Alternative to PCCW?

[greeneyedmoth]

Hi all,

Need your help on this one, I just moved out of a hotel where I had HGC as an internet provider. The connection wasn't stable but the price was good... now I've moved and can't get HGC where I'm living... after many frustrating phone calls trying to get a hold of pccw... ugh.... found out that I'll be paying upwards of $200 and have to sign a 18 month contract...

Any other IP's out there that have reasonable rates and 6 month, 12 month or no contract? Don't want to sign up with PCCW unless ABSOLUTELY necessary

Thanx.

[jayinhongkong]

Try I-Cable. I don't think they're much cheaper than PCCW though. http://www.i-cable.com

[PDLM]

But you're sharing bandwidth up to the head end, and the customer service in English is non-existent.

HK$200 per month for an 8MB broadband connection seems reasonable to me - what would you regard as "reasonable"?

[Claire ex-ax]

You may find HGC can connect there but it might take a couple of weeks for "permission" to use the line from PCCW.

[hk.com]

netfront, diyixian, cyber express, zonasa, all good companies that you won't have heard off as they focus on service rathern than marketing.

[PDLM]

And they are cheaper than PCCW, despite actually using PCCW's infrastructure to provide their service?

[KnowItAll]

>> And they are cheaper than PCCW, despite actually using PCCW's
>> infrastructure to provide their service?

Some of them can be, as they buy PCCW last mile connects in bulk and have their own HKIX and international connections.

[hk.com]

And they are cheaper than PCCW, despite actually using PCCW's infrastructure to provide their service?

No they are not cheaper, but the stress hassle of dealing with PCCW I think it is well worth paying the price difference. You can actually call these companies and get customer service.

The misleading "they just resell PCCW services, or use PCCW infrastructure" has contributed to the demise or lack of growth of many ISPs in HK. It is sayiing xyz IDD operator is selling PCCW services and using PCCW infrastrcture. In part it is true because there are only 4 companies that own copper but in reality a 3rd party IDD operator is providing a much better service/price than PCCW because they have their own circuits with other International parties.

TO clarify this ISSUE.

These ISP ONLY partly use PCCWs infrastructure, the dummer part of the infrastructure, the local DSL loop which gets the data on down the copper and delivers via fiber to the ISP. For the intelligence, routing to HK and internationall, all these ISPs have their own bandwidth, their own AS numbers and own dedicated fiber connections to HKIX and most certainly don't buy PCCW bandwidth. This why when PCCW fails all the guys guys carry on working. As they are small they can manage their networks well, and control well. Also they don't have the staffing issues that PCCW has.

The part that they get from PCCW performs better than if it is a PCCW circuit.

The ISPs monitor the DSL loop and if there is lack of performance congestion they will get on PCCW case and demmand that they get you the performance that they are paying for. In fact in the case of Netfront they can do about 25% above the advertise throughput. If you are Netvigator user, the local loop/DSL can be oversold/maxed/ congested, no one is going to do anything for you. Plus you have to have the skills to be able to detect and report this to PCCW.

Many of these small ISPs will give you 1 fixed IP for your home so you can access your music or data from anywhere.

[pinko]

found out that I'll be paying upwards of $200 and have to sign a 18 month contract...

If you do sign a contract with PCCW (my advise: DON'T), don't forget to go to the branch and actually read through the contract. Don't just agree on the phone, because they are famous for promising this, that, and the moon and then saying that they never promised these things and charge you double as much, and make the contract for a 24 months instead of 18 as they promised on the phone.

[FilipH]

Try i-cable. Although i hate they use verbal contracts + you have to sign 18 months, it is cheap and i find it quite fast.