China Telecom's Premium International Routing | Generated by AI
CN2 GIA is a specific high-quality international routing product offered by China Telecom (the largest carrier in mainland China), under their ChinaNet Next Generation Carrier Network – commonly abbreviated as CN2.
Breakdown of the terms
- CN2: China Telecom’s next-generation backbone network (launched around 2010–2012). It replaced the older AS4134 (ChinaNet) network. CN2 has much lower latency and better routing both domestically inside China and internationally.
- GIA: Global Internet Access – the premium tier of CN2.
CN2 has three main tiers (from worst to best)
| Tier | AS Number | Description | Typical use case / quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN2 GT | AS4809 | Old ChinaNet (AS4134) + some CN2 domestic segments, international part still goes through old congested paths | Normal home broadband (202.97 IPs), heavily throttled internationally |
| CN2 GIA | AS4809 | Both domestic and international segments use CN2 backbone (low-latency dedicated paths) | Premium, least throttled, best ping & stability |
| CN2 GIA-E / Premium | AS55967 or others | Even higher priority, sometimes separate AS, used by very high-end enterprise customers | Ultra-premium (rarely sold to individuals) |
Why people in China (or overseas Chinese users) obsess over “CN2 GIA” lines
- Regular Chinese home broadband (CN2 GT or older AS4134) gets very heavily throttled/blocked when accessing international websites (Google, YouTube, Netflix, etc.), especially during peak hours or politically sensitive periods.
- CN2 GIA routes almost always bypass the worst throttling nodes. Typical round-trip latency from China to Los Angeles on CN2 GIA is 140–180 ms (compared to 300–600 ms or packet loss on GT).
- Many ISPs, cloud providers, and VPN/shadowsock services advertise “CN2 GIA” or “CN2 GIA direct” because it’s the gold standard for stable, fast international access from inside the Great Firewall.
Common ways people get CN2 GIA today (2024–2025)
-
Residential/enterprise broadband packages
Some cities or business parks offer China Telecom “CN2 GIA” broadband (usually 500–1000 Mbps, costs 3000–10000 RMB/year or more). IPs are still 202.97 but traceroute shows CN2 GIA paths (59.43.x.x or 58.2.x.x segments). - Dedicated lines sold by third-party providers
- IPLC (International Private Leased Circuit)
- IEPL (International Ethernet Private Line)
- Many of these are actually China Telecom CN2 GIA on the China side + Tier-1 transit (NTT, Tata, GTT, etc.) on the overseas side.
- Cloud VPS or “airport”/“transit” services
Services like Vultr CN2 GIA, Bandwagon Host “CN2 GIA”, Raksmart, etc., buy wholesale CN2 GIA bandwidth from China Telecom and resell it.
Quick way to identify CN2 GIA in traceroute
Look for these hops (from inside China going out):
59.43.XX.XX ← classic CN2 GIA segment
58.2.XX.XX ← another CN2 GIA segment
202.97.XX.XX ← still CN2 (not GT)
If you see 221.176., 202.97. with high loss, or jumps to 123.×.×.× early, it’s usually GT, not GIA.
In short: CN2 GIA = China Telecom’s premium, low-latency, least-censored international route – the holy grail for anyone who needs fast and stable access between mainland China and the rest of the world.