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PCCW 30mb vs HKBN 1gb (FTTH) for international sites

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  1. #1

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    PCCW 30mb vs HKBN 1gb (FTTH) for international sites

    Hi all,

    I saw a few replies on another thread, but I was about to install the 1gb FTTH HKBN service when the installation guy said the 1gb was HK websites / servers only and internationally it was max 20mb (usually around 10mb).

    PCCW can only offer me 30mb in my building but said they should upgrade to 200mb soon, but no idea when. They did say they have much better bandwidth than HKBN for international sites.

    Does anyone know if PCCW's 30mb service uses VDSL2?

    Basically I will be downloading TV shows / playing my PS3 online (vs friends in the UK / US) and also skyping a LOT. So speed, ping and latency are all important to me.

    If the HKBN service is that slow for overseas sites (I use eztv a lot) and would also be slow I guess if P2P'ing a game online over the Playstation Network, I am tempted to go for the much slower but higher international bandwidth of PCCW.

    Anyone have any experience of either or some recommendations? Any replies much appreciated.

    Cheers

    Anannya


  2. #2

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    Heh, waiting for JaredHK for this one!!

    I'm still trying to sort out my internet connection, so at the moment I'm using a CSL prepaid sim card.

    Lets see what the others say on this topic.

    Personally, for you, if the price is the same, I would go with PCCW.


  3. #3

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    It's my understanding that regardless of your internet speed in HK all the data across the Pacific is carried via a combination of one telephone line and a man with a 16GB USB stick and a rowing boat. He rows as fast as he can but there's only so much one man can do.

    Mile High likes this.

  4. #4

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    ^LOL at the above!


  5. #5

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    HGC is pretty good too, they have peering with Google that helps.

    Anything but games is going to be reasonable, although not super speedy. Skype is pretty good actually and does better than most other chat services.


  6. #6

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    Do you know whether their bandwidth to international sites is better than PCCW? The PCCW guy was quoting me things like 98G to Japan, 22G to US and 5G to Europe, but I have no idea what this G suffix means as it can't mean gigabyte connection...??


  7. #7

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    @OP
    Their overseas bandwith to NA is a problem at night, on weekends and public holidays. I get 1.5-2 mb speeds at times and was told that it was due to regular "Power outages in the US" which is total BS.

    MSFT and Sony HK have been warning people about using HKBN as there is a bit of packet loss which causes regular disconnects and bad lag. This can get your account flagged for cheating (Lag Switching) and can get you banned from certain online games.

    I am currently using PCCW 8M & have I Cable as a backup as they had good deal on their 10M lines a while back. I use them both for gaming & overseas surfing/downloading with no complaints. I recommend that you sign up with PCCW instead of HKBN.

    @Pin
    It really depends on your usage. If you can get by on a prepaid card you obviously don't use a lot of bandwidth for downloads or gaming.

    Last edited by JaredHK; 24-08-2011 at 12:22 AM.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by anannya:
    Do you know whether their bandwidth to international sites is better than PCCW? The PCCW guy was quoting me things like 98G to Japan, 22G to US and 5G to Europe, but I have no idea what this G suffix means as it can't mean gigabyte connection...??
    I assume when the guy said "G" he meant Gigabit per second (Gbit/s, Gb/s, or Gbps), not Gigabyte per second (Gbyte/s, GB/s or GBps).

    Just for perspective:
    The total capacity between the US and Europe is nearly 5000 Gbps = 5 Tbps = 625 GB/s; APAC-US around 2.7 Tbps and APAC-Europe around 1.3 Tbps. New York to London alone has a capacity of 1.5 Tbps and ranks as the largest intercontinental connection (only London - Amsterdam is faster with 1.6 Tbps).

  9. #9

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    Thanks all, some great info here, much appreciated.

    One more question though, as I will be signing up with PCCW soon, does anyone know if their 30mb service uses VDSL2?


  10. #10

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    JaredHK, I'm stuck with CSL while my landlord lays some cables into my flat, otherwise I would have been with either PCCW or HKBN by now. I need to download quite a lot, but at present I have no option, but to use CSL's service, which I have to say isn't that bad, even for downloading. Don't think it would cut the mustard for gaming, but I'm not a gamer.

    I did have a look at their LTE service, which does seem to be quite fast, but its not cheap.


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