Just got off the phone with Taiwan Mobile.
Yep, the 5G plans are as bad as I thought.
After you use up your quota, it goes all the way down to 10Mbps. I’ll assume its the same for the Chunghwa 5G plan and spare myself another disappointing call.
What a stupid idea! You’d think they’d throttle 5G down to something better than 4G speeds and get some $$$ here and there. A quick glance shows it cheaper to get a pre-paid SIM card for similar data at 5G speed. Sheesh.
Anyway, I’ll save my money and get an unlimited 4G mobile plan. I’ll consider a shorter-term contract in case they offer better 5G options for hotspots in the future.
Time to look into upgrading my Chunghwa home wifi setup, whatever it is…
You may be able to trick your mobile provider into thinking that you’re not using hotspot. It depends on how smart the provider is and I’ll try test this with Taiwan Mobile if they throttle my hotspot past 70GB usage this month. Though it was advertised as 吃到飽 2 year bundle contract, and I wonder if they broke some contractual obligation by not telling me that it has data limits.
From a technical standpoint, sometimes these mobile providers determine hotspot usage using IP or browser user agent strings. So you may be able to trick it by using VPN, Private internet access, tethering, etc. You can checkout reddit - some people have success doing this with US providers like AT&T, so the same probably applies for Taiwan providers.
how does one check if we are being “throttled”? I am curious now. sometimes my internet speed goes way down. but I always assumed it was the phone starting to give out. I use a couple GB monthly minimum and and tether to others phones and our laptops as we work outdoors. I assumed it was the phone because sometimes I open hotspot and another person’s device is full speed but my phone sometimes doesn’t even load a website. everytime change to a new phone, this issue seems to disappear.
I wonder if the VPN isnt more expensive than just upgrading a phone plan here? if internet speed was the only purpose. of course rights to privacy are priceless, so vpn has massive value that way as well.
Even the reduced night-time speed is a rapid 309M.
I still think the 5G mobile plans are strange, and reducing speeds 100-1000 times after the limit doesn’t make any sense. But now I don’t need to worry about it.
@jimbob132 Thanks for the VPN tip. I may test this out of curiosity. @Explant I’m not an expert, but with so many variables at play in a network I’d guess its practically impossible to tell what causes the speed: number of people using the wifi channel, overall network traffic, speed of servers you visit, random server problems or speed differences at various nodes. But if you were a solo user and you notice a sudden speed speed drop from a stable source (say, Netflix) then you might have a pattern you could follow.
I spoke with a Taiwan mobile rep. Their 1399 5G 2-year contract plan is limited to 50 GB hotspot usage, but their 1599 5G w/ 1Gbps home internet 2-year contract plans have no hotspot limits, so unlimited 5G hotspot. This only applies for their 2-year contract plans, not month to month.
5G speeds vary a lot. In a coffee shop in downtown 芝山 I could be getting 300mbps downloads near the windows and 50mbps sitting in the seats inside. In my high rise apartment, one side gets 300 and the other gets 10. Seems 5G doesn’t penetrate walls very well. I get best speeds when I put my phone in my balcony and use it as a hotspot, where I can get full bars 5G signal strength.
Some people confuse WIFI 5G with mobile 5G, WIFI 5G is the frequency you run on, being 5 GHz, the normal WIFI is 2.4 GHz. At the moment WIFI routers offer 6G/6e (6GHz). WIFI 6 is faster than the normal. But your computer, phone need to be able to receive it. Oh, and 5G has no cables to a building, it’s over the air, unless you put in cable antennas and/or repeater antennas. CHT has FTTX, meaning fiber to the home or fiber to the building.
Speaking of repeaters: Is there any way to boost mobile signal strength? When I visit my wife’s family in the south, they live in this old ass house that acts as a faraday cage for any signal. I have to let it sit by a window and pray for 1 bar that I can hotspot.
If you live in Taipei City, Taipei Fiber is the best alternative to real FTTH. CHT refused the install any fiber in 3 different addresses I have requested, 2 in Xinyi District and 1 in Daan District.
Taipei Fiber will actually install the fiber connection anywhere.
I’ve researched this because my old place was a faraday cage and has zero signal inside. I called Taiwan mobile to sort this out and they didn’t do much. I found out that installing your own booster was illegal and only your phone carrier can do it.
No. Ultra-wide band radio waves in Taiwan are not approved for consumer cellular phone use.
Even in the US they are only used in super dense situations, such as in a crowded stadium, because of the limited range. When you’re walking down the street or sitting in a coffee shop, it switches back to regular 5G.
Those radio frequencies must have already been reserved for other applications/uses in Taiwan.
The downside to ultra-wide band radio frequencies in general is shorter range. If used for cellular phones, you’d need a cell tower every few feet. Therefore in the US they are only used in dense indoor spaces with lots of users, such as convention centers and stadiums.
