[FaroFlyer]

I wonder if anyone can help. I arrived in China last week and internet access was fine while staying in the Hilton Shekou which, by the way, is still a very good hotel.

Had a meeting near Dongguan with a German customer who told me that he could not access his e-mail and the hotel in Dongguan installed a VPN on his phone, so it would work. I was a little cynical about the need for a VPN, other than for items like UK TV as I have never had a problem.

Arrived in Wuhan yesterday and could not access my Yahoo small business account on either my phone, or my laptop. I remembered the advice about needing a VPN and connected my UKExpatVPN which was already installed on my laptop, for IPTV. In Wuhan this worked on my laptop, but I could not download it to my android phone.

Now I am in Jingzhou, 200km from Wuhan, and my UKExpatVPN will not connect, and obviously I cannot use my phone for Yahoo either. It seems that in August 2021 China made accessing sites like Yahoo and some social media sites inaccessible.

Does anyone know of a VPN that will work in China which can be downloaded in China? Every VPN site that I have tried is blocked:-(

[stevescoots]

unfortunately the GFW has got really strict. I have used express for years but since returning after Covid it almost never works. Express do an update and its ok for a few days then fails again. I have tried all the main VPNs as well an found the same. The only workaround that seems to work fine is using my Vodafone data roaming as a hotspot when i want to access anything the state deems i should not, which seems to be everything these days! our Voda package is unlimited daily data for some ridiculous low price around £6 a day

In my company, as a Wofe company, we are allowed a state approved HK proxy but have to register all users that will use it. i believe the large Chain hotel groups have the same. wish i had a magic solution for you but there doe snot seem to be one. most of my expat friends, the few that are left there now have same problems

[cwoodward]

As Steve mentions the larger ‘brand’ hotels have an exemption allowing most internet sites. Many local business management people also have ways around these regulations including our partners but unfortunately I have no idea of how they do this – never having the need myself.

[Inquisitive]

Faroflyer – for hassle free access to internet in China, best option is to buy a vpn before arriving.

I use Astrill and it is very good. If you plan frequent visit, yearly rate is quite reasonable.

[LuganoPirate]

Proton VPN is very good and is used a lot in places like Iran and other countries where state censorship is in place.

https://protonvpn.com/

2 users thanked author for this post.

Swissdiver, cwoodward

[Linyilee]

I’ve just returned from a 2 week trip to China
I’ve been through all the frustrations of using VPN’s
So appreciate this may not help everyone but if landing in Hong Kong Sham shui po market has unlimited 30 day HK sims for use on the mainland for 150HkD
No restrictions and I use it as wi fi through my dongle which fits in my pocket.

1 user thanked author for this post.

stevescoots

[Author]

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