Avoiding Account lockout in QQ wechat yahoo hotmail Skype when in China

[laogui]

My last three visits to China have been impacted by frequent lock-out from email and chat accounts.  Many facilities use your mobile phone to SMS if you access your account from a new device or place.  Given my Australian number is inaccessible I cannot use this method.  

 

How do people minimise the trouble this causes?  What suggested strategies to make life in China for a foreigner a little less difficult.

 

Last time YAHOO, QQ, SKYPE Hotmail all got locked, plus various chat rooms.  Of course DROPBOX is (weirdly) blocked and gmail, googledocs anything google is out of the question.

 

What does one use instead of dropbox?  If I use a QQ facility and QQ is blocked I am in deep shyte!

 

I must have my SKYPE account accessible, plus WECHAT QQ Hotmail at the very least.

 

老鬼

 

Edited February 13, 2017 at 12:05 PM by laogui
typing error

[dtcamero]

in china online security is very strict, and yes as you say you will be repeatedly asked to verify your identity using a phone number whenever you do anything online.

 

accordingly if you're spending more than a week or so in china, you will need a phone number.

take a Chinese national along with you because you will need them to co-register using their ID.

 

there may be some ways to get around this in the short term but you will eventually run into a wall you can't work your way around...

and in the end, it's pretty easy to just go get a phone number. you simply need a Chinese friend with ten minutes to spare.

 

good luck

[889]

I think the OP is talking about a different problem.

 

Gmail, Yahoo, and some other places raise a fuss if you sign on from a new location, like China. You may need to verify your account to unblock it, and may need to use a linked phone number to get the verification code via SMS. But if your phone can't get SMSs in China, you may be out of luck.

 

There are ways to defend against this. Link not a phone number but an email address on a different email service. Don't sign on to the website to get your mail but use an email client (Yahoo at least seems less fussy with that approach). Set up your own email service or use one of the smaller services known not to be fussy about your location. Download messages on GMail, say, through your Yahoo or other email account.

 

(Perhaps I have been lucky, but I have not had a problem with Skype blocking sign on because of my location.)

[dtcamero]

i see... i've never had that problem, but I would imagine that if you moved your permanent address to china, it would be possible to reregister those services with your new chinese phone number.

so maybe you can get around it, but if all else fails you could just get a chinese phone number and reregister.

 

the chinese gov't wants to know very badly who's doing what online. they'll make your life difficult until they know you.

the only way they can reliably know is by linking your account to another chinese national's ID number.

until you give them what they want you will have all these little gremlins popping up online to fart in your face.

[889]

And no, you do not need a Chinese friend to buy a SIM card and register it. You can register with your passport. No matter what type of visa you hold.

[abcdefg]

Quote

>>"How do people minimise the trouble this causes?  What suggested strategies to make life in China for a foreigner a little less difficult."

 

Again, I apologize for not reading all the above answers. But the solution is obvious and simple. You need a China phone, a China Carrier, a China SIM card and phone number. Even if you just use it a few months at a time when you are here, it's essential.

[laogui]

abcdefg, 889: July 2016 in Ningbo, every China-Unicom and China-Mobile shop I went into refused my passport - At Shanghai Airport likewise.  Yes of course I had to get a Phone, and I could only do it using a friend to register their card for me.  When you talk to China-Unicom head office, they say passport is ok, but that may only be for a DATA sim.  The retail outlets all refused me.  Maybe I look dodgy, old and decrepit! 

 

I have just ordered the HK-China Mainland China-Unicom sims from eBay, they claim to avoid the REAL NAME VERIFICATION.  I will carry my OPPO 6" (which is great - with large fonts Pleco Character displays are terrific) and HTC and Lenovo Joga tablet which also has phone function.  I'll see if I can organise to get SMS on my Australian Phone number. 

 

I'll talk to my local phone service provider and see what I can do to access SMS

[889]

No, the ordinary retail outlets will not handle your registration. You need to go to the main customer service center. You'll know you're in the right place if you have to take a number and wait to be called. I have done this very recently; after getting many warnings to register, my number was suspended.

 

To repeat, those one-card two-number SIMs from Hong Kong will work on the Mainland for a while, but sometime soon you will have to register, perhaps in Hong Kong. You'll probably get some warning SMSs in Chinese first.

 

http://hk.epochtimes.com/news/2017-02-02/大陸電話實名制或波及一卡兩號用戶-72576355

 

As well. you might have to first activate the card in Hong Kong: I'm not sure.

 

A few other bewares. Data plans on those cards are expensive. There are actually two types of card that come in similar-looking holders: the new ones don't have a Mainland number. Because of the special way those cards are programmed, you might have trouble registering the Mainland number on 12306 and certain other services. I'm not sure how or if you can add value to the cards while on the Mainland.

[abcdefg]

Quote

>>" No, the ordinary retail outlets will not handle your registration. You need to go to the main customer service center."

 

889 has it right. What you need is a 中国移动服务中心。

 

Quote

>>"July 2016 in Ningbo, every China-Unicom and China-Mobile shop I went into refused my passport..."

 

 

An ordinary phone sales shop cannot help you with things like this.

 

Quote

>>"I have just ordered the HK-China Mainland China-Unicom sims from eBay, they claim to avoid the REAL NAME VERIFICATION.  I will carry my OPPO 6" (which is great - with large fonts Pleco Character displays are terrific) and HTC and Lenovo Joga tablet which also has phone function.  I'll see if I can organise to get SMS on my Australian Phone number." 

 

Laogui, You are going about this all wrong. Think "simple." That needs to be your mantra. Do not tax the system by adding layers of complexity.

 

[laogui]

things have vastly improved and all this stuff is much relaxed - at the airport they just photograph your passport and issue a SIM on the spot.

[laogui]

Difficulties in China - now much better

Linkedin and gmail were the only accounts that gave me location hassles.

Hotmail was ok

QQ is awkward, but now Wechat supersedes it anyway - seems very few still use it

Yahoo works too

As I said, phone is ok too.