VPN

[StChris]

By the way, does anyone living outside of China bother to keep their VPN subscription? I've seen Express VPN advertised to regular Western people as a way to increase your online security and access regional services unavailable in your own country, but it doesn't seem like it will be worth the money once I return to the UK next year.

[imron]

I don't use a VPN.

[mungouk]

1 hour ago, StChris said:

does anyone living outside of China bother to keep their VPN subscription?

 

I've been using VPNs since I left the UK in 2010 (India, Australia, Singapore), to watch UK TV via iPlayer and similar.

 

If you're a user of torrents it's also recommended to use a VPN while up/downloading.

 

 

[mungouk]

1 hour ago, StChris said:

A new update was just released and I managed to connect to Hong Kong - 4

 

Excellent!  Thanks @StChris.  Same here.

 

That was a pretty fast update. 

[DavyJonesLocker]

1 hour ago, StChris said:

By the way, does anyone living outside of China bother to keep their VPN subscription? I've seen Express VPN advertised to regular Western people as a way to increase your online security and access regional services unavailable in your own country, but it doesn't seem like it will be worth the money once I return to the UK next year.

 

Anyone I know using it is using it to buy a lot of illegal material like drugs*, or torrents  (movies files etc) where the ISP have put a block on the websites such as pirate bay etc 

 

*not necessarily like hard core drugs, things like painkillers, antidepressants, steroids are hugely common.

 

I read something a few years ago that its becoming a large problem in the UK, people self prescribing and there is little can be done to stop it. 

 

EDIT there are other legtimate reasons such as buying flights from adifferent country server. In fact I bought my christmas flight home last week and save a packet by switching country server (Same flight) 

Also you can't checked the some websites like National Lottery if you are outside the UK. Seems daft, 

 

 

 

[ChTTay]

I use mine back home for privacy reasons. Also, if on public WiFi its more secure. 

2 hours ago, mungouk said:

Excellent!  Thanks @StChris.  Same here.

 

That was a pretty fast update. 

 Weird, I don’t see an update yet ?

[mungouk]

If you run the desktop client you should see a clickable link at the bottom saying something like "your client is out of date"

 

Click on it and you're good to go.  iOS and Android updates may take longer since they need to be approved. 

 

[StChris]

Doesn't sound like a VPN is worth it, unless you regular travel to China, although even then they seem to becoming more and more unreliable. I would hate to be living in China and be dependent on a VPN for work purposes.

[ChTTay]

17 hours ago, mungouk said:

iOS and Android updates may take longer since they need to be approved. 

I updated iOS and no dice. 

[Jan Finster]

22 hours ago, mungouk said:

23 hours ago, StChris said:

A new update was just released and I managed to connect to Hong Kong - 4

 

Excellent!  Thanks @StChris.  Same here.

 

That was a pretty fast update. 

 

I have been in Guangzhou for a week now and I have ExpressVPN. It worked the first 3 days, but then everything got blocked. Hongkong 4 is also not working for me. Too bad ?

 

[mungouk]

I connected to HK4 first attempt just now, in Beijing. (China Unicom)

EDIT: This was using the Mac desktop client.

 

1 hour ago, ChTTay said:

I updated iOS and no dice. 

 

The iOS update isn't out yet. I got an email from ExpressVPN yesterday saying "An update for the iOS app will be available in the App Store soon."

 

 

 

[ChTTay]

25 minutes ago, mungouk said:

The iOS update isn't out yet.

It’s out. There website said it would be released 7th...and it was. I updated today as did a friend in the same boat. Still no connection for both of us. 

[mungouk]

Hmm, well it's not in the UK app store yet, which my account is bound to.

 

 

[mungouk]

2 hours ago, mungouk said:

I connected to HK4 first attempt just now, in Beijing. (China Unicom)

 

I spoke too soon. 

 

That was at work. Now I'm at home (also China Unicom) I can't connect to anywhere.

 

Damn, this is frustrating.

[ChTTay]

I am U.K. App Store also. Updated this afternoon ?

[mungouk]

OK, I'm seeing it now. Wasn't there an hour ago...

 

Meanwhile I managed to connect to HK4 after an hour of trying, but the connection dropped and I'm back to square one.

 

I guess the "recommended" servers for China are very heavily loaded right now.

 

 

[StChris]

Hasn't been working all morning for me. I guess they patched up the breach in the great wall and we'll have to wait for another update. 

[mungouk]

I could connect to HSK4 easily today at work (yes, Sunday), but this evening it's getting tricky.

 

So, possibly time-based due to demand. I'm on GMT+8.

 

 

[mackie1402]

If you're using Mac or iOS check out Star VPN. Much cheaper than Express, and it's been working this whole time. I've got both, so when one goes down, I can still use the other. 

[Balthazar]

How's Express working for for you guys these days? Will be heading to China next week, haven't decided on which provider to go for this time. Last year Express was working flawlessly for me on all devices, but based on this thread and several ones at reddit, it seems like people commonly experience issues in China with most providers now.