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Attention prisoners in jailhouse wing Henan: what ISPs are you using? My employer supplies an ADSL connection to some unknown service provider (I suspect it's China Unicom) but I suspect they opted only for slowest and cheapest plan. I'm wondering if there are any alternatives in my town, but I've got no way to check. Any ideas?
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May 3, 2014 02:16
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Woodsy Owl posted:Attention prisoners in jailhouse wing Henan: what ISPs are you using? My employer supplies an ADSL connection to some unknown service provider (I suspect it's China Unicom) but I suspect they opted only for slowest and cheapest plan. I'm wondering if there are any alternatives in my town, but I've got no way to check. Any ideas? If you're on a university campus you won't get a choice. If not, then I have no idea and, to be quite honest, switching service providers or throwing more money at the issue sounds like something with the potential to cost alot of effort for little result.
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May 3, 2014 11:45
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I was on a similar situation in chongqing capped at 25kb/s, and there were no other hookups in the building. I paid a small amount of money for some company to run an Ethernet cable from the third floor of a building hundreds of feet away and into my window. That got me like 100kb/sec at off peak time And like dial up speed at peak time
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May 3, 2014 17:11
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I'd forget any option that doesn't involve running fiber to your apartment.
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May 4, 2014 15:40
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Nothing any of y'all have said is more chilling than dialup speeds. I'll take babies pooping on tables any day.
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May 5, 2014 00:57
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Eifert Posting posted:Nothing any of y'all have said is more chilling than dialup speeds. Living in China on dialup is pretty awful. That might sound goony as gently caress but the Internet, even in China, is designed today for speeds at least three times that. Most the entertainment I have in my life comes from the Internet and at those speeds even 10MB downloads fail constantly. You can't even really look at images online and it makes making PowerPoint presentations take twice as long.
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May 5, 2014 01:41
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Eifert Posting posted:Nothing any of y'all have said is more chilling than dialup speeds. I'm probably in the minority but not having internet doesn't really bug me, but kids making GBS threads and pissing all over the place while their parents congratulate them and fawn all over them really rubs me the wrong way. But I've probably been in China too long so take that view with a grain of salt I guess.
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May 5, 2014 02:13
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After years of having a 100 mbit connection in my apartment for basically free it's hard to imagine being in a place without that. You have to wait for stuff to download? 
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May 5, 2014 03:50
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Hong Kong is safe.
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May 5, 2014 03:58
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:Living in China on dialup is pretty awful. That might sound goony as gently caress but the Internet, even in China, is designed today for speeds at least three times that. Most the entertainment I have in my life comes from the Internet and at those speeds even 10MB downloads fail constantly. You can't even really look at images online and it makes making PowerPoint presentations take twice as long. Aint that the goddamn TRUTH
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May 5, 2014 04:09
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So it says in the OP that it's a bad idea to exchange currency outside of China/HK, and to just use an international ATM at the airport or a local bank once you arrive, instead. Doe this advice still hold up? I'm going to Shanghai from the U.S. in a couple of weeks and I'm wondering if I need to have some walking around money on hand before I get there or if it's best to wait.
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May 5, 2014 07:31
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ATMs work just about exactly the same here as in the US and they all have English language options. Unless you have some pressing need for cash you can hit an ATM in the airport.
