A US$250 way around Shanghai's internet clusterf*ck
We simply got tired of waiting for the optical cable guy to arrive. We also started experiencing the internet withdrawal shakes had some research to do. A man can only organize his Gmail inbox so many times. So we laid down some cash and got things working again. Here's how.
The Taiwan earthquake broke undersea internet cables — that's why your ADSL connection likely can't reach many foreign websites right now — but certain wireless internet services appear to work fine. We opted for CDMA wireless service from China Unicom, Yao Ming's service provider of choice. (You can also get GPRS wireless service here ... perhaps someone can leave a comment with info about that.)
We went to the electronics market on the corner of Huangpi Lu and Huaihai Lu and didn't waste much time comparison shopping. Not sure we had many options, anyway — we were told the only USB CDMA adapter that works with Macs is the Vtion V1810. We bought one for RMB 850. Looks like there are some cheaper ones at Taobao. We also have a friend who is doing the same thing on a Mac using a CDMA phone and a USB cord. He bought his CDMA phone used for RMB 400. If you don't have a Mac, there are cheaper options. But really, why don't you have a Mac?
We bought our service from the same guy who sold us the adapter and paid RMB 1,300 for six months of unlimited access. It's cheaper, obviously, if you don't need unlimited service. You could get a three month plan with 60 hours a month for RMB 450. We were told that to get an unlimited plan you had to get a non-Shanghai CDMA card. We're not sure of the validity of this statement, but that's what we ended up getting. (This wireless service should work nationwide — good for those who travel a lot.)
Perhaps we paid too much. Perhaps the normal internet will start working again this minute. Perhaps we spend too much time on the internet.
We don't care. We can finally peruse photos of men who look like Kenny Rogers again. And that's what it's all about.
We realize the people who would benefit most from this post likely can't see it. So if you can see it, copy and paste and send it to someone in Shanghai.
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