Second-class netizens: outlying island residents get 100x slower internet speeds than rest of Hong Kong
Despite hundreds of complaints, city's network providers have been slow to act on the problem
If you're a city dweller who's not getting the internet speed you signed up for in Hong Kong, spare a thought for outlying island residents - they have to settle for speeds nearly 100 times lower than yours for the same amount of money.
And despite hundreds of complaints to government regulators, little action has been taken by the provider which only this week acknowledged a need to upgrade its services on Lamma and south Lantau after the highlighted their problems.
Research conducted by the found home internet speeds on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon's urban areas averaged 58.11 megabits per second, and could reach up to 103.7Mbps.
But on Lantau and Lamma islands and in Sai Kung, speeds regularly dropped into single digits and fell as low as 0.75Mbps - for which residents paid the same price as city customers.
The average for non-metropolitan areas, in tests conducted by the in residential flats during peak hours of 6pm to 9pm, was just 2.55Mbps. Of the more than 900 complaints since 2011 to the Office of the Communications Authority, only four were substantiated and fines imposed on the service provider.
Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) is the only company that provides internet services to Lantau and Lamma, while a few others operate in Sai Kung. HKT this week revealed plans to upgrade network coverage on the outlying islands and pledged to invest in broadband fibre, subject to commercial and governmental approval.
