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story category 100Mbps Symmetrical: $48.50
Did we mention you need to live in Hong Kong?
(old news - 05:10PM Monday Sep 24 2007)
tags: prices · Fiber · world
Hong Kong telco City Telecom’s broadband unit Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) just launched a new suite of fiber-to-the-home services in Hong Kong. Back in 2004, the company became the first to offer residential apartment customers 1Gbps symmetrical connectivity for $215 (bb1000). They've since expanded their suite of offerings if you're in the market for more modest broadband service:
HKBN has turned traditionally cost prohibitive FTTH technology into affordable mass-deployed residential service, at US$48.5 service fee for its 100Mbps access service. . . . Effective immediately, HKBN will offer residential FTTH broadband services ranging from 100Mbps to 1Gbps, namely, FiberHome100, FiberHome200 and FiberHome1000, at US$48.5, US$88.2 and US$215.4 respectively.
The company says they're phasing out their symmetrical 10Mbps service -- the slowest tier they offer now clocks in at a symmetrical 25Mbps. HKBN chairman Ricky Wong calls FTTH "a foreseeable inevitability."

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Forums » 100Mbps Symmetrical: $48.50
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fw

join:2005-09-18

To go please ...

I'll take 1 FiberHome100 to go please

Phattieg

join:2001-04-29
Jacksonville, FL
·Verizon Wireless B..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..

Re: To go please ...

This is why America is not the place to be if you need bandwidth to push around. But, then again, I am sure much of the desired content is in English. It's a catch 22. I bet the government monitors their traffic more heavily than the USA does our own.
--
SIPPhone/Gizmo # 17476200648 / PIMPNET Chatline / Ran by Asterisk & Slackware 10.1.

dave24

@etrials.com

Re: To go please ...

Actually the gov. doesn't really interfere too much as you might be led think. Hong Kong is an SAR (Special Administrative Region) of China as still has almost of the same freedoms it had under British colonial rule.

Its an awesome place to live, I highly recommend it!

fish

@netvigator.com

Hilarious ignorance from a country where major telcos, ISPs, and web sites almost routinely hand over information to your government to "fight terrorist"!

While many Hong Kong people are probably also accessing English content, the writer has clearly not seen the blogging activity in a typical internet cafe in China lately. Unfortunately, many Hong Kong Chinese cannot read simplified Chinese and anyway prefer more serious news and information sources from Hong Kong, Singapore, UK, and the US anyways.

Plinio

@tricom.net
One question, Is America a Country or a Continent?

anooonnn

Re: To go please ...

ctry

DvD


moderated:
September 29th, @05:27AM

I want one too. My current broadband costs $33 (512/128 ADSL)

PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301

join:2005-01-03
Riverside, WA

Cat5e

Can I just string some Cat5e from my buddy's house in Hong Kong to mine? Or will that violate the TOS?

LaZ3R
Premium
join:2003-01-17
Waterloo, ON
clubs:

I want to live in Hong Kong

End of story... 100MBPS SYMMETRICAL? That's an orgasmic speed for us North American's .
--
Life is a game of blackjack. You keep playing until you bust.
nasadude

join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD

Re: I want to live in Hong Kong

don't worry, we'll probably (maybe) have those speeds in 10 or 15 years.
ShadezeRO

join:2006-04-24
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Re: I want to live in Hong Kong

Don't you think you're being a little too....

optimistic?
Done_Posting
Shoot to kill
Premium
join:2003-08-22
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable

100 Mbps service is on its way here to Toledo much sooner than many folks are aware of...

- Tate

--
Happiness is an OC-48 in your basement...

user1

@buckeyecom.net

Re: I want to live in Hong Kong

Re: I want to live in Hong Kong

100 Mbps service is on its way here to Toledo much sooner than many folks are aware of...

- Tate
Too bad it will cost an arm and a leg and wideband might not play well with voip.

boo

@sbcglobal.net

hah in toledo you get 7mbit for 50ish+ via buckeye and 1.5mbit for 20ish+ from at&t because buckeyes 1.5mbit line is a joke

if it comes to toledo it would be 150+per/month the way buckeye charges for stuff and they would severely cap the upload like cable is now

Bellunder

@teksavvy.com
Canada will likely take more than a century to hit the century mark speed-wise.

