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Bottleneck on fast lane of information superhighway

Q: While the rest of the world is moving up to high-speed Internet access via ISDN, the Hong Kong Internet market (and especially Hongkong Telecom) seems to be content with offering 28.8-Kbps modem connections. I have called Hongkong Telecom repeatedly but I still do not know exactly how much an ISDN line costs. Figures given to me by other people are: $2,000 installation, $750 monthly, $7.50 per hour.

Could you please clarify the matter and include a list of ISPs offering ISDN access? SVEN VAN DER MESPEL Shouson Hill The prices you mention are accurate.

Hongkong Telecom has had the capability to provide people with ISDN connectivity for several years. It has only been with the growing popularity of the Internet, however, that people now seem to be demanding the kind of high-speed connectivity that ISDN can provide.

Some Internet service providers do provides users with the ability to connect to the Net via ISDN lines.

They include Global Information Networks (telephone 2803-2669), HugeNet (2696-9283), and The Internetworking Company (2319-7319).

Q: I use a machine that I bought from a friend who uses Chinese Windows. I can't read or type Chinese but since it was cheap it is okay.

I can manage to work out what the menus are. When I type on a normal qwerty keyboard though, occasionally it breaks into double-byte character spacing, using Word (English) running on Chinese Windows 3.1. I do not know how to stop it because the operating system manual is in Chinese.

What can I do? DON FRENCH New Territories Changing the input type from Chinese to English may solve your problem and allows you to type away in English without the double byte problem rising up to bite you every so often.

However, in a situation such as this, your best option would be to buy a copy of English Windows and install it on your machine. The few hundred dollars you spend on it will be worth your while.

Besides, you'll end up with an English manual.

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