Job Discussion Forums

[Master Shake]

Hi all,

I'll be coming to Ho Chi Minh early June for the first time for a 2 month summer contract.

Does the government restrict access to the internet and, if so, to what extent? Can you still access social media? What about downloading movies?

Lastly, about how fast is the download speed in HCMC and how much do you pay for internet per month?

Thanks,

-Shake

[8balldeluxe]

It depends on what district you live in.

[Dekadan]

It's true, different areas and providers have more restrictions than others. Facebook can be quite difficult to get on. I was using TOR to access it, but it's quite slow and has potential for risks.

I still used torrents while there and didn't have much problem getting them. The speed is inconsistent and occasionally the internet is gone for no apparent reason. I rarely achieved a problem-free skype call - it became pixelated, the voices were weird, frozen images, etc....

I don't know what the cost was as it was included with the places I was staying at.

[Master Shake]

Thanks, Dekadan. I'm hearing similar things from the school I will work for.

It sounds like internet in Saigon will be a big step down from Warsaw, Poland. Here nothing is filtered, I can often download at 2MBps.

[Dekadan]

Wow, yeah, you will get nowhere near that speed in Viet Nam. Good luck there! Definitely be careful of the traffic, it's a completely different beast to any I've seen.

[lou_la]

I lived in Phu My Hung, which is a sort of foreigner enclave (lots of Korean businessmen and English teachers) in HCMC last year - I could get facebook and the BBC and such okay at home via my cable internet, but they were much harder to get via wifi (I'm not technical enough to understand why, sorry!). I had to change some settings on my computer - I did this through google DNS. Again, I'm not sure how it worked, but it seemed to! Internet was pretty slow, but then, my connection in the UK at the moment isn't a great deal better.

Enjoy Vietnam!

Lou