FG

[gato]

Anyone able to successfully use FG to get over the GFW today? China Telecom seems to have locked me out of the Internet completely right after I started FG 7.06 about 30 minutes ago. Have not had Internet access on my home pc since. I am posting through EDGE from China Mobile on my cell phone right now.

This might have something to do with the Nobel Prize news earlier this week.

[roddy]

Cheeky %&^*$^s

Phone 'em up and see what they say - Netcom up here used to be quite good about speeding up reactivation of my account after paying my overdue bill. Slightly different circumstances though.

[gato]

Still no internet. Just called China Telecom and made a repair order. Let's see what they say. Everything was fine until I opened FG. 太过分了.

[Patpat]

also have been having problems w that program today.

[joshuawbb]

Ouch, after what you've said Gato I'm not sure I want to test FG again until this all blows over. I might be going over the top but the government seem to be coming down really hard on this - the media blackout, deleted Chinese BBS posts, and some people are saying on other forums that text messages containing the winner's name are being blocked when sent. Could just br a rumour though. The admin at thebeijinger has been locking up posts about the prize.

[roddy]

Go on Josh, we need the data points. If we don't hear back from you in an hour . . .

Wouldn't be surprised if they do crack down on VPNs somehow - the Facebook ban expanded use massively (based entirely on what I see in cafes) and there are now numerous providers targeting the Chinese market directly. Wait and see if the same is happening in other cities and on other ISPs (and as always, if you're reporting in about things like this, location and ISP is very good to know.)

I'm not sure I want to test FG again until this all blows over.

You're assuming there is a 'blowing over'. People go seamlessly from assumed cause (Olympics, unrest somewhere, Asian Games, World Expo, this Day, 两会, what else do I have to say?) to assumed cause. I've never once seen anyone say 'Hey, you can get away with loads just now, as there's nothing going on.'

[gato]

China Telecom guy says that he doesn't see any problem on their system. On my end, the ADSL link green light on my ADSL modem is no longer on. A repair guy will come tomorrow to look at it.

I have a file that just finished downloading before I opened FG. The time stamp on the file is 2:53 pm today. I downloaded the file without FG, but opened FG because a second file I needed seemed to be hosted on a blocked site. These are just non-political mobipocket dictionary generator files.

I started this thread at 3:24pm. So I am not hallucinating that the Internet was working before I opened FG.

[roddy]

To be honest it could just be that your Internet is broken.

[gato]

Could be a coincidence.

[joshuawbb]

I'll give it a try in a little while or so - just got to finish an email and a few jobs.

You're assuming there is a 'blowing over'. People go seamlessly from assumed cause (Olympics, unrest somewhere, Asian Games, World Expo, this Day, 两会, what else do I have to say?) to assumed cause. I've never once seen anyone say 'Hey, you can get away with loads just now, as there's nothing going on.'

I see what you mean. My thoughts were that although using VPNs and doing things generally against the internet law on paper could incite punishment, etc, I don't ever get the feeling that anything really happens. Things like a tightening on internet control, VPNs being blocked and whatnot in my perception don't happen too much until some big event happens, like the examples you mentioned. Could be a misunderstanding on my part though. By blowover I mean the time this fades out of international news, people's daily discussion and generally fades out of the government's focus, if it does. Then things tend to relax a bit on the internet restriction front - Facebook and whatnot being exceptions.

[Guest realmayo]

I'll give it a try in a little while or so

... and you haven't got back to us so I'm assuming you've been ..... shut out :unsure:

[joshuawbb]

Sorry about that, I didn't get the chance last night - looks like I'm keeping you all in suspense. I'll get to it in a moment.

[gato]

The China Telecom repair guy came by this morning. He can't figure out why the internet connection is gone, either, but he says that it might be an internal wiring problem. Hmm. Will keep you guys updated.

[roddy]

They probably send little wire-cutter armed gremlins down the line.

If I were you I'd borrow a neighbours modem / router and see if that fixes things.

[joshuawbb]

I was on FG 7.06p between 1.15pm and 3pm today (just came off it now), decided to hang around on Facebook, then get a bit edgy by reading lots of stories about the prize. My internet stayed fine throughout that, though at about 2.55pm it stopped in a similar way to Gato's experience. However I think that's just my router being stroppy (it has it's ups and downs sometimes), and after I exited FG, then plugged the cable into the wall instead of the router, the internet is back and fine again.

So nothing conclusive here to be honest, my router packing in was most likely a coincidence, however nothing really rules out Gato's theory. I'm sure that internet blocks are different provincially (I'm in Fujian) and if such a thing was happening, maybe 'they' just didn't catch on to my connection in time.

[gato]

Well, the China Telecom just rewired my connection behind the wall socket and it's working again. If it was just a loose wire, it was an awfully weird coincidence that it happened just as I opened FG. And this is the first time that the Internet has gone out in this apartment in the one and half year that I've lived here.

[roddy]

I've got this lovely image of someone at the exchange giving your particular wire a really hard tug. Try it again and see what happens