Internet Blocks, the Great Firewall and VPNs

[hanxue]

Damnit, PaperB worked like a charm just yesterday, yet today it won't display ANY site....

[TCcookie]

Bumping this thread because it's over a year old, and I will be heading to China in a couple days and would like current information. It looks like from the recent (relatively speaking) posts that many of these solutions were having problems.

What methods do you use now, in 2010, to block the Firewall?

[Chinadoog]

Yeah, Frgate and VPNtl used to work good for me but they're too unreliable now. I'm also looking for a different free VPN to try out.

[roddy]

I'm still using Witopia and for $60 a year am very happy with it. I've had a couple of glitches, but if you follow their instructions - ie, specifying DNS servers, and so on - and maybe try different servers if it's being slow - then it's a bargain.

If you're looking for something free, look for paid VPNs with a free trial - there's a fair chance it'll convince you it's worth the spend, and if it doesn't you've at least put off the search for a while.

[gato]

Free gate works. Just download it before you come.

[Holly]

So Frgate's still good? I'm trying to find some VPN's that have free trials, but so far no luck.

[TCcookie]

Well, on Roddy's advice I've subscribed to Witopia and am very happy with it. I followed the instructions carefully and have had no problems. For the non-technical they could be a little intimidating, but the instructions they give are excellent and easy to follow step-by-step.

Holly, Witopia doesn't offer a free trial per se, but they do offer an unconditional no-questions-asked 30-day refund period. You may want to give them a try.

[Holly]

TCcookie, I'm a non-technical. Are there any good easy to use services, free or otherwise?

[gato]

Free gate is still good.

[putonghua73]

I'm currently using prXPN. Google searches are not blocked by the Great Firewall, so you can download if you are here in China.

Frgate works but be sure to use FrgateU10 version 1.0.0.0, because I've found the other versions (inc. Professional edition) tend to be blocked by the Great Firewall.

Cheers!

[liuzhou]

 The latest version of Frgate, version 7.02 Expert Edition was released today. It works well (as have all the last five versions). 

[Holly]

Well, I'll probably give Frgate a try, then. I really want to be able to keep in touch with family members on Facebook, and would also like to use Blogger. Frankly, it's difficult to find a blog service that ISN'T blocked in China.

[gato]

MSN Space is usually not blocked in mainland China.

[Holly]

Didn't think I'd have to ask this, but where's the best place to download Frgate? I'm not really seeing an official website anywhere...and the sorta official website I found (at least, it looks semi-professional) doesn't have version 7.02 Expert Edition.

[gato]

Here's the official site in Chinese. Note the Chinese word for "free gate" is a censored word and will often cause all your internet communication to be blocked temporarily (for maybe 10 minutes) if you search for it in China.

/www.dong tai wang.com/loc/phome.php?v=0

Free gate

The download links are in the upper right hand corner of the page. You can choose between 专业版 and 专家版. Just download both. Free gate is geared towards China, so they don't try to make it easy to download for those who don't read Chinese, as those who use it outside China (e.g. Iran) would take up bandwidth that's needed in China.

[liuzhou]

See Private Message

Once you have any version running, use it to search for upgrades and / or set it to upgrade automatically.

[Holly]

Thanks for the help, guys. Liuzhou, I downloaded it from the link you gave me. This is interesting...I'm very new to virtual private networks. So basically, you have to double click the dove (LOL), and then enter the link into Dynweb whenever I want to visit a site that's blocked in China. Is it just that simple? And then I can exit out of it when I'm done visiting blocked sites?

What would happen if, say, Frgate all of the sudden stopped working while I'm in China. Wouldn't it be difficult to search for and download another free VPN there?

[gato]

In that case, just come back to chinese-forums for help. No need to worry about it now.

[liuzhou]

Yes. It's that simple.

What Gato says.

[Holly]

Fantabulistic.

Simplicity always makes me feel so much smarter. ;)

So smart, in fact, that I feel the need to make up my own words.