Can anyone recommend the best Mobile Internet Wireless system available in Taiwan. I think they mentioned Mobile Taiwan?
The internet at the place where I live is completely unreliable. The landlords have the whole apartment complex wired on the same system, it’s not a huge place but plenty of people and when more than fifteen people are using the internet it stalls. What is the best company system for some sort of wireless stick? Or the best way I can get internet set up for myself? Is there a reliable company that can do it for one year if it is just landline based?
CHT got good speed with their 3G, 3G+
How can take on of their offer with a USB dongle. Or if you have a mobile phone, take the 3G with it and share your connection with your computer.
But 3G is not as good as wired internet. (It depends where you live, if a lot of people are using the 3G as well, etc…)
If you want a better access, you might want to check CHT as well.
For example, they offer 50M/5M for 999nt/month (950 is you are a student, but you need to ask for this discount). 500NT as deposit.
But it is a contract of 1 year. You can stop it but will need to pay 500NT and will loose the deposit (So a total of 1000NTD)
Thanks for the quick reply. So that $1000 is for the USB dongle that attaches to your computer? I don’t want to get 3G for my phone, I don’t find it’s reliable and I don’t need it really. What you are talking about is not for the landline going in to the apartment right? Would just getting that sort of regular internet connection be cheaper? I guess I can investigate that, but was just curious if such a mobile situation exists…my landlord mentioned Mobile Taiwan or something, does that exist, does anybody know if that would be cheaper?
Thanks again, I just arrived four days ago so this is very helpful!
4M downstream, 1M upstream, unlimited data, starting from 429 NT per month. All you need is a 4G USB dongle; the 4G USB dongle is free if you sign a 2 year contract, and it costs 2500NT to break the contract (more if you choose a fancier/longer plan).
You pay slightly more for a day/week/month pass if you don’t want to sign a contract. There is the option to try it for free for 7 days – you will be asked to pay a 1000 NT deposit (which will be given back to you when you return their equipment in original condition) and show 2 IDs.
vmax.net.tw also offers WiMax, but you need to check the coverage as both WiMax companies have a bit spotty coverage, but it’s much faster than 3G when you have a half decent signal.
Thanks very much for the tips on this you guys, I will look into these options, the problem is that I am only here for a year…but I really appreciate your time and help, what an awesome forum this is.
Depending on what you consider “expensive” for internet and the speed you need, you can get a no-contract data SIM card from Taiwan Mobile that will give you unlimited 3G for about 2100 per month. Just search this forum for “350nt taiwan mobile” for the details.
Uhm, you’re talking pre-pay right?
The matter of the fact is that you can get an on-contract SIM card here without any lengthy tie-in, as long as you don’t get a phone, as it’ll just be a standard rolling contract with whatever services you want.
I tried that with both Taiwan Mobile and Chunghwa telecom and they had a postpay month-to-month with a deposit, but they required an ARC. I had assumed the OP did not have an ARC given the length of stay, but you are correct, if the OP does have an ARC, that opens a few options.
I am looking for something to get Internet for about 6 months and they seem to cover my place.
I can’t seem to find a price tag, though. How would I go about buying this? My Chinese is rather limited, but I can drag a Taiwanese friend into a store if necessary. I do not have an ARC.
You might want to try www.g1.com.tw they do 30 day pre-pay cards for NT$750 I think for 4/1Mbit and you need to put down NT$1-2k in deposit for the USB dongle.
Coverage map here g1.com.tw/coverage.php
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]You might want to try g1.com.tw they do 30 day pre-pay cards for NT$750 I think for 4/1Mbit and you need to put down NT$1-2k in deposit for the USB dongle.
Coverage map here g1.com.tw/coverage.php[/quote]
Thanks, but my problem is a bit more in the “The illiterate’s guide to Taiwan, chapter 7: Getting on the Interwebs.” area. Where can I physically buy this if I don’t want to order online because I, well, can’t read (well yet)? I tried three stores yesterday.
After getting frusttrated with my 3G, I finally got around getting one of G1’s WiMax USB sticks.
They’re pretty good. I get up to actual 4MBit/s downstream, even if not continously, and it never seems to drop below 2MBit/s. I live in a less populated area of Taipei, though, so I might not have to share that particular slice of ether with as many people.
You can get prepaid ones for 700NT a month, less if you take a contract. Two kinds of ID proof are required if you do not have an ARC. There’s a free one-week trial so you can check if you actually are in the coverage area, you only have to put down a 1000NT deposit for the USB modem.
I’m not sure if there is Mac support, but unfortunately, there definitely is no Linux support. The driver package came in a .zip (I think) file that Windows’ built-in decompression was unable to unpack due to Chinese filenames (what the heck?), so get winrar or 7-zip somewhere before installation. After that, it was pretty self-explanatory and it has an English interface.
Have a look here g1.com.tw/
They have a couple of different USB modems, one is made by Asus and it was the one I used when I got one for the week of Computex.
They also have some kind of “MiFi” like devices that should work with any Wi-Fi enabled device you want to get online.
I think they only offer speeds of up to 8Mbit, but the pre-paid service is limited to 4Mbit/1Mbit.
These guys also do WiMax vmax.net.tw but they don’t offer a pre-paid service, but if memory serves, they offer faster speeds than G1.
