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BadAstronaut posted:Do ISPs in China generally have uncapped or limited bandwidth? Lol, no. Just get Unicom fiber. There, problem averted.
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Aug 7, 2013 09:57
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This isn't a crappy country where they cap your bandwidth or make you pay for incoming text messages
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Aug 7, 2013 10:02
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MeramJert posted:make you pay for incoming text messages Like Hong Kong! 
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Aug 7, 2013 10:03
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BadAstronaut posted:Do ISPs in China generally have uncapped or limited bandwidth? I've never seen capped. Something to keep in mind, though, is the speed. In most cities now "fiber" and 100M+ connections are easy to find, but those speeds are only within China. ie if you're connecting with anything located outside of China, it will go through the great firewall AKA bottleneck and speeds will be poo poo. I have a 20M connection and I can download poo poo from within China at that speed, but anything from outside of the country seems to be soft-capped at 250kbps or so. Also you tend to pay for internet by the year instead of monthly. Basically if you're gonna be doing most of your downloadin' from outside China, it might not be worth it to find a super fast 100M+ connection. pyr0maniac posted:I'm still a little confused about the visa stuff.When I came here I just got a F visa for 6 months study, no need a resident permit or medical check up etc. (under 6 months study F visa) Ask your school. They'll most likely get a call from the PSB when they're processing your visa. Within China that medical check isn't pricy at all. You go to a special hospital set up just for this kind of check, move through it in an assembly line fashion and it takes about 1-2 hours max depending on how busy the place is. I think it only costs like 120rmb. An X is a lot better an an F, so I'd go for that. Year long X's generally have unlimited entries/exits compared to the F's normal 0, and the upfront cost is the same + the health check. Also that health check is good for a few years should you decide to remain in China after the fact.
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Aug 7, 2013 10:07
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Magna Kaser posted:Basically if you're gonna be doing most of your downloadin' from outside China, it might not be worth it to find a super fast 100M+ connection. This is true for Hong Kong too, though not quite as severe. I pay for this stupid 100mbps connection and the fastest I get for foreign downloads and stuff is 20m. Speedtest usually even shows me getting 50m. Liars and cheats, PCCW!
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Aug 7, 2013 10:18
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I can download stuff from the US at like 1500 kbps
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Aug 7, 2013 10:18
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Bloodnose posted:This is true for Hong Kong too, though not quite as severe. I pay for this stupid 100mbps connection and the fastest I get for foreign downloads and stuff is 20m. Speedtest usually even shows me getting 50m. Liars and cheats, PCCW! I get 10mb/s because I live in a village. PCCW is also RAISING prices for their already lovely product (here) they won't invest in out here. I literally have no other choice for an ISP.
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Aug 7, 2013 10:21
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Bloodnose posted:Like Hong Kong! My dad was on Amtrack in like, Montana or something and someone tried calling him 7 times. He didn't even answer it but since he was roaming each call cost him $1.
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Aug 7, 2013 10:23
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Magna Kaser posted:Basically if you're gonna be doing most of your downloadin' from outside China, it might not be worth it to find a super fast 100M+ connection. This. I have an 8M connection (was going to switch up after a month) and I realized that I basically do all my browsing through a VPN which tops out around 300 kbps. I realized that was fast enough for me.
