MICHAEL JEN-SIU in Beijing (博讯boxun.com)

   Internet connections in northern China have slowed to a snail's pace during peak periods due to a reduction in bandwidth, the continued use of censoring filters and an increase in demand.

   The problem has angered and confused the nation's growing number of Internet users.

   "Everyone can see that the government here is putting its hand into cyberspace, unlike anywhere else in the world," said Beijing-broadband user Sara Li, who said her connection was prohibitively slow. "I am convinced that people should reconsider the issue."

   Local Internet experts said the system of automated packet filtering that the mainland began using in October had slowed international connections by effectively creating an extra stopover for each transmission. The country's eight international Internet gateways are pressed to handle the traffic flow.

   Bandwidth was expected to increase by the end of the month, relieving the problem to some extent, one Beijing Internet consultant said.

   He said this was because China Telecom was expected to buy more bandwidth between China and the US. The exact amount of new bandwidth to be purchased was unclear, he said, but the central government was behind the purchase and "it would be illogical not to add a lot more bandwidth".

   Demand for Internet services is skyrocketing, growing 73 per cent between 2001 and the middle of last year to 45.8 million users.

   "As far as the Internet goes, think of China as a big balloon with only one hole for air to go in and out of. There is a lot of information trying to go in and out and a lot of data that gets lost during the peak hours of use," said Michael Iannini, general manager with Nicholas International Consulting Services Inc in Beijing.

   Packet filters, which had been put in place to detect pornography and anti-government material, compounded this problem, he said.

   Mr Iannini said that the number of US-Shanghai connections had increased but that "this doesn't help us too much in the north".

   Surfing the Internet is usually smooth at night and checking China-based Web sites seldom causes problems at any time of day.

   But problems occur with international sites from about 9am onwards, when most of Beijing's population starts work.

   In the evening, so many people in Beijing's newer apartment buildings surf the Internet at home that the system sags again.

   The lack of a standardised national network also makes Internet traffic slower between provinces, said Todd Bryan, of consulting firm MFC Insight.

   For now, users and analysts said, there was not much anyone could do to alleviate the problem.

   "With any disability, you learn to live and overcome it in different ways," said Danny Levinson, chief operating officer of xianzai.com, a Beijing-based online games and marketing service.

   "Maybe you put off downloading files until lunch, when most people are out of the office. Or you get to the office 15 minutes early to quickly download your POP account mail. Or you write off low sites and just don't go back to them anymore." (博讯boxun.com)