CTGNet (CN2 GIA) vs. CUP vs. CMIN2: A Quick Comparison for China Routing

Three carriers, and a lot of overlapping marketing language, including two different names for the same China Telecom product. If you’ve been comparing China-optimized hosting and keep running into CTGNet, CN2 GIA, CUP, and CMIN2 without a clear sense of what separates them, this is the reference to bookmark. No fluff, just what each one is, which carrier runs it, and when it actually matters which one you pick.

The short version

Route	Carrier	AS Numbers	Best for
CTGNet (formerly CN2 GIA)	China Telecom	AS23764, AS4809	General China Telecom traffic, broad reach
CUP	China Unicom	AS9929, AS10099	Users primarily on China Unicom networks
CMIN2	China Mobile	AS58807	Users primarily on China Mobile networks, including mobile-heavy traffic

What each one actually is

CTGNet (formerly CN2 GIA). CTGNet is the more current name China Telecom uses for its premium route, historically marketed as CN2 GIA, and you’ll still see both terms used, sometimes even by the same provider in different places. It’s built to keep traffic on China Telecom’s backbone for a longer stretch of the route than standard transit, avoiding the heaviest congestion points closer to typical international peering locations.

This matters specifically for users on China Telecom’s own network, which is the largest of the three major Chinese carriers and covers a broad geographic footprint across the country.

CUP (China Unicom Premium). CUP is China Unicom’s equivalent premium routing product, built on the same general principle, minimize hops and congestion for traffic destined to Unicom’s network specifically. If your audience or team is concentrated on China Unicom connections rather than China Telecom, a route optimized for CUP will generally outperform a CTGNet route for those specific users, even though CTGNet (still often called CN2 GIA) gets more attention in general hosting discussions.

CMIN2 (China Mobile International N2). CMIN2 is China Mobile’s premium international route, and the newest of the three to become widely available in commercial hosting products. China Mobile has historically been more associated with mobile connectivity than fixed broadband, but its international routing product matters for any service with a meaningful share of China Mobile users, mobile or fixed.

Why three separate routes exist at all

China’s internet infrastructure is split across three major state-affiliated carriers, China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile, each operating largely separate physical networks with their own international gateways and peering arrangements. A route optimized for one carrier’s network doesn’t automatically carry the same benefit for traffic destined to a different carrier’s users, because the physical path and peering points differ.

This is the entire reason multiple “China-optimized” products exist instead of just one: a single premium route can’t be equally optimized for all three carriers simultaneously, since they’re genuinely separate networks with separate congestion points.

Does it matter which one you pick?

It depends entirely on who’s actually accessing your service. If you don’t know your audience’s carrier distribution, the honest answer is that a single “China-optimized” route, whichever one you pick, is a meaningful improvement over standard international transit for a general China-facing audience, but it won’t be equally optimal for every visitor.

If you do know, or can find out, which carrier your specific audience is concentrated on, matching your route to that carrier delivers a bigger improvement than picking whichever route happens to be best-marketed.

Some providers, Riven Cloud included, offer routing across multiple carrier paths specifically because real audiences are rarely on a single carrier exclusively, and covering more than one route reduces the odds that a meaningful chunk of your traffic gets routed sub-optimally.

How to figure out your own audience’s carrier distribution

If you already have traffic data, checking the AS number associated with visiting IP addresses can tell you roughly what share of your China-based visitors are on Telecom, Unicom, or Mobile networks respectively. This isn’t always precise, since some IP ranges are harder to attribute cleanly, but it’s usually enough to identify whether your traffic skews heavily toward one carrier or is genuinely mixed across all three.

A note on naming confusion

Because CTGNet and CN2 GIA refer to the same underlying China Telecom product, and because providers vary in which name they use, don’t assume two providers advertising different names are offering genuinely different routes without checking. Ask directly which carrier and AS numbers are involved, the answer matters more than which of the two interchangeable names shows up on the pricing page.

We list our own routing this way specifically to avoid this kind of ambiguity: Riven Cloud offers CTGNet (China Telecom, AS23764/AS4809), CUP (China Unicom, AS9929/AS10099), and CMIN2 (China Mobile, AS58807) as distinct, named routes rather than a single blended “China-optimized” claim, and our network page lists the exact paths for each.

Wrapping up

There’s no single “best” route among these three, only a best fit for a specific audience’s carrier distribution. If you’re evaluating providers, ask which specific carrier routes they offer, not just whether they have “China optimization” in general, and if you can determine your own audience’s carrier split, use that to guide which route actually matters most for your traffic.

Want to see the exact paths behind each route? Riven Cloud’s Looking Glass lets you test CTGNet, CUP, and CMIN2 independently, from Tokyo or Singapore, before you commit to anything. Once you’ve found the route that fits, Riven Cloud’s Premium plan starts at $49/mo with that same routing built into every plan.

Frequently asked questions about China carrier routing

Are CTGNet and CN2 GIA actually different products?

No, they refer to the same underlying China Telecom premium route. CTGNet is the more current name for what was historically marketed as CN2 GIA, and both terms are still in circulation.

Which route is best if I don’t know my audience’s carrier distribution?

Any of the three premium routes is a meaningful improvement over standard international transit for a general China-facing audience, but for the biggest improvement, look for a provider offering multiple carrier routes rather than betting on just one.

Can I check which carrier my visitors are actually on?

Yes, roughly. Checking the AS number associated with visitor IP addresses can indicate whether traffic is concentrated on Telecom, Unicom, or Mobile, though attribution isn’t always perfectly precise for every IP range.

Is China Mobile’s CMIN2 route as mature as CTGNet?

It’s newer to widespread commercial availability than China Telecom’s product, but it serves the same fundamental purpose for China Mobile’s network specifically, and it’s become a standard offering among providers focused on China-optimized routing.

Do I need all three routes, or is one enough?

It depends on your audience. If your traffic is genuinely concentrated on one carrier, one well-matched route may be sufficient. If your audience is mixed across carriers, coverage across multiple routes reduces the chance that a meaningful share of visitors gets a sub-optimal path.

Does a provider need separate infrastructure for each carrier route?

Generally yes, since each route involves separate peering arrangements and paths to a different carrier’s network. This is part of why not every provider offers all three, and why it’s worth asking specifically which ones a given provider actually supports.