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Aug 7, 2013 10:32
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Most of the firewall's blocking is DNS-based. Basically anything that doesn't use DNS, or doesn't rely heavily on it for all traffic (torrents, games, IM) will be a lot faster and more reliable than traffic that does use it. That's one reason why VPNs, which should slow down otherwise unimpeded traffic, will often give you faster downloads on some sites that are actually accessible from within China. Sometimes DNS service will go out entirely, but leave non-DNS services unaffected. quote:I've never seen capped. Something to keep in mind, though, is the speed. In most cities now "fiber" and 100M+ connections are easy to find, but those speeds are only within China. ie if you're connecting with anything located outside of China, it will go through the great firewall AKA bottleneck and speeds will be poo poo. I have a 20M connection and I can download poo poo from within China at that speed, but anything from outside of the country seems to be soft-capped at 250kbps or so. There's no hard cap, and the advertised speeds, particulary on slower connections don't really mean much...I mean that in a good way...I was routinely getting 8 to 10m on a cheap 2m connection. Anyhow, about domestic traffic: the firewall isn't the only internet control system in effect, it's just the best known (and the only one I really know much about), and it's way smaller than their domestic operations. Domestic sites can be slowed from time to time, as well. If it weren't for the Great Firewall and related bullshit in China, the ISP situation here (1st tier China...what I've seen of 2nd tier is pretty good too) would be just night and day better than the US, IMO. As it stands it's kind of a lateral move. I'm now on fiber paying monthly (Unicom in Beijing). edit: My favorite Great Firewall fact: Due to the way that they use fake DNS results to block traffic, the firewall pollutes foreign DNS servers and degrades service worldwide. VideoTapir fucked around with this message at 10:37 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 10:34
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I don't see myself downloading too much except 1) new games I might get on Steam 2) streaming Netflix... will this work? I have unblock.us set up (I am in the UK but love that sweet, sweet USA content) 3) streaming live surfing ASP World Tour events which sometimes use YouTube or their own streaming services. I have heard 1) Steam can be very slow from within China, and I know nothing about using 2) or 3), other than 3) could give me issues when they are using YouTube...?
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Aug 7, 2013 10:37
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VideoTapir posted:Sometimes DNS service will go out entirely, but leave non-DNS services unaffected. Is this ever not the case?
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Aug 7, 2013 10:37
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Arglebargle III posted:Is this ever not the case? I'm posting right now without a VPN? BadAstronaut posted:I don't see myself downloading too much except Steam has been blocked entirely from time to time (well, for me, perhaps...the firewall sometimes blocks things automatically and it can be loving bizarre), but not recently. Speed is all over the place for downloads, pings on TF2 and L4D2 are usually decent if you're connecting to China, Taiwan, HK, parts of Japan (not sure WTF is up with that, I can't get playable speeds with my favorite Japanese servers anymore), and the Russian Far East (best TF2 servers and players within reasonable ping times of Beijing). Korea as well, but Koreans are SO loving TERRIBLE at TF2 I don't even bother with Korean servers anymore. I've never been able to purchase steam games from within the steam client in China (probably could with a VPN, I guess), but the website works. VideoTapir fucked around with this message at 10:53 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 10:44
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Heh, maybe having harder access to Steam will allow me to work through some of the god drat backlog I've built up over the last few years of sales... So if I move into an apartment that has ADSL/Internet listed (see this as an example) that just means that there is a line installed and I'd need to get my own router and set things up with whichever ISP I choose, or does it mean that the rental cost includes an existing account with an ISP and there is already a router etc set up in the apartment?
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Aug 7, 2013 10:56
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VideoTapir posted:I'm posting right now without a VPN? I just mean when DNS goes out other services are always unaffected; unless the service outage is wider in scope. It's kind of a tautology.
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Aug 7, 2013 11:41
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MeramJert posted:I can download stuff from the US at like 1500 kbps I've never hit that high  When I was in the US I was downloadin at like 6kbps at the slowest and it was depressing me. Within China I get crazy speeds. I've been loading up hour+ Dota2 streams in like a minute while watching the international with my VPN off. Also to actually BUY anything off Steam, you pretty much need a VPN these days. It yells at me telling me I'm not located in the country my card is from lately. Downloading is way faster for me sans-VPN though (Close to 2-3mbps usually). The only game that's actually blocked in China is Dota 2, due to dumb licensing stuff, but I think I'm the only one here who gives a poo poo about it.
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Aug 7, 2013 12:08
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You can receive gifts on Steam just fine, though, right? Then PayPal the person who sent it to you?