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May 5, 2014 07:41
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1Gbit internet crew holla
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May 5, 2014 08:23
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MUMMYMTN posted:So it says in the OP that it's a bad idea to exchange currency outside of China/HK, and to just use an international ATM at the airport or a local bank once you arrive, instead. Doe this advice still hold up? I'm going to Shanghai from the U.S. in a couple of weeks and I'm wondering if I need to have some walking around money on hand before I get there or if it's best to wait. Exchanging RMB at a US bank will screw you hard, in my experience anyway. Fearcotton took a few hundred RMB to the largest bank in Pittsburgh after she got home from a trip in college and the rate was loving awful. I really doubt it's changed since then (2010). Arglebargle III posted:ATMs work just about exactly the same here as in the US and they all have English language options. Unless you have some pressing need for cash you can hit an ATM in the airport. On a related note, I was really surprised last summer to find that the exchange rates for withdrawing RMB as USD in the States was so damned good. We were getting paid by the office over our vacation and I wanted to pull the salaries from our BoC accounts out to stash in our American bank. The PLUS network ATMs gave perfect exchange rates. I'd been prepared to get rooked. goldboilermark posted:I'm probably in the minority but not having internet doesn't really bug me, but kids making GBS threads and pissing all over the place while their parents congratulate them and fawn all over them really rubs me the wrong way. But I've probably been in China too long so take that view with a grain of salt I guess. It's their culture, please respect it.
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May 5, 2014 10:04
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blinkyzero posted:On a related note, I was really surprised last summer to find that the exchange rates for withdrawing RMB as USD in the States was so damned good. We were getting paid by the office over our vacation and I wanted to pull the salaries from our BoC accounts out to stash in our American bank. The PLUS network ATMs gave perfect exchange rates. I'd been prepared to get rooked. This is why Pro-PRC recommended getting an extra debit card and sending it to a family member back home to use as a method for sending money back to the US, instead of wire transfers or Western Union.
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May 5, 2014 10:12
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MeramJert posted:This is why Pro-PRC recommended getting an extra debit card and sending it to a family member back home to use as a method for sending money back to the US, instead of wire transfers or Western Union. We may have listened. 
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May 5, 2014 10:27
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MeramJert posted:This is why Pro-PRC recommended getting an extra debit card and sending it to a family member back home to use as a method for sending money back to the US, instead of wire transfers or Western Union. Yeah I do this. Whatever my complaints about my job I officially have enough money to pay off my student loans now. 
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May 5, 2014 11:28
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I've probably mentioned this in the thread before, but you will legitimately make more friends and learn more Chinese if you spend less time inside on the internet. This will in turn lead to more job opportunities (关系）. I'm sure you all have smart phones for your internet social needs anyway, I certainly did. Go outside, watch what's on TV and learn some new lingo (SO FASHION!), read a book, do some studying. Think of the possibilities!
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May 6, 2014 02:37
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NaanViolence posted:I've probably mentioned this in the thread before, but you will legitimately make more friends and learn more Chinese if you spend less time inside on the internet. This will in turn lead to more job opportunities (关系）. I'm sure you all have smart phones for your internet social needs anyway, I certainly did. Go outside, watch what's on TV and learn some new lingo (SO FASHION!), read a book, do some studying. This is very good advice just in general for life, not just living in China. I would suggest getting a smart phone for living in China, my first three years I didn't have one and after I got one not only did living here become much easier but my Chinese improved dramatically.
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May 6, 2014 03:07
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I often think how my Chinese would be better if I had started studying when electronic dictionaries on smartphones were widely available. Smart phones did not become ubiquitous in the US until after I was finished with college. Therefore I was stuck with paper dictionaries for most of my Chinese learning experience in the classroom .. Using a smartphone dictionary is so much faster and so much easier that I'm convinced my vocabulary would be significantly larger today had I had access to the technology my students take for granted when I was starting to learn in high school. Because seriously gently caress Chinese paper dictionaries, especially the 14 volume classical to modern Chinese dictionary in the college library.
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May 6, 2014 03:31
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The biggest reason to own a smartphone in China, imo, is using baidu or sougou maps to navigate the public transport. I literally have no idea how people figured out bus routes here before those existed. Chengdu will often have 4-5 stops with the same name that are on different streets and like 250m away from one another, so even if you know the stop you want to get off at you might get taken in a totally opposite direction. Not to mention the stops are so numerous I can't imagine any map being of much use when looking them up. The 1.5km road between my office and my apartment has no less than 6 stops. Also the fact they tend to change on a moments notice, and somehow baidu and sougou are able to keep up with it all. You can make a different kind of Chinese friend if you spend all your time playing DOTA2 and 炉石专硕 and looking at Mop. You'll also learn different slang!!
