After moving to Unicom, the US nodes aren't as good anymore.

It’s really hard to notice in daily life

These kinds of differences are easily hidden in normal circumstances.

Watching shows relies on the video platform’s own scheduling, and often cross-border bandwidth doesn’t need to be kept at full capacity. Gaming is more concerned with latency jitter and node stability; when it comes to downloading large files or running high bandwidth continuously, whether the line is suitable immediately reveals its flaws.

So now I actually feel that the download speed is the most honest benchmark. Just because you usually feel everything is normal doesn’t mean this connection is truly wide; it just means you haven’t pushed it to its limit.

Previously, US nodes could be fully utilized; it’s not just the US data centers that are powerful.

In the publicly available materials from China Telecom, ChinaNet is its main network, and CN2 (AS4809) is its next-generation global backbone network that emphasizes low latency and high quality, targeting businesses that place greater importance on international quality. Many people have heard of this; even airport vendors often use it as a selling point.

So, previously when I was on the telecom broadband, switching to a US node could boost my download speed. Looking back now, it’s probably not that “America is inherently faster,” but rather that the combination of “US data center resources + upstream lines at the node + China Telecom’s international routing” just happened to align perfectly. Once the line hits a direction favorable to China Telecom, the experience really is great.

To put it plainly, at that speed before, it wasn’t necessarily that the nodes were generally stronger; it was more like I happened to be standing on the side that had an advantage.

China Unicom doesn’t lack international internet, but the route might not be the same as your original one.

However, this matter cannot be simply understood as “China Unicom relies entirely on renting telecom networks.”

China Unicom also has a considerable international network. The official website of China Unicom clearly states that its backbone network, AS4837, has over 400 PoPs globally, and it also has AS9929 for higher quality capacity. In terms of coverage, it has laid out points in Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.

But the problem is this. “Having international internet access” and “the proxy node you bought right now happens to be friendly to this carrier” are not the same thing.

What home broadband users truly feel is not just whether the carrier has overseas resources, but also:

Which carrier is local to you?
Which return path does the proxy service provider’s upstream prefer?
Are the outbound and return paths of the nodes optimized in the same way?
Is there congestion during peak hours?
Is this link more biased towards China Telecom, or more biased towards Unicom/China Mobile?

Many US nodes; in the past, I could saturate them when using Telecom, but it doesn’t work after switching to Unicom. I am more inclined to understand it as: the line combination of these nodes was inherently more friendly to Telecom. I didn’t feel this before because I myself was on Telecom.

Why Singapore and Taiwan are Doing Better

This is also quite interesting.

After switching to Unicom, the US nodes are no longer working well, but Singapore and Taiwan have improved quite a bit. This change actually illustrates the issue better than just saying “US node speed dropped.”

My understanding is that the Asia direction was originally closer, with shorter paths, and denser regional interconnection. Since Connect has network resources and PoPs in both Singapore and Taiwan, if the proxy service provider provides a more direct regional path at the Asian nodes, the download speed will naturally be easier to achieve.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Singapore or Taiwan data centers are stronger than the US, nor does it mean that all broadband connections should choose an Asian node. It’s more like your current broadband has a better line match with these regional nodes.

How should I put it? Whether a node is strong or not isn’t just about its physical location in the data center; you also have to consider if the route home recognizes you.

This finally corrected my previous understanding

My previous thought was quite simple: US data centers are large, and broadband resources are abundant, so choosing a US node for downloading materials should basically never be wrong.

Looking at it now, this judgment is too coarse.

A more accurate way to say it is:

Whether the US node can be fully utilized depends not only on the US data center, but also on which backbone network your broadband provider is connected to.

The line that works very well for China Telecom users might not work the same way when switched to Unicom. For Singapore and Taiwan, which are actually smoother under Unicom, it’s not that “Asian nodes suddenly got stronger,” but rather that the lines finally fit better.

So in the future, when buying proxies or choosing nodes, I probably won’t automatically focus on the US anymore. It’s more important to first look at what kind of broadband you have and then see which line the service provider favors, rather than whether the data center is in the US or Asia.

Ah, this kind of difference is really hard to tell when just binge-watching dramas or playing games. It only becomes obvious when you have to transfer large files.

References

Writing Notes

Original Prompt

Prompt: In mainland China, when using proxy software for scientific internet access, I noticed a difference between Unicom and Telecom broadband. It’s hard to notice during daily activities like watching dramas or gaming. Occasionally downloading materials, I prefer selecting US nodes because the download speed there can basically reach full capacity. This aligns with my previous understanding that servers in US data centers are provided with ample broadband resources. Recently, after moving and switching to Unicom bandwidth, I discovered a problem: the download speed on US nodes cannot go up anymore. Switching to Singapore or Taiwan has improved things a lot. This is related to China’s backbone network; CN2 high-speed backbone networks are all operated by Telecom, while Unicom has to rent Telecom’s network.

Writing Outline Summary

Keep the real trigger point of “only realizing the difference after moving and changing broadband” and do not write the article as a general network science popularization piece.
Keep the core judgment: “It’s about how fast the node is, and you can’t just look at US data centers; you also need to consider domestic broadband and international routing.”
Supplemented verification on CN2, China Unicom international backbone, and overseas PoPs, correcting “China Unicom relies entirely on renting Telecom network” to a more accurate description.
For the part about Singapore and Taiwan being faster, explain it as “shorter regional paths and higher line matching degree,” rather than stating it as an absolute rule.
Structurally, first write the subjective feeling (experience), then explain the reasons, and finally bring the conclusion back to “how to choose nodes in the future.”