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Aug 7, 2013 12:27
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Arglebargle III posted:I just mean when DNS goes out other services are always unaffected; unless the service outage is wider in scope. It's kind of a tautology. Well yeah, but it's the frequency with which this happens. I only ever saw a DNS outage in the US once. edit: It immediately preceded the ISP beginning to redirect mistyped URLs to ad pages. VideoTapir fucked around with this message at 12:39 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 12:28
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MeramJert posted:I can download stuff from the US at like 1500 kbps Actually I meant KBps
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Aug 7, 2013 12:45
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MeramJert posted:Actually I meant KBps That's...so sad.     
Pro-PRC Laowai fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 14:01
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Pro-PRC Laowai, searching is just bringing up a bunch of news sites. Can you please link to the page that has the pricing/speeds for your provider?
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Aug 7, 2013 14:09
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BadAstronaut posted:Pro-PRC Laowai, searching is just bringing up a bunch of news sites. Can you please link to the page that has the pricing/speeds for your provider? http://mall.10010.com/goodsdetail/311307147862.html The 100M speeds are still in "trial mode" for the fiber. Only really available if you have been a customer for a few years  1560 a year in Shanghai for 20M, so 130 a month for delicious fiber ain't bad. Might wanna check up on the offers Telecom has though.
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Aug 7, 2013 14:27
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Using that test I'm getting about 6.5 mbps tonight. That's awesome.
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Aug 7, 2013 15:01
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Wow using that speedtest site I get about 4M with no proxy and about 10M with proxy. Only thing is the ping is 10x higher with the proxy.
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Aug 7, 2013 16:16
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BadAstronaut posted:I don't see myself downloading too much except You don't see yourself downloading much? This is China we're talking about here. You don't need to waste your time paying for netflix and waiting for the stream to maybe load. You can just torrent seasons and seasons of all those wonderful TV shows and movies that will never be released in China. No one in China cares. SB35 fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 16:18
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SB35 posted:You don't see yourself downloading much? This is China we're talking about here. You don't need to waste your time paying for netflix and waiting for the stream to maybe load. You can just torrent seasons and seasons of all those wonderful TV shows and movies that will never be released in China. No one in China cares. I think he is one of those weirdos who likes paying money for stuff or something. If its true, then thats some sick, twisted thinking.
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Aug 7, 2013 16:43
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So Netflix doesn't work so well over there then?
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Aug 7, 2013 18:14
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It varies by your specific connection sometimes, but the largely accurate rule in Asia is that international pipes to stuff in the States and Europe aren't so hot. This varies widely by country. As well, remember to keep a US bank account and credit card, because all kinds of territorial poo poo (like PayPal and iTunes) is keyed to the nationality of your bank account. Amazingly, companies like PayPal even make you open two accounts - yes, two accounts - with the same name and everything if you have a funding or deposit source from a different country.
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Aug 7, 2013 18:17
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Pro-PRC Laowai posted:That's...so sad. It's not that sad consider I was talking about downloading stuff from the US. 1500 KBps works out to almost 12 Mbps, and you only scored 9.54 on your bragging test there.
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Aug 7, 2013 18:18
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BadAstronaut posted:So Netflix doesn't work so well over there then? Among other things. When I warned you about getting too excited about China, this is one of those things. You can't really expect to use the internet exactly like you do at home, even with a good VPN. It's not like when you go from the US to Germany or something and can open up your laptop without thinking and do whatever you want. In first tier cities this seems a lot less of an issue, but even then don't expect to just leisurely browse around Youtube in 1080p and don't expect Dropbox to sync seamlessly over your phone. Public wifi is generally rare. For instance the school I taught at, in 2009, had no form of wifi network on campus.
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Aug 7, 2013 18:26
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MeramJert posted:It's not that sad consider I was talking about downloading stuff from the US. 1500 KBps works out to almost 12 Mbps, and you only scored 9.54 on your bragging test there. Sure, but... torrents, 9.9MB/s
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Aug 7, 2013 18:36
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ReindeerF posted:As well, remember to keep a US bank account and credit card Definitely, I closed my U.S. checking account (minimum balance deductions!  ) and I have regretted it since.
