internet access in Kunming

[harpssong]

Hi,

My daughter just rented an apartment in kunming. When she moved in the landlord handed her a small box and told her the apartment has internet. My daughter has set up the box with the modem and with her computer so that she is connected (receiving and sending packets) but her windows dialogue box is telling her that her PCP/IP address isnt functioning (or something to that affect).

Does she need to be signed up with an internet provider like one would in the US? I am hoping someone who has lived in this city could fill us in on what she needs to do. Thanks!!

Harpssong

[Laska]

The apartment probably has ADSL broadband. The box the landlord handed your daughter was the modem.

Does your daugher have the username and password?

To connect, your daughter will need the username and password of the landlord's broadband account. If she's using Windows XP, she will then need to set up an internet connection in the control panel. The kind she wants to set up is PPPoE (broadband). That's where she will enter in her username and password.

If she's using Windows 2000, she will need software called WinPOET. This software will enable her computer to talk to the broadband network. She will enter in her username and password into software dialogue box after the software is installed.

Your daughter's landlord may not know much about her internet account. But at least username and password should ring a bell.

[harpssong]

Dear Laska,

I have passed your information on to her. Thanks for your help!

Harpsong

[tuxoar]

Is the internet in Kunming and more reliable than other parts of China? Anyone who has studied in Kunming ever have much trouble with campus networks?

[pandaxiongmao]

I'd imagine the Internet in Kunming is pretty terrible right now. When I lived in Kunming, the Internet seemed slower than it did in Chengdu or many places on the east coast of China I've been to. Since a lot of cables have yet to be fixed, I'd imagine people on the east coast have an advantage over users in the interior.

Unless you are at a school library, it is pretty unlikely you will actually be on the school network. My experience in mainland China is that if you are in a dorm, you usually have to get ADSL (at a discounted rate for students). It is not like other countries (or Taiwan/HK) where you can simply plug in the ethernet cable. In mainland China, it is just as well, because people are usually flooding the campus network with BT traffic anyway. That personal ADSL ends up being faster.

[tuxoar]

Unless you are at a school library, it is pretty unlikely you will actually be on the school network. My experience in mainland China is that if you are in a dorm, you usually have to get ADSL (at a discounted rate for students). It is not like other countries (or Taiwan/HK) where you can simply plug in the ethernet cable. In mainland China, it is just as well, because people are usually flooding the campus network with BT traffic anyway. That personal ADSL ends up being faster.

When I was at Qingdao U, I had similar problems with that. Even though we were in the "foreign students dorm" we still had to go buy the cards and do get our "personal" dsl. The was however, a HUGE difference between the "personal" dsl of a citizen who lived in the apartments (where I tested a friends dsl) and the one I had in the furriner's dorm. Dorm DSL was locked down worse than San Quentin during a riot. I actually met the guy who they payed to sit there and watch the traffic. Wasn't sure if that is a universal trait amongst universities.

I work over the internet and tend to need more advanced networking than your typical student/torrent downloader... trying to decide if I should take the plunge and quit my job because it will be too much trouble doing that in the mainland.

[adrianlondon]

I assume every Uni has their own policy.

Here at BNU (Beijing) the internet has always been slow. Although we have a line all to ourselves here at the foreigner dorm, most of us foreigners seem to be Indonesians intent on going through imdb alphabetically and downloading every film ever.

In an attempt to speed things up, the admin here locked down nearly every port. The internet flew for a few days; except I couldn't pick up or post email (I use SSL encoding) nor could I connect to a chatroom I like to use. The admin chap here was friendly and opened the ports I needed. I like chinese computer speak - he understood "wo yao yong zhe xie tcp/ip ports, xiexie"

However, the fact that there are ways to download stuff other than bittorrent, coupled with the severing of the undersea cables during the recent-ish earthquake, the internet here is slow again.

Websites based in China (or HK) run very fast though, as does google.com which - I assume - is mirrored somewhere nearby.

[Xiao Kui]

internet access in Kunming is pretty slow rt. now due to the broken cables. I can access all US sites but those with extra security such as my bank take forever to load pages and the connection can time out. those stupid mind-destroying, time wasting, games I like to download from Real Arcade keep timing out. The neat thing is now I can waste even more time retrying to download them then i did playing the games themselves. The big deadline China Netcom gave themselves for having it completely fixed is Jan 15th, so I'll let you know how it's doing then.

I don't download Bit-torrent so don't know how that is but iTunes is really slow. Other downloads seem to be randomly fast or slow. Limewire is okay, but not nearly as fast as in the US.