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May 6, 2014 04:07
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Magna Kaser posted:I literally have no idea how people figured out bus routes here before those existed. You can use a normal phone and call a bus hotline and tell them where you are and where you want to go and the person on the phone will tell you which bus to take. Or just go to the stops and read which buses stop there and where they go. And then when a bus comes that you think might take you near where you want to go, you stand in the doorway and ask the driver if it goes to _____ and the driver will tell you if it goes there or somewhere close to there. fart simpson fucked around with this message at 04:24 on May 6, 2014 |
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May 6, 2014 04:18
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Note: drivers will lie to you sometimes. One time during heavy construction I was having real difficulty getting to work and asked a bus driver if he was stopping at X stop. He didn't even look at me and shook his head. Some passengers in the front started yelling at him and told me yes, the bus did go there.
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May 6, 2014 04:31
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MeramJert posted:You can use a normal phone and call a bus hotline and tell them where you are and where you want to go and the person on the phone will tell you which bus to take. Or just go to the stops and read which buses stop there and where they go. And then when a bus comes that you think might take you near where you want to go, you stand in the doorway and ask the driver if it goes to _____ and the driver will tell you if it goes there or somewhere close to there. This is pretty much how I get around if I'm not walking or using the underground, I know generally what stops are near where so I just try to find a stop near where I'm going if it is not that close. The bus drivers don't ever seem too keen on answering any of my questions though, can't say I blame them, I would hate being a bus driver in the city center. The Great Autismo! fucked around with this message at 04:43 on May 6, 2014 |
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May 6, 2014 04:37
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MeramJert posted:You can use a normal phone and call a bus hotline and tell them where you are and where you want to go and the person on the phone will tell you which bus to take. Or just go to the stops and read which buses stop there and where they go. And then when a bus comes that you think might take you near where you want to go, you stand in the doorway and ask the driver if it goes to _____ and the driver will tell you if it goes there or somewhere close to there. ok but really, within 1 block of my apartment there are at least 8 bus stops. Within 2 blocks we're probably close to 20. I could go to every stop, see what buses go there (keeping in mind even if they're the "same" stop across the street from one another, usually different buses go to each), see where they go on the little maps which kind of suck, and then hope one of them goes near where I want. Or I could use baidu maps and it'll tell me exactly which bus stop and which buses and their routes. I wouldn't call someone cause I'm a goon and that involves interacting with people.
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May 6, 2014 04:39
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There are close to 20 bus stops within two blocks of your apartment?  I live in the middle of the city center and there are maybe...four within a five to eight minute walk of my apartment.  edit: actually there are 6
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May 6, 2014 04:41
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Magna Kaser posted:ok but really, within 1 block of my apartment there are at least 8 bus stops. Within 2 blocks we're probably close to 20. I could go to every stop, see what buses go there (keeping in mind even if they're the "same" stop across the street from one another, usually different buses go to each), see where they go on the little maps which kind of suck, and then hope one of them goes near where I want. Or I could use baidu maps and it'll tell me exactly which bus stop and which buses and their routes. If you have baidu maps on a smartphone by all means use that. I'm just telling you could do it without baidu maps since you said you had literally no idea. I forgot another big method: ask other people. One of my coworkers was the person who originally told me which bus to take to get home from work.
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May 6, 2014 04:43
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what if you're autistic and can't talk to other people in person?
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May 6, 2014 04:44
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Arakan posted:what if you're autistic and can't talk to other people in person? It can be a slow process, then. I take walks around my neighborhood and I'll stop for 30 seconds by the bus stops and quickly check which buses stop there. After a few months I'd pretty much memorized which buses could take me close to home, and now if I'm out somewhere I can just walk up to a bus stop and quickly check if there are any familiar buses. I didn't have to interact with any people to do this, but it took time.
