Direct Connection to China: CN2 GIA vs CN2 GT vs AS4134

According to the latest statistics by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), 802 million people are now actively using the internet in China, 57.7% of the population. China has the highest number of internet users in the world, followed by India and the United States. Many foreign businesses are trying to capture the eyeballs of Chinese internet users. However, they often find their connectivity to China slow and unstable. Many hosting solution providers offer “Direct China Route” or “Direct Connection to China” to boost up the speed of your servers’ connectivity to the mainland China. However, when you look closer to their hosting plans, you will find the price range varied a lot. It is because their services are indeed different, even though they are all so-called “Direct Connection to China”.

Types of Direct China Connection

ChinaNet Assess (AS4134), also called as 163 net, is the most cost effective choice for global customers who need to access Chinese internet resources. It is powered by the extensive interconnection with different telecom operators in China. It has the greatest bandwidth, the most users and the most extensive coverage in China. However, the interconnect points within China are often congested, forcing customers to buy transit from both China Telecom and China Unicom.

CN2 (China Telecom Next Generation Carrier Network, AS4809) is a successor of ChinaNet Assess. It is an MPLS-enabled IP backbone network that offers highly efficient global transit services to further optimize the end user experience. CN2 has the highest resilience, redundancy and low latency. It focuses on serving enterprises that need a high performance telecommunications connection with China, as well as provides direct connections to all major global ISPs via fiber optic data delivery. There are two types of CN2: Global Transit (CN2 GT) and Global Internet Access (CN2 GIA).

• Global Transit (CN2 GT) is cost-effective access to China IP networks via CN2. It has more than 300 POPs including all China’s cities and major cities worldwide. Loading is lighter than ChinaNet Access. To ensure its quality of service, transmission channel utilization ratio is kept under 50%. It has BGP-4 routing to CN2 and ChinaNet Assess.
• Global Internet Access (CN2 GIA) offers a premium China access between mainland China and counties outside China. It has a dedicated path and the lowest latency routes on CN2. It has dual-POPs in 161 cities and dual-PEs installed in 148 single-POP cities. However, the price of CN2 GIA is about 3 times more expensive than CN2 GT.

Dataplugs has 30Gbps direct peering with China Telecom CN2 GIA, China Unicom and China Mobile. All SSD web hosting plans offer a direct connection to China. It is highly recommended for websites that are targeting eyeballs in mainland China. Dedicated server and colocation plans come with 50Mbps or 100Mbps dedicated international bandwidth. Clients can choose to upgrade to CN2 GIA direct China route depending on your needs. Feel free to contact us by email at sales@dataplugs.com if you want to learn more about our direct China route.