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4G mobile broadband versus PCCW fixed line DSL?

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  1. #21

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    According to the guy in smartone ifc, when you have FUP the speed does not slow down significantly unless it is a very busy time and certainly isn't capped at a particular slow speed.

    In fact the guy showed me his own phone, which had already used 11gb this month (as he showed me in the android data usage screen).. So he had gone over the threshold and assured me he is on the fup plan himself. He then did a speed test which was over 40mb/s.

    Unless he was point blank lying and has some kind of special staff only unlimited data, it seemed pretty convincing to me. He also told me a customer he knows uses 4g at home and downloads 120gb + per month.

    If it turns out the guy was lying, I'll happily share his email address

    Last edited by justjoe86; 12-09-2014 at 12:44 AM.

  2. #22

    Gave in and took the 8Mb/s option, probably a big mistake

    As an update....

    After a few weeks of using my phone in tethering mode, due to family (i.e. kids) pressure, signed up for HKT Premier broadband last week. Called 1000, told they could not help me as I was to be a HKT Premier customer and that HKT Premier would call back. They called back over a day later. Bit my lip & took the 8Mb/s option at an installation cost of $980 and a 24 month contract at $398/month. (as an aside, most stupid question (of many): Do you spell your surname on your credit card the same as on your ID ?)

    Told me they would arrive between 10 and 1 a week later, he promptly rolled up at 2pm. Took about 10 mins for the install. Installed a discoloured 2nd hand modem (really feeing like a Premier customer now...). To be fair he was good & helped me get my Apple Time Capsule hooked up with the PPoE configuration. We did speed tests together after the install, download about 6-7 Mb/s, upload a paltry 500-600 Kb/s. All he could do was chuckle apologetically & state that it was '90's type speeds. He was quite shocked when he heard that I am paying $400/month for this. He told me he is paying just over half that amount for 10x speeds.

    In any case, for others considering this 8Mb/s option - DONT !!. 6.5Mb/s is really poor (kids already complaining !) and the upload makes large e-mails almost un-sendable. After 3 hours, I'm already resorting to tethering my phone if I need fast upload or download, my 4G/LTE reception is poor but even over 3G, it's a lot better then this PCCW line.

    How maddeningly frustrating !.


  3. #23

    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    hong kong
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    3,484

    For an 8Mb/s connection THE MOST you should pay is HKD298 and with a 24 month contract the installation is FREE. Were you drunk? There are plenty of threads here that give BB rates for various companies.

    wtbhotia likes this.

  4. #24

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    315
    Quote Originally Posted by justjoe86:
    According to the guy in smartone ifc, when you have FUP the speed does not slow down significantly unless it is a very busy time and certainly isn't capped at a particular slow speed.

    In fact the guy showed me his own phone, which had already used 11gb this month (as he showed me in the android data usage screen).. So he had gone over the threshold and assured me he is on the fup plan himself. He then did a speed test which was over 40mb/s.

    Unless he was point blank lying and has some kind of special staff only unlimited data, it seemed pretty convincing to me. He also told me a customer he knows uses 4g at home and downloads 120gb + per month.

    If it turns out the guy was lying, I'll happily share his email address
    Would be very interested to hear more about this if anyone else is using the same. My speeds on Smartone LTE are amazing compared to the 8/mb line

  5. #25

    Boris,


    That's the whole point. PCCW are charging customers rip off prices for very poor BB wherever they have no competition. It's scandalous !

    I'm well aware of what 8Mb/s should be, I had 30Mb/s in my last apartment about 3km away for less than $300.

    It's damn hard to get used to 8Mb/s after having had 30Mb/s & above. The 600Kb/s upload speed is also a surprisingly big issue. I find myself having to step outside to get a good 4G signal to download large files or send large emails - dark age stuff.

    By the way, I tried to figure out a way to use 3G/4G but needed an extra SIM as my family also need to use internet when I'm not home. Smartone had an option to add a SIM to my account with something like a 10GB or 20GB data allowance but they made it so complicated (in that HK way) that I would have lost my unlimited FUP plan on my original SIM. I wasn't confident that even 20GB would be enough so went with the 8Mb/s DSL option.

    By the way, I've just checked by Smartone account & note that I've used 19.34GB so far this month. I have a 5GB allowance so must be on the FUP speeds by now. Can't say I've noticed any degradation in speed so that seems to be the way to go for those of you who are satisfied with tethering as an option.

    We are in a complete cold turkey situation now, adopting to 90's type BB speeds by doing stuff like setting Apple TV back to Standard resolution, pausing Dropbox synch when we want to stream TV on our HTPC, etc. In 2014 Hong Kong this is a completely bizarre situation to find ourselves in. Made all the more maddening at the $398 monthly charge for 24 months because of no competition.


  6. #26

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
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    Hong Kong
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    Quote Originally Posted by Costigans:
    By the way, I've just checked by Smartone account & note that I've used 19.34GB so far this month. I have a 5GB allowance so must be on the FUP speeds by now. Can't say I've noticed any degradation in speed so that seems to be the way to go for those of you who are satisfied with tethering as an option.
    Would you mind doing a speed test now? Would be interested to see what you get, thanks

  7. #27

    Smartone Speed Tests when in FUP

    Sure:

    Outside the house, LTE, 56% reception level: Download 12.21 Mbps, Upload: 7.79 Mbps

    Inside the house, (DC)HSPA 3G, 46% reception level: Download: 5.52 Mbps, Upload: 3.16 Mbps

    For comparison, using my WiFi inside the house with various other things running: Download: 4.75Mbps, Upload: 0.66Mbps


  8. #28

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    315

    Yeh that's not bad at all considering it's throttled, especially the upload speeds. I'm the same as you, PCCW 8/mb line...no fibre in this old building. Only problem is I have another year on the contract


  9. #29

    Another speed test for SmarTone FUP

    Hi,


    I was in CitiPlaza mall yesterday with far better LTE coverage than at home (where I was only getting 12Mb/s) & was consistently getting 30Mb/s even though I'm now in the Smartone FUP conditions having exceeded my 5GB data allowance.

    That tells me two things:

    - They don't seems to throttle speeds like other operators do

    - Even in a busy mall with lots of other users, whatever they do about prioritising other users doesn't seem to impact speedtests (might impact connectivity in some other way ?)


    Paul


  10. #30

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    315

    It's making me think about trying to get rid of PCCW and just going with Smartone but I wonder how good it will be once you start using it with everything...PC, phone, apple tv, gaming. Might not hold up too well, especially for the ping


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