I am totally frustrated with the shady terrible ISP service form China Telecom. If they find a wireless router on your account, you get blacklisted automatically. They used to just turn off your account, but now they have gotten more tricky. So they don't run into the hassel from customers who have their service stopped, they keep you connected, but firewall any data to/from your computer.
There must be alternatives to using this AT&T of China monopoly.
How about some feedback from people in Kunming using independant ISP providers. Who are they? Prices? User experience?
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errmmm..I don't think so hoss, China Telecom seems to be the only option. ISP is really depends on your location, there are alternatives such as China CNC or China CTT, you may have to check if they are available near your lives. But be warned, don't expect too much differences since they all pretty much use cables which belong to China Telecom.

If you live anywhere around the Bai Ma Xiao Qu, you can call Great Wall ISP. They offer broadband services and they do not have the same restrictions on use as China Telecom (China Telecom = no wireless, no VOIP etc.).

I do not use them because their service is not available in my area, but I have friends who say it is faster and cheaper than China Telecom. The number to call to find out if their service is available in your area is 536-9509.

They may offer service in areas other than the one listed above. Right now, I only know that service IS available there and is NOT available in the Yi Er Yi/Shi Da/Kun Gong area (or wasn't last time I checked - please post a reply if you find out otherwise).

Are you saying that if you have a desktop using China Telecom internet connection, they do not allow you to use a router to a laptop elesewhere in the apartment? Sorry if I misunderstand.

i've been pretty satisfied with China Telecom - both in Kunming as well as elsewhere in China. i run a wireless router off my ADSL connection here, and hadn't run into any difficulties, so i was surprised to read here about blacklisting. however, this has just been clarified for me, as a friend of mine was at China Telecom yesterday and found that they're cool with wireless running on the 150 kuai a month package.

Depending who you talk to at China Telecom, you will get a different story about their wireless policies. As I currently understand it, they do allow wireless with a max of 3 PC's connected. However what they don't tell you is that when they discover you are using wireless, they throttle down your already dismal speed. I have verified this myself using My Speed PC and Visualroute. They appear to choke your connection speed down about 20%. China Telecom will also have you believe you must also purchase their land line service before you can get their ISP service. THIS IS NOT TRUE, but you will have to press the point before they back down and just give you the ISP.

Does anyone know if China has the equivalent of ADSL2 which is much faster than just ADSL. I find like the interent speed here is really dismal.

Thanks hedgepig and bucko for the info.

as far as i remember wifi can't be installed without authorization but how do they check if you have a wifi router? How can we prevent it?