View Poll Results: Which one are you using?

Voters
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  • PCCW (Netvigator/Now TV)

    20 83.33%
  • HKBB (Fiber and BBTV)

    1 4.17%
  • HGC

    0 0%
  • iCable (cable TV and internet)

    4 16.67%
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Internet+Phone+TV service? (PCCW, HKBB, iCable, HGC etc.)

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
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    Hong Kong
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    A couple of quick points:

    - the faster internet connection being offered is 30Mbit/s, not 13 (although whether you would actually ever achieve close to that speed to any overseas sites is debatable.
    - that 30Mbit/s deal seems a little poor. I am paying $227/month and that includes the modem/router rental and a couple of free premium channels (as well as all the free ones).

    However, I didn't get the Wellcome dollars, so if you call that $20/month I guess there's less in it.

    As far as I know I don't have (and have no need for) the 3G or wireless stuff.

    At 30Mbit/s they give you a box which is both a VDSL modem and a wireless router in one. You can't (except with a lot of technical faffing around) use your own modem, but you could put your own router behind that box if you wished to.

    To get NOW TV you need a NOW TV box (which you must already have since you say you have been paying for some premium channels). If you don't pay for any premium channels you will still be able to watch the free ones that come via that box.

    You quite possibly also have a straight antenna connection to your TV from the wall, which is linked to the building antenna system and is nothing at all to do with NOW/Netvigator.

    Rayzilla likes this.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Discovery Bay
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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    ...
    - that 30Mbit/s deal seems a little poor. I am paying $227/month and that includes the modem/router rental and a couple of free premium channels (as well as all the free ones).
    ...

    To get NOW TV you need a NOW TV box (which you must already have since you say you have been paying for some premium channels). If you don't pay for any premium channels you will still be able to watch the free ones that come via that box.

    You quite possibly also have a straight antenna connection to your TV from the wall, which is linked to the building antenna system and is nothing at all to do with NOW/Netvigator.
    Thanks again PDLM.

    I am leaning towards sticking with the 6MB/s Plan since it seems to be working fast enough for our surfing needs. The free modem rental simplifies that package for us.

    PCCW will probably take the NOW box away since we will be canceling those Pay Channel features. We didn't buy the box (at least not that I am aware of). My wife signed on to this package before I arrived a month later so I do not really know the details of our previous obligations.

    1) That's interesting information about the cable/antenna. Does that mean that the $199 fee is only for the Internet connection then?

    2) Can you use one company, i.e. PCCW, for the land phone line and another company, i.e. Netmail Plus, for the Internet connection?

    3) And are there any comments/experiences with HKBB services?

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    1) As far as I know, all long term Netvigator commitments include a NOW box with the free channels, but I may be out of date on that since I bought a NOW HD decoder a while back.

    2) Netmail Plus is simply a service from Netvigator allowing you to store up to 1GB (I think) of mail on their servers. If you wish to use webmail then you need NetMail plus. But if you use a traditional email client (such as Outlook or Eudora etc) and download all emails to your PC (and delete them from the server) then you probably don't need Netmail Plus. (There may also be a smaller restriction on attachment size without netmail plus).

    But yes, you can of course use one company for the phone line and another for your internet connection if there are other ISPs who serve your building. In general the building wiring is not owned by any ISP and anyone can bring their equipment into your building basement and connect to the wires up to your apartment (I'm assuming here that you live in an apartment block, obviously). There may be more of an issue if there is only one pair of wires to your apartment, but that would be unusual, and even then it should technically be possible.

    3) The normal abbreviation is HKBN I think. Trying searching for threads here using that.

    Rayzilla likes this.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    11,711

    i am on hkbn, fast and cheap at HK$129 per month with landline, apparently marketed at 100 mb per sec

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  5. #15

    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Discovery Bay
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    Quote Originally Posted by imparanoic:
    i am on hkbn, fast and cheap at HK$129 per month with landline, apparently marketed at 100 mb per sec
    Is that the total fee for landline and Internet connection? Is there a minimum term period? Any other conditions? Thanks.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    11,711
    Quote Originally Posted by imparanoic:
    i am on hkbn, fast and cheap at HK$129 per month with landline, apparently marketed at 100 mb per sec
    I have test my hkbn speed, 85 megabit per sec!!, yes , it's true, 100megs, using online isp tester speedtest.net, for HK$129 with landline, it's a bargain

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    11,711

    ping was at 8ms, i believe that means there is little lag


  8. #18

    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    1) As far as I know, all long term Netvigator commitments include a NOW box with the free channels...

    2) Netmail Plus is simply a service from Netvigator allowing you to store up to 1GB (I think) of mail on their servers. If you wish to use webmail then you need NetMail plus...

    ...In general the building wiring is not owned by any ISP and anyone can bring their equipment into your building basement and connect to the wires up to your apartment (I'm assuming here that you live in an apartment block, obviously)...
    Thanks again PDLM!

    1) So if we cancel the Pay channels, can the Now box be used for anything else?

    2) I still do not really understand the Netmail Plus thing. Is GMail or YahooMail considered webmail? We do not use Outlook for our email anymore but when I looked back to our original documents from PCCW (2 years ago), they did provide a netvigator address that we never activated. Does that mean anything? Personally, I prefer the functionality of Outlook but like the mobility of GMail more.
    That is interesting information about how the ISP equipment works. I had no idea. So HKBB would need to put their equipment in the basement of the building to set us up?

    I was also reading up on your posts about the speed issue on international surfing. If I often visit Canadian or U.S. websites such as hockey, TSN, etc. and I have a SlingBox set up in Canada, would you recommend that I stay with PCCW? And will the 6Mb/s be fine or do I need to upgrade to the 30Mb/s given my surfing needs?

    Thanks in advance again!!!

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    11,711
    Quote Originally Posted by Rayzilla:
    Is that the total fee for landline and Internet connection? Is there a minimum term period? Any other conditions? Thanks.
    HK$ 129 for both 100mbs broadband and landline rental (apparent special offer at time, 2 months ago) 2 year contract, no catch yet (ask me in 2 years time when i try to cancel, but i have ways round this).
    Rayzilla likes this.

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    23,205
    Quote Originally Posted by Rayzilla:
    1) So if we cancel the Pay channels, can the Now box be used for anything else?
    Yes - for the free channels! (see attachment)
    Quote Originally Posted by Rayzilla:
    2) I still do not really understand the Netmail Plus thing. Is GMail or YahooMail considered webmail?
    Yes they are. If you don't use an @netvigator.com email address then you have no use for NetmailPlus.
    Quote Originally Posted by Rayzilla:
    So HKBB would need to put their equipment in the basement of the building to set us up?
    Yes, if it's not already there.
    Quote Originally Posted by Rayzilla:
    If I often visit Canadian or U.S. websites such as hockey, TSN, etc. and I have a SlingBox set up in Canada, would you recommend that I stay with PCCW? And will the 6Mb/s be fine or do I need to upgrade to the 30Mb/s given my surfing needs?
    I'm not sure if any other ISPs have better bandwidth to the US. You might get some improvement in performance by going from 6Mbit/s to 30Mbit/s. But I wouldn't expect any benefit from going above that.
    Rayzilla likes this.