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May 6, 2014 04:47
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Arakan posted:what if you're autistic and can't talk to other people in person? I believe I mentioned this was the case for me. goldboilermark posted:There are close to 20 bus stops within two blocks of your apartment? I live pretty close to the city center of Chengdu, which is incidentally the biggest shopping district. 20 may have been an exaggeration, so I looked at baidu maps and they didn't even have all the bus stops so I added a few that I know exist.  I think making this map proves my first point in this post.
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May 6, 2014 06:16
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You can avoid this whole problem by living in Yuyao where there are zero interesting places to take a bus to anyway.
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May 6, 2014 11:14
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goldboilermark posted:This is pretty much how I get around if I'm not walking or using the underground, I know generally what stops are near where so I just try to find a stop near where I'm going if it is not that close. The bus drivers don't ever seem too keen on answering any of my questions though, can't say I blame them, I would hate being a bus driver in the city center. A fun fact I learned while watching a Chinese matchmaking show that had a bus driver as a guest, he said that the bus drivers in China are not paid hourly, instead they are done for the day when they finish their route quota. Which is why they all drive like madmen speeding as fast as they can from stop to stop because the sooner they finish the earlier they are done with their day.
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May 6, 2014 16:16
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Understanding that almost everyone in China makes a monthly salary, not an hourly wage, explains a lot about why things happen the way they do here.. For example restaurants staff for peak time (like weddings) so most of their employees just spend all their time standing around doing nothing, which doesn't cost the owners anything so they don't care.
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May 6, 2014 18:08
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I'm opening a store. I'm gonna need like, eighty people to stand in the aisles. What? No, they just stand there. I guess they can bother the customers a bit and block carts? Mostly just chilling out.
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May 6, 2014 18:12
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bad day posted:Understanding that almost everyone in China makes a monthly salary, not an hourly wage, explains a lot about why things happen the way they do here.. Why is this, anyway? Tax reasons? If I remember rightly, this did have something to do with it. Or just general inability to do a biweekly payroll? If our university's accountants are any indication of the rest of the country's bookkeeping, I'd believe it.
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May 6, 2014 18:36
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Lack of hourly minimum wage laws? American businesses pay hourly wages because of employment laws but there seems to be no minimum wage or overtime here so it's just cheaper to buy a whole person a month at a time and let them sit around doing nothing at the times you don't need them. I don't really know, but have never heard of anyone getting hourly pay or overtime outside of foreigners.
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May 6, 2014 19:13
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Hong Kong also mostly does monthly salaries, despite there being a minimum wage (although it's only 4 years old), and passable accounting practices.
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May 6, 2014 19:20
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bad day posted:Lack of hourly minimum wage laws? American businesses pay hourly wages because of employment laws but there seems to be no minimum wage or overtime here so it's just cheaper to buy a whole person a month at a time and let them sit around doing nothing at the times you don't need them. I don't really know, but have never heard of anyone getting hourly pay or overtime outside of foreigners. It's about government licenses and job creation silly.
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May 6, 2014 19:43
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Bloodnose posted:Hong Kong also mostly does monthly salaries, despite there being a minimum wage (although it's only 4 years old), and passable accounting practices. No OT though, or people may actually have time to have sex with their wives or have a life after work. No max working hours, anyway
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May 7, 2014 00:46
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bad day posted:Lack of hourly minimum wage laws? American businesses pay hourly wages because of employment laws but there seems to be no minimum wage or overtime here so it's just cheaper to buy a whole person a month at a time and let them sit around doing nothing at the times you don't need them. I don't really know, but have never heard of anyone getting hourly pay or overtime outside of foreigners. China actually only has hourly wages, there's almost no legal concept of a salaried worker, and there are very strict overtime laws. As far as I can tell though, this only comes up when foreign companies get sued by former employees for violating these things.
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May 7, 2014 00:58
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