wall.
--Sam
We did an event in Shanghai for a single day, the internet costs for the event were pretty similar to the prices up north that you're seeing.
The costs for running internet were the same.
Installation fee's were the majority of the cost. The running cost for a business line is 3000 a month here. Installation cost was similar.
Home pricing is cheap in China. Business pricing on the other hand gets to gouging rates.
Lawrence / computersolutions.cn
Even more lockdown on travel for Chinesse, it is easier for a forgiener to travel around the country then it is for a citizen.
I just want to address this last point. It's always easier for a foreigner to do just about anything than it is for a citizen. China is backwards from many countries, particularly from the US, in this respect. Most places, natives have it easy and foreigners are viewed with suspicion, given more difficulty by the government, etc. In China it's the other way around. If you're a foreigner then everything is much easier. Police and government officials are much nicer, the places you're likely to visit are usually cleaner, people in general tend to be more polite. A major exception is prices; things tend to spontaneously become more expensive the moment somebody notices that you're not Chinese.
If you mod me Overrated, you are admitting that you have no penis.
I'm too busy / lazy to google a supporting link, but by contrast the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing committee has promised free (like beer) internet to all media, including 'non acredited' media.