Hey everyone,

I want to get opinions on what home internet service you’ve had the best experience with in KM. I know a lot of factors go into what makes internet service good and that slow internet isn’t necessarily the fault of the company, but in your own experience, which providers have you liked and why?

Thanks!

A lot will depend on the infrastructure of your local xiaoqu (housing development). Ask the management, they will know which most residents will use where you live. That is a good indicator of service levels where you live.
Don't get sucked in by the special budget packages, some as little as 6rmb/day, as they are limited and I have heard complaints.

What I can tell you is that over the last 2 years most providers have upgraded to fibre optic cable across most of the city.
The only complaint about our China Telecom service is that, since they upgraded to fibre, they now provide IP TV services, which gobbles up bandwidth at peak viewing times. I assume other cable providers will be the same.

Indeed take time of day into account. My experience is that some things work only around five o’clock in the morning but stop working when China wakes up and goes online. In the evening when everyone and their dog are streaming movies even more things ground to a halt.

China Telecom (CT) is a solid choice for home fix-line broadband in Kunming. For me, fast around the clock.

Unlike Unicom, CT is friendly with VPNs such as ExpressVPN, in which case, no need to purchase beyond the 50M package. VPN DL & UL speeds more or less max out above 50M fiber optics. Torrent/Google Drive DLs reach impressive speeds of 7 MB/s for 50M via VPN.

For CT, 50M costs ~100rmb/month. Package includes unlimited mobile data (compatible and blazing fast with ExpressVPN as well) that fare well from Shangri-La to Xishuangbanna in Yunnan.

Whereas 200rmb/month gets you 500M fiber optic speed, but as mentioned not necessary if you're running VPN.

China Mobile has many small print hidden costs, granted in recent year they have caught up w/ CT as the leading fix-line broadband service provider. Price war has made CM cheaper on paper.

If available in your residential complex, do a trial comparison test for both service providers.

We tried China Mobile - it's ... ok...but for consistent reliable high speed, we'll be switching back to China Telecom. They have the best fiber backbone. The plans also come with mobile services - which means you'll have to change your mobile if you want to use China Telecom, cuz Kunming doesn't know or is too lazy to re-register China Mobile numbers with China Telecom (it's really troublesome to do).