C0deZer0
Oc'D To Rhythm And Police
Premium
join:2001-10-03
Davenport, FL
·Verizon Online DSL

said by nasadude See Profile :

don't worry, we'll probably (maybe) have those speeds in 10 or 15 years.
Now you're just being too kind (or apologetical) to the nature of these ISP companies.

It would take a second mortgage a month to get that kind of speed anywhere in the states.

tad2020

join:2007-07-17
Orange, CA
·AT&T DSL Service

said by LaZ3R See Profile :

End of story... 100MBPS SYMMETRICAL? That's an orgasmic speed for us North American's .
We're lucky if 10Mbps is even in the area, and often it much more than $48.50/mo (6Mbps in my area is $49/mo). Plus it's pretty much impossible to get an upstream higher than 786Kbps in North America.

I'd murder my best friend to get 100Mbps symmetrical, that's if he doesn't get me first for it.

inteller
Sociopaths always win.

join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK
·Cingular Wireless

100mps symettrical to what? The ISP? Talking about speeds like this are stupid, because no one on this has 100mbps to the Internet. So it goes 100mbps up to the ISP, who then squeaks out maybe 30Mbps to the Internet. Big whoopie. The only people this will help are the local DVD pirates in hong kong.
--
"WHEN THE LAUGH TRACK STARTS THEN THE FUN STARTS!"
nitroburn

join:2002-11-20
Surrey, BC

Re: I want to live in Hong Kong

Some people have friends on the same ISP.

stordoff

@btcentralplus.com

Re: I want to live in Hong Kong

Symetrical as in 100Mbps up, 100Mbps down. Most comsumer broadband has a far greater down than up speed

Although speeds like this will probabily only help for multiple conncurrent downloads.

LiberalKing
Intocable
Premium
join:2005-09-12
Bronx, NY

edit:
September 24th, @05:18PM

another good thread to bash the U.S.A

why dont we in america get this speeds?. how come the hong kongers, koreans and the swedes get it. is it THE AMERICAN GREED?
bogey780

join:2004-03-19
Covington, LA

Re: another good thread to bash the U.S.A

You don't have those speeds because you don't want to pay what it would cost to get them HERE.

Next BBR can post the price of oil in Saudi Arabia and how it's awful that we can't get nickel/gallon gas here.

Anon430

@comcast.net

Re: another good thread to bash the U.S.A

Get the hell out, Oil is more available over there because it is underneath their soil. Bandwidth is limited by hardware technology, which America has the same technology available for the same price. ISP's don't want the internet to be that accessible and easily shared.
bogey780

join:2004-03-19
Covington, LA

Re: another good thread to bash the U.S.A

We don't have fiber strung literally between every block as they do. Our population density and civil design is vastly different. That's why it costs more here.

Go one and buy a couple Cisco routers and set up your ISP. You'll find out exactly how much it costs and the idea that it's a conspiracy to keep people off the net is as absurd as it sounds.

MrMoody
Liberal Capitalist

join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC
They think we'd just use it to trade 20 DVDs a day.

not kelly ripa

@aamu.edu

Re: another good thread to bash the U.S.A

said by MrMoody See Profile :

They think we'd just use it to trade 20 DVDs a day.
...wouldn't you?

infinite

@cogentco.com

Re: another good thread to bash the U.S.A

20 DVDs? You could probably pull about 30/day given a solid 10mb down connection (like mine) and usenet. I'm limited by the speeds on their side, not mine. This is all hypothetical of course, I'd never commit piracy.

