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steve_c

Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 96 Location: Luzhu (or Lujhu or Luchu or...sigh)
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Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:23 pm Post subject: Internet service availability |
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I'll be coming to Taiwan in the next couple of months and was wondering if hi-speed internet service is commonly available in apartments in most areas of the island, or is it limited to the larger cities? In particular, I'm thinking of the east coast, such as Yilan County.
I used the search feature but wasn't able to find any information about this.
Thanks for any information you can provide. |
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BJ
Joined: 03 Dec 2003 Posts: 173
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Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:15 am Post subject: |
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ADSL is available by the local phone company in most cities/towns, unless you live in a village then modems only. CAble is also available in most towns. |
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steve_c

Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 96 Location: Luzhu (or Lujhu or Luchu or...sigh)
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Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you. |
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TaoyuanSteve

Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan
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Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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Taiwan has some of the fastest internet connectivity at some of the lowest prices on the planet. You'll like it here. |
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cspitzig
Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 56
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:48 am Post subject: |
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BJ wrote: |
ADSL is available by the local phone company in most cities/towns, unless you live in a village then modems only. CAble is also available in most towns. |
What is the difference between a city, town, or village in Taiwan? I know in the US, it is dependent upon state laws. From Wikipedia: "There are some very large towns (such as Hempstead, New York, with a population of 755,785 in 2004) and some very small cities (such as Lake Angelus, Michigan, with a population of 326 in 2000)" Is it a minimum population, or some other requirement? |
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TaoyuanSteve

Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:22 am Post subject: |
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I'm not so sure about the village comment, either. My friend is married to an aboriginal Taiwanese, lives in a small village in Alishan, and has a blazing fast fiber optic connection!  |
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craigzy
Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 87 Location: taichung
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:55 am Post subject: |
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TaoyuanSteve wrote: |
Taiwan has some of the fastest internet connectivity |
i cant tell if youre being sarcastic or not. ive found that the dsl here is pretty good and the cost is moderate, but the cable speeds here are relatively slow compared to both asia and the rest of the world and have been since the 9/21 earthquake. the country has been running on a secondary cable network since then because neither the government nor the owners of the broadband companies want to replace the damaged cable - much of it submerged - because of the costs invovled. and, because of this, the broadband providers also put a cap on individual download speeds because the network becomes too clogged when half the island is using p2p programs and playing RPG's at the same time.
this is off on a bit of a tangent, and i apologize, but i was doing some research into all of this and found out that the infamous Carlyle Group owns a majority stake in eastern multimedia, taiwans largest broadband provider. read into that what you will, but i found it interesting. |
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TaoyuanSteve

Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan
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Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:43 am Post subject: |
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craigzy wrote: |
i cant tell if youre being sarcastic or not. ive found that the dsl here is pretty good and the cost is moderate, but the cable speeds here are relatively slow compared to both asia and the rest of the world and have been since the 9/21 earthquake. the country has been running on a secondary cable network since then because neither the government nor the owners of the broadband companies want to replace the damaged cable - much of it submerged - because of the costs invovled. and, because of this, the broadband providers also put a cap on individual download speeds because the network becomes too clogged when half the island is using p2p programs and playing RPG's at the same time. |
I'm not being sarcastic. Fat bandwidth is available here and cheaply, especially compared to what it would cost back home. You can't simply purchase the cheapest adsl and expect it to be great, but upgrade to a stable IP and see what I mean. Or try fiber if it's available. Cable sucks; they cap it, much like the rest of the world. |
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BJ
Joined: 03 Dec 2003 Posts: 173
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Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:50 am Post subject: |
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A village, small hamlet, group of housing away from a main population centre. Why do people always want exact answers when the possibility of giving one with appropriate definitions are either impossible to give, or run into the absurd in minute detail.
The further away from a main city the more costly to run fibre optics? i.e. City centres more likely to have access than the outskirts of a city, bring that down to a micro level.
If its a village in the rear end of no where what chances are there. What are the chances of you living in a national park with your nearest neighbour some 20 km away? You may be lucky, you might pay through the nose to get your line, it all depends where the lines go to
For all intense and purposes the bigger the place the more chance of faster connections. |
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moonshine
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 60
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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:00 am Post subject: |
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how about temporary wireless for my nb? anyone know how I can hook up for a few days on a short holiday?
can I make arrangements at the airport? or what?
I was there earlier this year and went over to Starbucks where a my nb found a connection but the site had only limited English and I wasn't able to negotiate thru it enough to make a requested payment and attain a connection.
This is truly important to me to be able to have internet access so please do offer any suggestions you have!
Thanks! |
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MomCat
Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 297
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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:40 pm Post subject: |
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Moonshine,
You can buy a card at Starbucks. 300ntd for 360 min. When you first put in the id and pin there will be a link to English on the site.
I believe there is also service at McDonalds. I haven't used it but was told it was free.
This site should also have more options:
http://ipass.jiwire.com/
Cat |
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moonshine
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 60
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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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MomCat wrote: |
Moonshine,
You can buy a card at Starbucks. 300ntd for 360 min. When you first put in the id and pin there will be a link to English on the site.
I believe there is also service at McDonalds. I haven't used it but was told it was free.
This site should also have more options:
http://ipass.jiwire.com/
Cat |
this is awesome - thanks so much! you know I started to ask them that day but they were so busy I didn't want to bother anyone. |
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BigWally

Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 765 Location: Ottawa, CAN (prev. Kaohsiung "the Dirty South")
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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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here in Kaohsiung there is just one place to use the internet, you typically need to line up weeks in advance to have a chance...there are only 3 connections available and they are all 14.4 dial up modem service....  |
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MomCat
Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 297
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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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BigWally,
Are you referring to an Internet Cafe? I think Moonshine wants a wifi connection to use with his/her own laptop. There are almost 100 places listed in Kaoshiung on the wifi finder page. They include McD's, KFC, Dante Coffee and Starbucks.
Cat |
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BigWally

Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 765 Location: Ottawa, CAN (prev. Kaohsiung "the Dirty South")
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:38 am Post subject: |
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nah....i was just foolin' around....i actually have 10MB/sec Fiber Optic Cable Internet in my apartment here...its ridiculously fast |
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