I’ve read several of you are using DSL…perhaps some of you are using cable modem too? What’s the cost like? Is it decent service? Is the speed capped?
When I last lived in Taiwan, all the internet offers were for hourly rates via regular modem. Never even did see a flat fee/unlimed usage offer. Internet Cafes were all over too.
There are so many stories depending on where you live and the service you are buying. For most people around $1,200/mon for fixed-speed ADSL is good enough. There are often special offers being handed out in front of computer stores which will claim lower prices but watch out for the hidden charges which will bring the price back up.
Two-way cable service is not available in most areas so a charge per min. dial up modem is required for uploads (including your mouse clicks and key entries) which adds an expensive phone bill. Also your bandwidth is shared with others so you will get mixed results depending on where you live. The price for cable modem service that I know of is around $800-1,000/mon.
You can check out this thread for more info:
http://oriented.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=000080
Cable modem for me costs 1700NT for 3 months unlimited usage, and it’s full duplex so I don’t need a telephone modem to upload. Initially applied to Seednet for ADSL and after 2 months of crap from them, really crap service was informed that I lived more than 2.5KM from the nearest exchange, so couldn’t get ADSL. I’d recommend ADSL if you can get it, or full duplex cable, if your area supports it. Don’t bother with half-duplex as your phone bill will be horrendous as well as having to pay for the cable. You’ll also probably need your landlord’s signature to install any service. Best bet is to decide what type of service you want and have him apply for you.
Yup from 1000NT to 2000NT per month depending on what speed package you want. 1.5/384k package will cost you around 2000NT a month and the standard 512/128 is abotu 1000NT a month. As stinkypuppy said you can find cheaper deals but honestly i dont trust them. One of companies i spoke to hadnt installed its network yet and said it would be available within 3 months, if not id receive a discount, but i can see what would happen, id join, 3 months later still not avaiable.
If you can, go with ADSL and Hinet if possible.
Yes, yes, yes Hinet does suck with both lungs, but they will eventually get round to installing the service and/or helping you after problems crop up.
I signed up with two “bargain” services that never came through before inking with Hinet. They showed up about two weeks later and the service has been on the whole o.k. Granted every couple days I need to turn off the power and log-in again, but that’s not too much hardship.
Also, as I’m on a Mac I had to do set up by myself, but since this isn’t rocket science it only took about 20 minutes (I think this character means…)
I was previously on a Giga cable modem that required dial-in. The speed sucked and my phones bills were outrageous.
Moreover their crap system was easy to hack, riddled with spammers and, well, don’t sign up for cable unless its two-way and you use some sort of personal hardware based firewall.