VegasMan
Are We There Yet?

join:2002-11-17
Schaumburg, IL
·AT&T Midwest

Look where we are talking about. Relatively small countries and only in the cities in these countries. When you don't have to wire half the freakin world it's easy to do. Also most of these people live in MDU anyway so that makes it 100's of times easier to deploy than here in the US where most are Single Family units.
--
In need of a Vegas vacation.

tglea

join:2007-08-13
Mexico

Re: another good thread to bash the U.S.A

said by VegasMan See Profile :

Look where we are talking about. Relatively small countries and only in the cities in these countries. When you don't have to wire half the freakin world it's easy to do. Also most of these people live in MDU anyway so that makes it 100's of times easier to deploy than here in the US where most are Single Family units.
Agree! Not to mention the cost of labor in these Asian locations. They are able to build these networks using labor that is probably pennies on the dollar. Anyone who knows anything about construction knows that the labor costs far exceed the cost of materials.
rebus9

join:2002-03-26
Tampa Bay
·RoadRunner Cable

Re: another good thread to bash the U.S.A

said by tglea See Profile :

Anyone who knows anything about construction knows that the labor costs far exceed the cost of materials.
And anyone who knows anything about maintaining large networks knows the cost of acquisition is trivial compared to the TCO over time.

Bottom line is, we're not offered 100 Mbps because providers know "they don't have to".

We kick and scream about speeds, point our fingers at how the rest of the world is eating our broadband shorts, then we shut up and pay the $49 for sub-10M service each month.

If there was a large-scale movement in America where internet users went "on strike", cancelling their DSL and cable-internet services by the millions and going back to dialup until we were offered 50 Mbps symmetrical for $49/mo., I would absolutely participate.

But I know that will never happen. We've become a society that will bitterly complain about being fed sewage, yet happily swallow it rather than fighting it.
 

wedgedkitty

join:2006-01-10
Quincy, MA
·Comcast

said by tglea See Profile :

Agree! Not to mention the cost of labor in these Asian locations. They are able to build these networks using labor that is probably pennies on the dollar. Anyone who knows anything about construction knows that the labor costs far exceed the cost of materials.
Even though in Hong Kong, wages are actually often HIGHER than their equivalents in America...??

HotRodFoto
Premium
join:2003-04-19
Denver, CO

said by VegasMan See Profile :

Look where we are talking about. Relatively small countries and only in the cities in these countries. When you don't have to wire half the freakin world it's easy to do. Also most of these people live in MDU anyway so that makes it 100's of times easier to deploy than here in the US where most are Single Family units.
That is no excuse why this kinda speed is NOT available in the biggest 50 cities in America. We keep falling farther and farther behind
--
All Things Art
»kkart.deviantart.com

geography

@tel-ott.com
Hong Kong is part of China

gravity12

@iauq.com

Re: another good thread to bash the U.S.A

Just to let you know Hong Kong is part of China but their government system is still in accord with British Colony Rules. They are free to do whatever business they wish.

infinite

@cogentco.com
There are about 7 million people in Hong Kong, and China is one of the largest nations in the world. The only city in the US that is larger is NYC, by something along the lines of 1 million people.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest

If that was true, then MDU here and the dense urban areas would have 100mbs symmetrical service, but most areas wouldn't. Too bad it's not true. The reason this hasn't appeared here yet is simple: Greed. It's far more profitable to charge the max possible and deliver the lowest level of service.

People would love that speed here for that price... but it's not going to happen.
--
"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!)

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

said by LiberalKing See Profile :

why dont we in america get this speeds?. how come the hong kongers, koreans and the swedes get it. is it THE AMERICAN GREED?
BINGO!
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth
tdar

join:2004-04-05
Satellite Beach, FL

said by LiberalKing See Profile :

why dont we in america get this speeds?. how come the hong kongers, koreans and the swedes get it. is it THE AMERICAN GREED?
YES

Anon123

@cushing.org

I can't believe what you've just said. The only reason that Hong Kong has these speeds is because of that "evil" greed. People in search of a profit have to compete. In the USA a lot of government sanctioned monopolies exist which limit competition (competition of a race for money IE GREED). Hong Kong is one of the most economically free places in the world. Its not American companies greed that keeps our speed low, its government protectionism.

Altruism is a lie

hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium
join:2005-06-29
clubs:

Nice

Doesnt that part of the world have BAD ping times, or am i wrong?

CoxCable4
Temp banned from BBR more then anyone

join:2002-10-02
PwnZone

Re: Nice

no...? from the usa its a good 300ms away, thats just due to the raw speed of light limitation.

100mbps is great but all your content will be in chinese. if you try to download something from the usa it will crawl at 6mbps.

