Mac in Beijing

[Hightop]

I have been browsing the accommodation section of That's Beijing over the last few months in anticipation of my March arrival in Beijing. One thing that I have noticed in a few posts is people saying that the apt has internet but not suitable for macs. Is this widespread throughout the city or is it that just one or two internet service providers are not compatable with macs?

Thanxs

[imron]

Many ISPs here in Beijing have a small application you need to have running while you are online that keeps you logged in to their internet service. Usually there is only a Windows version of this application, however you can usually get the same service by going to their internal webpage and logging in from there. The Windows app is just more convenient.

The ISP I'm with (Bluewave) in Wudaokou has this sort of thing, and while their webpage login applet doesn't work under firefox (which I use as my default browser), it works fine under Safari, so I have no problems.

So, if someone says it doesn't work with Macs, it could just be that previously there was a non-technically inclined tennant there who couldn't get it working, however the underlying technology for the internet connection is independent of what sort of machine you are using, and doesn't prevent Macs from gaining access.

[flameproof]

"Doesn't work, not possible" is in China often the most convenient and fastest answer....

Correct me if wrong:

If it really doesn't work you could just get a router and connect via a router. Most hotels have these "just-plug-it-in" cable in the room, Or just buy a wireless router for total freedom.

Wouldn't that be a workaround?

[imron]

The thing is, until you login using their application, you can only access traffic on their local network. This is usually just limited to their login page, which is set to some private network address i.e. 192.168.1.252. It's only when you log-in using the program that you get access to the broader internet. The program sends out keep-alive messages every 30 seconds or so, and if it gets no response, then you get logged out, and external traffic is stopped.

There are usually two versions of this sort of application. One is a web-based version, and the other is a windows application. The windows application is usually far more convenient, because for example you can set it to run at startup and login automatically, and then you essentially have "always-on" internet. Of course, you can't really use it on the Mac. The web-based version works fine, it just means though that before you go anywhere, you first need to go to the login page, enter your name/password etc. You also need to keep the login window open for the duration of your session.

Having a router doesn't make any difference in this situation.

I agree with you however that "doesn't work" is probably just the quickest, easiest thing to say, and actually means I can't get it to work, and if you're not technically inclined, you won't be able to get it working either.

[ironfrost]

All these programs are doing is setting up your PPPoE username and password. But if you're using Mac OSX, you don't need a separate program to do that here are some instructions that tell you how to set it up through System Preferences.

EDIT: that was the case in my apartment, at least - possibly Imron's situation was different. But like the original poster, I was told that I wouldn't be able to connect unless I installed Windows (I'm a Linux user).

[imron]

Yes, I can confirm that for where I am, it has nothing to do with PPPoE, and changing the PPPoE settings results in no network access at all (not even to the ISP's login page).

We basically are assigned a static IP address on the ISP's network. Plugging in the cable connects us directly to the network (no username/passwords needed), however we can't access anything beyond the local network until we login using the program or the webpage. I'm guessing the ISP performs some sort of filtering on external traffic to only allow access to users who are logged in. Attempts to access external sites are redirected to the ISP's login page on the local network.

Monitoring network traffic using Ethereal shows that the ISPs login program sends a keep alive message with IP address and other information every 30 seconds to a machine on their network. Failure to send the keep alive message results in all external traffic once again being redirected to the local login page.

[Prodigal Son]

imron - That's some bullshit internet. What if multiple computers are connected through a router? Just connect with one of them and the internet works? Shitty deal either way.

One possibility, if you're using an Intel-based Mac, is to run the program through Parallels or another virtualization program which can run Windows.

[imron]

The idea is that you're not supposed to use a router to connect multiple computers through a single connection. I believe the ISP usage policy forbids this, and if you want extra computers connected then you're supposed to pay for each one. The reality however is that so long as the router is set up with the static IP, and at least one computer runs the program, then the other computers can surf with no problem. It's not ideal, but it suffices.

I do have an Intel Mac, and I'm sure Parallels would allow me to run that program, but to be honest, I currently don't have a need for Parallels and the effort of installing it just for this program far outweights the effort involved in just setting my homepage to the ISP login page and having safari remember the username and password.

[davidmaxwaterma]

I used to have a bluewave connection in WangJing. It was as described.

I considered it somewhat similar to what you find a airports and coffee shops.

Opening a browser and trying to load any page redirects to their page. Login in would cause their router to let your traffic through, and would also open a small browser window which contained some javascript to ping every so often to maintain the connection.

I looked at the script and converted it into perl, which meant that I could keep the connection open all the time - so long as the script was running. It was convenient since I used devices that needed internet access without user interaction (specifically MythTV).

I had a Linksys WRT54G which I reloaded with alternative firmware in order that I could have the script running all the time (uses less electricity). I moved before I got that working though.

I fairly sure I didn't sign anything that restricted me to only one device per connection, but I'm not 100% sure because I can't read Chinese. I did have engineers there once or twice and they didn't seem to care about having more than one computer - I certainly didn't hide the fact. On the other hand, how can they know that only one is accessing the internet? - I was streaming video from one computer to another within my own network.

If anyone wants the script to keep the connection on, I can post it. I suspect it's just the same as the one that they had for MS Windows so there shouldn't be any problems. I was using it on a Mac and Linux (my room mate was using MS Windows XP, but never used the script - he never needed to since I had it running continuously). It's written in Perl.

Bandwidth with bluewave wasn't too bad - I got upto 8Mbps - but, yes, it depends on who shares your connection. Bluewave's connection to the internet is via CNC. They provide static private (ie unroutable) IP addresses. Such IP addresses cannot be used for P2P/etc servers (clients are ok, but you are penalised for not serving files), since there's no route back (they won't assign a port on their gateway).

When I moved, I had a similar connection with CNC. I guess Bluewave was a peer to me at that time. They gave out dynamic but public/routable IP addresses, so P2P servers worked just fine. In fact, you can use some Dynamic DNS service on the internet to use a domain name and a router to keep your IP address current. Works pretty well for most purposes. Bandwidth is similar to bluewave upto about 8Mbps, but more reliable, I think. It was a little more expensive at 150rmb for 1 month, or 99rmb*3 for 3 months.

Both bluewave and CNC's connections were 10BaseT - ie 2 twisted pairs.