Does anyone have experience with living in the larger Keelung area? Is the Internet there good (stable+speedy)? Are the roads save to drive on? Crime is within reasonable limits? How about public transportation to Taipei?
This is a question that only someone new to Taiwan could ask 
Now seriosly, in terms of safety I don’t think Keelung is worse than anywhere else in Taiwan. Safe in terms of petty crime, extreme precautions regarding traffic.
There are trains and buses to Taipei. My guess is that they are somewhat crowded. Metro is on the works (just started so it will take years and I think it won’t make it to Keelung city).
We joke about Keelung because the extreme weather (rainy and humid) in combination with the care (or lack of it) of Taiwanese toward their homes make it pretty grime to look at.
Is the internet there good (stable and fast)? Yes.
Are the roads safe to drive on? Yes, I can’t say the same about the drivers, but it’s the same throughout Taiwan.
Is crime within reasonable limits? You don’t have to worry about that.
How about public transportation to Taipei? There are local trains every half hour or so, and trains to downtown Taipei take about 30 minutes. There are also buses that get there quickly
Its gotten a lot better over the years. I now class it as a rather good day trip out of Taipei.
10 yrs ago it was just a novelty to go there because of how gritty and grimy it was.
Oh and the night market has always been one of the best.
Wouldn’t wanna live there though.
Why not live there?
I would live there if I lived with a view of the ocean. Like this:
Or maybe close to the sea water pools. Maybe. I would also visit Keelung Bad Mama often.
I would rather live in Tamsui, if proximity to the sea would be important to me. Keelung might have improved, but I would neither want to live in the center, old, damp, dirty, and crowded neighborhoods, nor in one of those residential communities on the outskirts, which strike me as inconvenient and boring. I could be wrong, but Keelung’s population is mostly blue collar still. Nothing wrong with blue collar work, but I like my neighbors working in offices in the big city, just to have more peace in terms of noise and cleanliness. Getting to central Taipei, however, is quite convenient from Keelung, since there is easy freeway access and commuter trains.
I was talking about the wider area. Not the city itself. Found a good place up in the hills and was wondering if the reality on the ground matches the nice imagery.
As we all know, looks can be deceiving.
And I like farmers. Honest hard working folks, staying close to the ground. But that’s my childhood heritage.
Can you share the rough geo location of that place?
Keelung is a place that has massive potential, but mostly of the explosive and hammer kind where you get to start again.
They built an expressway right through the middle of the freaking city, and their Keelung river outlet makes the Aihe River in Kaohsiung positively fragrant. It’s the worst example of how to mess up an historical port city in Taiwan. And yes it has actually improved a fair bit over the years but still…
All that said, I’m with Rick on this one as I’m quite a big fan of the Keelung night market on a hot sweaty Saturday evening, that place is buzzing with all types of people , sights and weird and wonderful food. You will find stuff there you don’t see anywhere else in Taiwan or the world.
On the outskirts of Keelung you have some quite nice spots indeed such as Heping Island , as well as some really ugly places. I prefer Tamshui and Shalun area also, or Toucheng/Yilan area.
Personally I could never go back to living in mouldy damp places so Keelung is struck off my list of habitable zones. 
Only after I signed the rental contract. 
It’s ok dude , nobody is going to steal your pad in Keelung on this site. Indeed you should get some good deals there.
Keelung hills can be nice indeed. Still extremely wet, but being surrounded by trees instead of mouldy buildings is a plus.
Be ready to buy a few (or maybe better a lot) dehumidifiers.
At least share the district or the neighborhood? Or is it a single building somewhere in the sticks?
Chances are you are close to a giant cemetery. There are quite a few of them.
Dead people are quiet. Their living relatives not so.
Also, lots of snakes in the hills around Keelung. I have seen a few during the day, while hiking there on numerous occasions.
Wasps and hornets too. Still better than scooters.
Hillside, with direct ocean view. Mountains in the back, and woods all around. My kind of place.