Physics

@af.mil

Re: Nice

said by CoxCable4 See Profile :

no...? from the usa its a good 300ms away, thats just due to the raw speed of light limitation.

100mbps is great but all your content will be in chinese. if you try to download something from the usa it will crawl at 6mbps.
Equatorial Circumference of Earth: 40,075.02 km
Maximum possible distance to travel between two points on Earth (using most direct path): 40,075.02 km / 2 = 20,037.52 km.

Velocity of light in a vacuum: 3.00 * 10^8 m/s

Time for light to travel half way around the world:
Disatnce / Velocity = (2.00 * 10^4) / (3.00 * 10^8) = (6.667 * 10 ^ -5) = 0.067 ms

Therefore USA to Hong Kong, if points were positioned exactly half-way around the globe, the maximum time it would take (through "raw speed of light limitation") would be 0.067 ms...*not* 300ms.

Yes, there would be a greater lag than 0.067ms; however this is not due to the speed of light. Much of the lag would be accumulated within servers, switches and relays; also, signals traveling through copper travel substantially slower than the speed of light. Therefore, if any part of the journey were made on a non-fiber connection, this could help accumulate more lag.

Anyway, the "raw speed of light" limitation would only cause a lag of 0.067 ms. Light travels really quickly. Think a little harder the next time you want to dis' the blazingly fast speed of light.

lpmusix

@omcastbusiness.net

Re: Nice

You say speed of light in a vacuum...genius, fiber isn't a vacuum, it travels at 75% the speed as it would in a vacuum (I believe, it's closer to that). There _IS_ 70ms of latency across the US over fiber, there's no way to get around it. So your .067ms or whatever from HK is crap

infintie

@cogentco.com

Re: Nice

Actually I believe that it is slightly lower than 75%. Given a working number of 70% (a conservative estimate) we get a time of 9.54167619 × 10^-5 s. But another limiting factor being overlooked is that light in a fiber cable does not travel in a straight line. The principle that allows a fiber cable to work is TIR, which means that the light must be constantly reflecting off of the walls of the inner cable in the fiber (there are two concentric wires with different indices of refraction), which in turn means more lag, though it is still absurdly small.

Overtkill

join:2005-09-21
Magna, UT

Re: Nice

Not to mention the additional latency issues inherent to connecting hardware and servers.

Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:

Sure, ok..no problemo

如果你认为这项服务是某事等待,直到你看一看在什么AT& T Uverse能做。


--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic!

See 6 replies to this post

Dagda1175

join:2001-06-17
Goleta, CA

Trade off

....i'd rather not live in such population density!
joker5656

join:2006-06-23
Greenville, SC

DAMN AT&T

well Verizon will be the first to offer these speeds to residential residents here in the US. DAMN AT&T, "who would need that kind of speed" BS crap.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: DAMN AT&T

said by joker5656 See Profile :

well Verizon will be the first to offer these speeds to residential residents here in the US. DAMN AT&T, "who would need that kind of speed" BS crap.
Verizon is even being cheap with the upload(to protect their LUCRATIVE biz service)
there are a few companies offering symmetrical service to some small areas but the caps are so prohibitive e.g. surewest and their 30gb/mo fibre.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

Re: Trade off

I agree.. having 1Gbps is nice, however, I don't think I'd want to live in Hong Kong.
--
Canada = Hollywood North

notars

@verizon.net

well by comparison..

there's another fringe benefit of bandwidth in Hong Kong..
no anal retentive industry lawsuits from XXAA!!

Richard B
Fur It Up

join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR
·Comcast

Same old Story

With US broadband rates slowing I do not see the expenditures required to bring even a small portion American brodband users to 100Mbs to be prudent use of resources. We need to concentrate in making brodbad efficient via the market place rather than 100Mbs show pieces.

ninjatutle
You can keep the "change"

join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA

HK, I'll pass

I'd rather kill myself then live in commie china.

Commenter

@iasl.com

moderated:
September 26th, @05:02PM

Re: HK, I'll pass

Hong Kong is not communist. The government is entirely different from China's. It's economy is the free-est in the world.

David_
La vida es bella

join:2001-01-28
chile

Droool....