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Aug 7, 2013 18:43
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VideoTapir posted:I've never been able to purchase steam games from within the steam client in China (probably could with a VPN, I guess), but the website works. I have, the trick is that if you're using an American card with an American address you still have to put "China" for the country. The only issue I've had was some games weren't available in the Asia region. Also if you try to play online games that only have servers in America and Europe for example, you'll get horrible ping. BadAstronaut: real question, have you ever lived or traveled abroad before?
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Aug 7, 2013 18:45
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systran posted:Among other things. When I warned you about getting too excited about China, this is one of those things. You can't really expect to use the internet exactly like you do at home, even with a good VPN. It's not like when you go from the US to Germany or something and can open up your laptop without thinking and do whatever you want. Yes you definitely "learn the ways of the internet, China-style" after awhile. For instance basically making everything available offline. You never know when the internet is going to stop working or major crackdowns will occur on the internet in your area or your VPN will get blocked, etc, etc. Netflix probably isn't worth bothering with, all those shows/movies are available on torrents, just takes a little forethought. Google products are unreliable. Itunes store? Sloooow. Facebook? No. Youtube? No. Vimeo? No. Tinder? No. Anything cool and social that wasn't China-made? Probably not. The list goes on.
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Aug 7, 2013 18:47
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Got you. Thanks guys. I've got about 4tb of stuff I'll be bringing with me, and I'll just stock up here/there on what I'll be wanting, I suppose. Apparently the offices of the company I'm working on have full access to whatever we need, which means for at least working hours I can do all my normal internetting.
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Aug 7, 2013 18:52
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Finally got my itinerary to Hebei Province. I'll be flying in to Beijing, then visiting Chengde and staying there a night, two days in Qinhuangdao, a day in Tangshan, then Baoding, and a couple days in Shijiazhuang. Just looking at some pictures, Chengde and Qinhuangdao look pretty cool. Hopefully I get to tourist it up a bit and see the end of the Great Wall. Do hotels generally provide free WiFi there, or am I going to have to pay? What would be my best bet for calling back state-side to talk to my wife and boss? Calling cards? I can't imagine I'd want to pay whatever my (non-company owned) cell phone provider would want to charge even if my android worked in China. Thanks again, China goons!
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Aug 7, 2013 21:14
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More importantly than all of Eat This Glob's questions, http://www.gog.com is not blocked there, right? Don't see why it would be...
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Aug 7, 2013 21:15
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Eat This Glob posted:Finally got my itinerary to Hebei Province. I'll be flying in to Beijing, then visiting Chengde and staying there a night, two days in Qinhuangdao, a day in Tangshan, then Baoding, and a couple days in Shijiazhuang. Just looking at some pictures, Chengde and Qinhuangdao look pretty cool. Hopefully I get to tourist it up a bit and see the end of the Great Wall. Depends on the quality of the hotel. Hostels typically have free wifi. Hotels often have wired, but not necessarily wireless internet. Skype or something similar to call back home always worked well for me. BadAstronaut posted:More importantly than all of Eat This Glob's questions, http://www.gog.com is not blocked there, right? Don't see why it would be... Well, greatfirewallofchina.org says it timed-out on a couple servers and was okay on others. But some more anecdotal evidence might be needed vvvvv 
SB35 fucked around with this message at 21:25 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 21:20
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BadAstronaut posted:More importantly than all of Eat This Glob's questions, http://www.gog.com is not blocked there, right? Don't see why it would be... For current and future reference: http://www.blockedinchina.net/?siteurl=Gog.com That said, many sites that have no obvious reason to be blocked, are blocked. Worst case, something is blocked, you use a personal or in your case company supported VPN and just deal with it. Edit: sb35 is answering everything faster than me with the same info I would give. Never mind! waloo fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 21:22
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BadAstronaut posted:More importantly than all of Eat This Glob's questions, http://www.gog.com is not blocked there, right? Don't see why it would be... Something else you have to realize is that many of these sites, even if they load, will not let you buy things from China due to licensing issues.
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Aug 8, 2013 02:13
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