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Non-Techie with questions

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    165

    Non-Techie with questions

    Hi All,

    Hubby is moving into our apartment next week. He will be purchasing a TV and having cable and broadband hooked up at our place at that time.
    Our apartment is in the Tai Po area.

    Questions:

    Which cable company can any US expats recommend. Quite frankly, I am not too concerned about this as I know the shows I enjoy here are not available in HK. However, cable will be needed. Thoughts?

    I know that I can't stream video via Hulu or network television sites while in HK due to copyright laws; however, will my itunes account that is linked to my US credit card allow me to purchase television shows to watch on my computer?

    Any recommendations on internet providers? Are they all linked with cable providers?

    Thanks in advance.

    ATT


  2. #2

    Join Date
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    Many people complain about them (just search the forums) but I’ve had no major issues with PCCW. It’s reasonably priced, broadband has been fairly reliable, you can get HBO and FOX for a few extra bucks, relatively cheap international calls, and, so far, customer service has been ok.

    I pay about $280 a month for 18M broadband, landline, TV (with HBO and sports). We get some free minutes with the phone and never use them up despite calling the UK most days.


  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by attkrt:
    ...I know that I can't stream video via Hulu or network television sites while in HK due to copyright laws...
    Just use a VPN and you appear to be in the US to them.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    Yeah I agree that PCCW is basically the least evil out of the bunch.

    Get a broadband and NowTV package that share the same modem (NowTV is actually IPTV rather than cable).

    Prices are generally $200-$250 for the broadband only (8-30mbps speeds) and $250-$300 including the NowTV with around 30 free channels and you can negotiate 2 or 3 'paid' channels thrown in as well.

    Tell you hubby to have a look around some of the busy MTR stations like MongKok, Wanchai, or maybe even Tai Po. There are usually sales guys standing on the street selling internet and TV packages. You might be able to get a better deal (such as an extra channel or two) from these guys rather than going to the PCCW store. But I've heard differences of opinion about this.

    Finally, when I moved here a couple of years ago and signed up with PCCW, they gave me a 42inch LCD TV for about half the price it was going for in the shops. It was a special promotion they had going at the time. You may want to see if there is anything like this available before buying the TV.


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by hktraveller:
    Just use a VPN and you appear to be in the US to them.
    Sorry for the questions but what is a VPN???

  6. #6

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    Feb 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by attkrt:
    Sorry for the questions but what is a VPN???
    Basically it gives you an IP address in the US, so you trick all the websites into thinking you are in the US.

    There are some paid services that cost from only a few dollars per month up.

    Or you can try some free proxy service like this:
    How To Get A US IP Address

    or this:
    Proxy.org - The Proxy Authority

    The main problem with these free ones is all the popups and ads they push to your screen.
    attkrt and hktraveller like this.

  7. #7

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    Yea, ditto the VPN suggestion. I have one for both the US and the UK. Tough to watch Hulu though around primetime as everyone in Hong Kong is downloading torrents, so it seems, and the net gets congested. But the BBC iplayer lets you download in the background and playback as you like. Very nice feature.

    We have iCable and honestly the service has been ok. I question why I paid the additional $200 for TV service though as I rarely watch anything other than that which is on the net. We do get CNN, CNBC, BBC and a few other English stations, but nothing to write home about.

    When he buys a TV make sure there is a DVI or HDMI port (spare) so you can plug in a laptop or a spare computer to the TV and turn it into a digital media center. We stream stuff to our TV more than we actually watch iCable programming.


  8. #8

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    most of the HBO & Cinemax channels is censored, the only HBO channel not censored is.... (I forgot the name since I canceled a while back) and their HBO on demand..

    If you are into their Chinese Movie channels, Star movies is censored also if I remember correctly, their Chinese on demand channel (don't know what it's called in Chinese since I don't read Chinese) is not censored..


    EDIT: if I remember right, it's their HBO Signature Plus 1 ...

    Last edited by justsomebody2; 10-07-2010 at 07:22 PM.