Daily Hong Kong

The first thing I did when I settled down in Hong Kong was plugging me to the net. As I haven’t had any local friends who were familiar with internet at that moment, I had to spend some time visiting computer malls and checking several ISP (Internet Service Provider) advertisements on the street.

Very soon, as I was quite desperate, I signed in the contract with I-CABLE to use their broadband (internet) service for a year as it was the cheapest-99 HK$ a month for 10Mbps(local)/2Mbps(oversea). Their service just met my expectation and I was just satisfied with their service.

My tragedy starts after a few months.

On the way back to home from work, I found an attractive advertisement on the street. HKBN (Hong Kong Broadband Network) –which I haven’t heard before-was offering 100Mbps for 238 HK$! 100Mbps local and 20Mbps for overseas! I was so excited and happy that I could experience 10 times faster speed that I-CABLE paying only 2.5 times more money. I didn’t hesitate to sign up another contract even my contract with I-CABLE wasn’t over.

However, HKBN service didn’t meet my expectation at all. The local speed of they had guaranteed was fine but overseas connection speed was terrible. I felt stupid paying 2.5 times more money to HKBN for the same services from I-CABLE so I complained and complained to resolve it however, I never got satisfied. Sometimes when I tried to access any oversea-server-located-website I had felt as if I’m using a dial-up modem. I even tried contacting Consumer Council of Hong Kong and explained my situation and asked if I could terminate the contract without paying penalty. Eventually, it worked and HKBN actually called me and they seemed that they were willing to resolve my issue so I revoked my complaint case in Consumer Council and tried to wait and see what HKBN can do for me.

Few weeks later, On 26 Dec 2006, Taiwan earthquake damaged the undersea internet cables and I was just… dead in cyber space and HKBN got a perfect excuse for my complaint.


This tragedy isn’t over yet. It’s May 23, 2007 and I’m still using HKBN waiting the contract period is over. I’m still not happy with this service. I don’t need 100Mbps local speed. I want HKBN to keep their promise 20Mbps oversea speed which was never been kept.

I recommend PCCW NETVIGATOR according to my local friends’ testimonials. Their price is average and the oversea speed is stable and fast. Their local speed is not more than 10M but unless you are planning to download a bunch of BitTorrent files, it doesn’t matter. I will definitely change my ISP to NETVIGATOR right after my contract with HKBN is over.

Hong Kong newbies who need stable and fast oversea connections, keep in mind and don’t be seduced by the HKBN advertisement on the street like stupid Larry!

ⓒ Larry Laffer