And here I am with my 600 kbps cable line ....

Oh dear, I might as well move to Hong Kong, I bet the Chinese food is great over there... Plus a chinese girlfriend would be a nice bonus to the 1 gbps net connexion ... !

Can any of you hong kong broadband overlords try to send me a Wifi signal all the way down to South America ???

Disclaimer: I could get up to 20 mbps AdsL 2 line into my house but I´m too cheap to get it. (besides , dealing with the local telco company sucks !)
--
Viajando por el mundo!!!
My Pictures
New Pictures


brooklynman4

join:2004-09-07
Brooklyn, NY

Re: Droool....

The us has that but there slow to roll it out money talks here.

ninjatutle
You can keep the "change"

join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
I bet the chinese food is great, they use cardboard as a subsitute for pork.

DataDoc
Waiting for Godot
Premium
join:2000-05-14
Greenville, NC

Re: Droool....

That was a put up job done for the camera.
SipSizzurp
Fo' Shizzle
Premium
join:2005-12-28
Hilo, HI
·RoadRunner Cable

said by David_ See Profile :

... Plus a chinese girlfriend would be a nice bonus to the 1 gbps net connexion ... !
That is exactly what this 1 Gbps service is all about. With a chinese girlfriend, you never turn on the fucking computer and the bandwidth just sits there !

dadkins
Go For It
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast

Santa Clara, CA

100 Symmetrical is available - $145
For that matter, gigabit is available too! $395

But, seeing as the only "major" ISP that is pushing any sort of fiber to anywhere other than a new subdivision... best that we can hope to see is what? 30/5?

Someone needs to stepup.
Any of the metro areas that exist here in The States should be kicking ass!
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera

Cjaiceman

join:2004-10-12
Aurora, CO
·Comcast Workplace
·Comcast

Re: Santa Clara, CA

said by dadkins See Profile :

100 Symmetrical is available - $145
For that matter, gigabit is available too! $395
I would be even willing to pay $145/month for symmetrical 100Mbps fiber....

wedgedkitty

join:2006-01-10
Quincy, MA
·Comcast

Cheap Broadband

No surprise here. Broadband is ridiculously cheap in HK (can't remember the rate our friends told us they paid per month, but it was a fraction of the cost of what I pay in the US). I remember also walking into internet cafes where the going rate was HKD$10 per hour, which is less than USD$1.50 per hour - by far the cheapest I've seen anywhere I've traveled.
kd6cae
P2p Shouldn't Be A Crime

join:2001-08-27
Palmdale, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
·Dreamhost
·Charter Pipeline

heck, I'll take 25Mbps symmetrical

Wow that's impressive. Hong Kong's slowest tier is 25Mbit/sec symmetrical, here in America many of us would kill even to have that! And that's what bother's me. I for example live just a block from the university of California Riverside, where they have I believe it's an OC-192 internet link, yet all I'm able to get is a maximum of 10/1 here? Why is America so crazy about connections being asymmetrical if you're a consumer? What's wrong with having say a 6000/6000 tier? Sure one day we'll have 100mbps, but our upload will be 1mbps, lol.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: heck, I'll take 25Mbps symmetrical

said by kd6cae See Profile :

Sure one day we'll have 100mbps, but our upload will be 1mbps, lol.
Thats only if you have the top tier package, else it'll be 256kbps.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

WutanG
Premium
join:2001-12-12
Seaford, DE
clubs:
·Verizon Online DSL
·Comcast

caps?

i ask though,is there any caps? maybe people there don't saturate their connections 24/7 with torrent out the ass.So thats not a relevent question.I'm pretty sure that what us Americans would do with that..and that is why we don't have it yet lol My opinion anyway YMMV
MrRuckus

join:2004-01-30
Portland, OR

Re: caps?

said by WutanG See Profile :

i ask though,is there any caps? maybe people there don't saturate their connections 24/7 with torrent out the ass.So thats not a relevent question.I'm pretty sure that what us Americans would do with that..and that is why we don't have it yet lol My opinion anyway YMMV
Actually, if you browse the IRC channels these days, most of the illegal content is handled via these 100Mbit oversea's connections and believe