It's just a guess, as they don't want to share such "sensitive commercial secrets".

A year ago I asked TELA for locations of cellphone towers here, to try to work out what would be the best networks. They wouldn't tell me. Even though obviously all the phone companies could map them out easily and you can walk around with a laptop and detect the signals. In the US and UK, for instance, they're a matter of public record and you can see them on sites like http://www.antennasearch.com/.

Anyway, I suspect that when HGC finally goes live that other phone companies might use it for their uplink rather than PCCW's microwave link.

I think that the wired broadband from all providers on Lamma is linked to the PCCW infrastructure and eventually funnelled through the same microwave link.

I'm guessing the Mobile broadband comes through the mobile phone networks and is thus independent of PCCW's network.

But then again, wouldn't those cell towers on Lamma be linked to the rest of Hong Kong through cables/waves? :S

I was using OpenSignalMaps http://opensignalmaps.com/ . The website map is not up to date, but they have an app for Android, probably iPhone too, that lets you detect towers in the vicinity.

The difference is that pccw microwave link is fixed bandwidth. The mobile networks have their own towers and radio frequencies so they are not subject to the same limits.
If they want to they can increase the available bandwith - but Lamma is on the edge of all the networks so you won't get blistering fast transmission from any of them.

Until HGC fibre starts operation...

Yes, all DSL is sublet from PCCW.


I think that too would use PCCW's microwave link to HK above Po Wah Yuen.
How else? I don't see any other similar antenna arrays around YSW with line of sight to HK.

You're probably right - I'm only speculating. If their signals reach a phone in the middle of the harbour I assumed their transponders could probably reach sensitive equipment on HK island too..

As I, today, received notice of the netvigator price increase (up to $218 from November) I wondered if anyone has any updated news on how HGC's broadband cable is going?

If HGC's broadband inauguration is still lost in the mists of the future perhaps a series of letters to pccw might delay the price increase? Or is that just being naive?

Yeah... so any update on the state of the Internet on Lamma?

There is now a facebook page dedicated to this subject. Search for "FasterBroadband ForLamma" and ask to be friends....

Took me a long time to find that, Facebook search sucks.

Direct link is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Faster-Broadband-For-Lamma/377531008925315

But please copy anything you find out to here, and let us know of any actions.

Hutchison doesn't respond to any questions.

TELA should know what's going on, but I fear they will take the line of "commercial secrets" and not inform the public of what must surely have been planned and scheduled and approved by them.

It seems insane that after spending a fortune laying the fibre that they have apparently done nothing for the last year, despite the word last April that it was coming in "six months".

So... Hutchison's maybe doing that to fibre-wire their power plant?

Still no news about this?

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Not a word.

Recently several broadband options have disappeared: the ISP I use, Pacific Internet, isn't taking any new subscribers.

Same for One2Free, and I think Smartone, which had HSPA broadband services.

I think that all the telecoms are putting aside the boring low margin home broadband to push for 4G services, for which they charge a lot more, and in which they've invested billions.

Meanwhile, on Lamma, soon the only choice for us will be crappy PCCW at higher costs and lower and lower service levels as they oversell the capacity.

Eventually HGC will activate their fibre here, but it could be a long wait.

Hi there. Any update about Lamma?
I asked PCCW about internet in my place (Tai Peng) they want to charge me 298$/ month (268$ if no wifi router) for a lousy 3Mbts.
So for the moment I continue to use my phone as a router and use it s 3G.

Is Hutchinson used by some users in Lamma? Not available in my place yet it seems.

If they are not coming soon I ll use 4G smartphone data...it would be way faster that PCCW sh...

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Three46

Not anywhere on Lamma.
See http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum-OK/viewtopic.php?t=12092 for discussion of 4G options.

Nothing has happened with the HGC broadband.

Netvigator offer the same 3 MBPS all over lamma at a range of prices - I pay 218 - you could try to negotiate. A few places get 6 MBPS I'm told.

You can use mobile data or tether to your phone - it's faster, but most of them have a 'fair use' policy that will throttle your speeds right down if you hit a monthly total download of 5GB. PCCW fixed line does not have that limitation.

There is also a facebook group called Faster Broadband for Lamma - you could ask there about other people's experience with 3G

Thanks Alan and Malcom


I ve been using 4g terthering from a friend's 3 Smartphone recently as a test and I will publish the speed here soon.

I do think of using 4G this way. Also I just saw that 3 increased the data plan price but now you can pay extra to increase the Fair usage limit.

Unlimited data plan / 24 months contract is 418$ with 5G FUL.
If you add $80 / 160 / 240 you can increase the FUL to 10G / 15G /20G.

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Three46

Yes I am already a member there and asked also .
Thank you malcolm

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Three46

Thanks three46,
I'm using 3, but wasn't aware that you can upgrade the FUL, if needed. If I'll ever reach 5GB, I'll consider that. If you buy the smartphone from 3, the 4G data plan is just below $200, $223 for unlimited data with a (theoretical) 5GB capping.

They don't seem to cap Lamma users yet, as there's still enough 4G bandwidth left, according to several friends exceeding the 5GB limit already, especially the 1,000+G (ab)user who hasn't been downgraded yet. It'll likely happen soon as more and more people reading this topic tell their friends about the 4G speeds available in some parts of Lamma now and not much hope of ever getting faster broadband here.

In the meantime, I'm pretty happy with a constant speed of 5Mbps reliable broadband downloading, letting it run overnight, one night per week only. It's preventing me from downloading too much crap I might not need and won't have time to consume anyway.

No high-def Blu-ray movie downloads feasible this way, obviously, but if I can rent the latest, just released Blu-ray disks for $10+ by mail (Netflix-like MyVideo.com.hk), it's well worth it. I especially like all the many movie extras available on Blu-rays.

And there's s so much stuff showing on our low-cost satellite TV, you could waste all day watching, so we never bothered with the few, severely limited NOW TV channels on Lamma.

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