Looking for an affordable US VPS with decent Chinese connectivity? The DMIT LAX.EB.Pocket plan offers CMIN2 return routing and mixed carrier paths at a competitive price point. This hands-on review examines actual performance metrics, network routing behavior, and streaming capabilities to help you decide if this budget-friendly option meets your deployment needs—particularly for users requiring stable trans-Pacific connectivity without premium CN2 GIA pricing.
DMIT's Los Angeles Eyeball series positions itself as a cost-effective alternative to premium CN2 GIA routes while maintaining reasonable connectivity to mainland China. The LAX.EB.Pocket plan (1 Core / 2GB RAM / 40GB SSD / 2TB bandwidth @ 4Gbps - $14.9/month) caught our attention as a potential solution for projects requiring US hosting with acceptable Asia-Pacific latency.
We deployed the LAX.EB.Pocket plan with the following specifications:
Testing IP: 154.17.228.1
Hardware: AMD EPYC 7402P (1 core @ 2.79GHz)
Memory: 1.9GB RAM with 1GB swap
Storage: 39.3GB SSD
OS: Debian 12 (Bookworm)
Virtualization: KVM
The cross-border performance showed considerable variation across different Chinese ISPs:
China Telecom: Download speeds ranged from 4.6 Mbps to 418 Mbps with latencies around 130-160ms. Upload performance was more consistent at 120-690 Mbps.
China Unicom (Jiangsu Wuxi): Connection failed during testing
China Broadcasting Network (Chongqing): Severely limited at 0.4 Mbps upload with 182ms latency
The inconsistent results suggest routing optimization varies significantly by region and carrier. For business-critical applications requiring predictable performance, this variability warrants consideration.
IPv4 connectivity showed solid international performance:
Europe: 1.22 Gbps send / 1.04 Gbps receive (London), 1.79 Gbps send / 865 Mbits/sec receive (Amsterdam)
Asia: 1.27 Gbps send / 2.13 Gbps receive (Singapore)
Americas: 3.39 Gbps send / 1.87 Gbps receive (NYC), 1.68 Gbps send / 1.19 Gbps receive (São Paulo)
IPv6 performance was comparable, with local Los Angeles testing reaching 4.17 Gbps send / 3.91 Gbps receive, indicating the network infrastructure itself performs well.
Disk I/O testing revealed respectable performance for the price point:
4K blocks: 51.14 MB/s total (12.7k IOPS)
64K blocks: 815.21 MB/s total (12.7k IOPS)
512K blocks: 2.09 GB/s total (4.0k IOPS)
1M blocks: 2.12 GB/s total (2.0k IOPS)
These numbers indicate the storage subsystem won't bottleneck typical web applications or database workloads.
All three major Chinese carriers route through China Mobile's CMIN2 network from Los Angeles back to Shanghai, then traverse domestic networks:
China Telecom: CMIN2 → Shanghai → Beijing (AS9808 → AS4134)
China Unicom: CMIN2 → Shanghai → Beijing (AS9808 → AS4837)
China Mobile: CMIN2 → Shanghai → Beijing (direct AS9808)
Latencies to Beijing hovered around 150-155ms across all carriers, which is reasonable for trans-Pacific routing but notably higher than premium CN2 GIA routes.
For users seeking more predictable cross-border performance, especially if your target audience primarily uses China Telecom or Unicom, 👉 exploring DMIT's premium CN2 GIA options might deliver the consistency your project demands. While the Eyeball series offers budget-friendly pricing, applications requiring guaranteed low-latency access to Chinese users may benefit from the investment in optimized routing.
The CERNET path took a different route through Arelion (AS1299) via Tokyo and Hong Kong before reaching Beijing, resulting in higher latencies around 183-198ms. This indirect routing makes the Eyeball line less suitable for academic or research institutions in China.
Working Services:
Dazn (US region)
YouTube Premium (US)
Amazon Prime Video (US)
TVBAnywhere+
Spotify (US registration)
Most US streaming platforms (HBO Max, FOX, NBC, Peacock, etc.)
Limitations:
Disney+ blocked (IP banned)
Netflix limited to Originals only
Hulu unavailable
ChatGPT initially unavailable (later resolved according to seller)
Reddit blocked
IPv6 streaming capabilities were more limited, with many services not supporting IPv6 or showing degraded functionality. Notable exceptions included YouTube Premium, HBO Max, and several US network services.
The Netflix limitation to Originals-only content and Disney+ IP ban represent significant constraints for users requiring full streaming access. This is likely due to IP reputation issues, as the Eyeball series offers free IP changes every 15 days—suggesting possible abuse by previous users.
Geekbench 6 scores:
Single Core: 1171
Multi Core: 1180
The minimal difference between single and multi-core scores reflects the single-core allocation. Performance is adequate for lightweight web services but won't satisfy compute-intensive applications.
The DMIT LAX.EB.Pocket plan occupies an interesting market position:
Strengths:
Competitive pricing at $14.9/month
CMIN2 return routing to China (avoiding congested public peers)
Solid international bandwidth
Free IP changes every 15 days
Dual-stack IPv4/IPv6
Limitations:
Inconsistent cross-border performance to China
Limited streaming service compatibility
Higher latency compared to CN2 GIA alternatives
Possible IP reputation issues
For projects prioritizing cost efficiency over guaranteed performance—such as development environments, lightweight APIs, or non-critical web services—the Eyeball series delivers acceptable value. However, production deployments serving Chinese audiences or requiring specific streaming capabilities should carefully evaluate whether the cost savings justify the performance trade-offs.
The DMIT Los Angeles Eyeball VPS presents a budget-conscious option for users needing US hosting with baseline Chinese connectivity. While it successfully undercuts CN2 GIA pricing, the routing architecture and occasional connectivity issues mean it's best suited for fault-tolerant applications rather than latency-sensitive services.
If your project demands consistent low-latency performance to mainland China, particularly for real-time applications or premium content delivery, 👉 DMIT's CN2 GIA offerings provide the routing quality and stability that justify their higher price point. The Eyeball series serves its purpose for cost-sensitive deployments, but understanding its limitations upfront prevents disappointment when production requirements exceed its capabilities.
Best suited for: Development/testing environments, backup servers, non-critical web services, projects tolerant of occasional routing variability
Consider alternatives for: Production services requiring guaranteed Chinese access, streaming-dependent applications, real-time communications, or mission-critical deployments where consistency outweighs cost savings