I would like to get ADSL next month in Taipei.
Which IP should I use?
Which IP is best for non Chinese speakers?
What is the cost I can expect (for which throughput?)?
For ADSL. I believe SeedNet is quite good and at a good price. All of the services have english websites, so that’s not to worry.
Cost would roughly be around NT 1,000. That’s because not only do you have to pay for the service but also to the phone company for connection. It’s best to share with others to save cost, maybe neighbors or so since they usually allow a few IPs.
Some additional questions from someone else who is looking at ADSL:
Seems SeedNet has a 2-year contract. What happens if I break the contract? What happens if I decide to move after one year - do I get to keep the same account without a new installation fee? It’s not clear from their website.
And what speeds are best? Is 2Mbps zippingly fast making 8 or 12 overkill, or would you recommend 8 or 12? Why is 3Mbps more expensive than 12Mbps?
Is HiNet a better deal, pricewise and qualitywise?
Thanks for your time!
I have great experiences with SoNet, 2M download and 256K upload should be plenty for the average user. At least I can do VoIP and Videoconferencing without any problems. Gaming is great too. If you are planning to download a lot of movies or such things, you might be happier with a fast connection. That of course if your movie provider can offer such a high download speed, or if you are downloading from several sources with a high speed connection. It always depends on your application.
[quote=“Chris”]Seems SeedNet has a 2-year contract. What happens if I break the contract? What happens if I decide to move after one year - do I get to keep the same account without a new installation fee? It’s not clear from their website.
[/quote]
I don’t know about SeedNet, but Hinet also requires a 2-year contract. If you break it, you’ve got to pay a penalty - I think about NT$4000. Overall, I’m satisfied with the technology (it’s fast, reliable and inexpensive), but just about nobody associated with Hinet (or Chunghwa Telecom) speaks English.
cheers,
DB
I’m looking at Chunghwa right now. They offer non-fixed IP for around NT$700/month or fixed IP with much higher speed for NT$1,700.
If it’s just for email and surfing, I guess the cheaper one is adequate, right?
Also, does anyone know about cable vs. ADSL – speed, cost?
Also also, someone told me today that since there are a few multi-story tower blocks near my house, some of whose inhabitants are likely to have wireless, there’s a good chance I can just get a wireless card insterted in my Thinkpad for about NT$2,000 and get someone else’s signal. Is this correct? I’m ignorant about this type of thing, so any help would be appreciated, especially if it’s explained as if to a three-year-old.
[quote=“sandman”]I’m looking at Chunghwa (Zhonghua) right now. They offer non-fixed IP for around NT$700/month or fixed IP with much higher speed for NT$1,700.
If it’s just for email and surfing, I guess the cheaper one is adequate, right?
Also, does anyone know about cable vs. ADSL – speed, cost?
Also also, someone told me today that since there are a few multi-story tower blocks near my house, some of whose inhabitants are likely to have wireless, there’s a good chance I can just get a wireless card insterted in my Thinkpad for about NT$2,000 and get someone else’s signal. Is this correct? I’m ignorant about this type of thing, so any help would be appreciated, especially if it’s explained as if to a three-year-old.[/quote]
It’s very possible. My laptop has built-in wireless. When I stayed with my parents-in-law in Neihu, I enjoyed free Internet access due to some neighbor’s wireless router. I could only pick it up in one corner of their house, so it wasn’t convenient; but hey, it was free, so who was I to complain!
Now I’ve moved to a new place and on occasion I pick up an extremely high-speed signal, but it’s so tenuous a connection as to be essentially useless. Hence my search for a good ADSL option.
[quote]Also, does anyone know about cable vs. ADSL – speed, cost?
[/quote]
Cable in general is somewhat tricky, because it is a shared medium. So if you have a lot of people using it in your neighborhood, you share the bandwidth with them. ADSL is less problematic in that sense.
If the network is not protected with encryption or other measures, it is possible. You can even hack into an encrypted network, although I am not sure what the legal consequences might be if you get caught. But if it is an open unprotected network, I don’t see a reason why you should not try this.
Especially if you have online banking, share trading, etc.
Online Banking and such should be encrypted by other means (SSL), and an encrypted network won’t buy you much, unless your banking software stores you passwords on your harddrive in clear text format, then of course someone could hack into your computer and try to extract this information. But unencrypted passwords on a harddrive can also be stolen by trojan horses and such. An encrypted WLAN won’t help much either.
What I meant was that there should not be any legal prosecution if you use your neighbors unprotected Wireless LAN.
[quote=“sandman”]I’m looking at Chunghwa (Zhonghua) right now. They offer non-fixed IP for around NT$700/month or fixed IP with much higher speed for NT$1,700.
If it’s just for email and surfing, I guess the cheaper one is adequate, right?
[/quote]
I think the non-fixed IP (it’s called PPPoE) is fine for your needs. Fixed IP is only useful if you leave a server running at home and want to get into it from the outside. Very few people have a need for this.
I recall from some other threads that if you already have cable TV, it’s about NT$400 a month more for Internet access. Cable TV itself costs around NT$500-600 a month (depending on where you live), so combined cost is NT$900-1000. As others have pointed out, the speed of cable varies - many users online at the same time will slow it down, but it shouldn’t be too bad. Basically, I guess it comes down to whether or not you want cable TV - if you don’t, then adsl is the better deal.
[quote=“sandman”]
Also also, someone told me today that since there are a few multi-story tower blocks near my house, some of whose inhabitants are likely to have wireless, there’s a good chance I can just get a wireless card insterted in my Thinkpad for about NT$2,000 and get someone else’s signal. Is this correct? I’m ignorant about this type of thing, so any help would be appreciated, especially if it’s explained as if to a three-year-old.[/quote]
Morally, I find it offensive to steal other people’s bandwidth. Maybe I’d do it if I was just out and about with my laptop and wanted to check my email, but to do it daily as my primary means of online connectivity seems pretty odious. I’m not sure about legal implications, but security-wise it’s also very risky.
cheers,
DB
In a secured WLAN I would not even attempt to break in, but if someone has his WLAN open, then why not. Maybe this person wants to supply a “service” to other people. I read about areas where this is being practised. I don’t see a moral problem there.
In a secured WLAN I would not even attempt to break in, but if someone has his WLAN open, then why not. Maybe this person wants to supply a “service” to other people. I know of areas where this is being practised. I don’t see a moral problem there.[/quote]
That might be the case. I’ve seen a couple of computer shops do this, though usually the range is very limited and the idea is to draw in customers, rather than provide a free public service.
In a residential building, I believe that in the vast majority of cases what you’re finding are people who have unsecured WLANs because of ignorance. They are simply clueless - the same sort of people whose home computer is running spambots and serving as a warez repository. Much as it’s tempting to say that these people deserve what they get, I’d rather pay NT$700 a month for my own (secure) web access. Let the clueless by flailed by someone else.
happy weekend,
DB
Of course I am not a cheapo and I do have my own ADSL connection as well. On the other hand, if people do want to share then why not taking the offer. Isn’t that what i.e. the Open Source Community is all about, you give and take or this forum.
On a legal note: I am not a lawyer, but I did read some court rules that it is not illegal to use an unsecured connection, either. Sometimes you cannot tell if it is just ignorance to the problem, or sharing.
In a friendly neighborhood, the rules of living together dictate that you might want to point out the unsecured WLAN to your neighbor, or doublecheck with him if he has it open on purpose.