Another brick in the firew*ll this week?

[mungouk]

Suddenly here in Beijing I'm finding it almost impossible to connect to either of my two V P N providers... anyone else?

 

The Net feels like it's been very slow over the last two days as well... presumably they're tightening the screws this week as Tuesday approaches?

 

 

[StChris]

I'm in Harbin and mine has been down since around 1pm today. Mine seems to go down for a couple of days every two months or so. Also, for the past few months it the connection seems to drop every day after 9pm. Strange. I suppose this time round it may have something to do with a certain upcoming anniversary, so I don't expect to be able to use youtube etc until late next week.

[mungouk]

@StChris — yes, I thought as much.  I'm also missing the youtubes. 

 

I managed to connect this afternoon and download last night's BBC comedy (Have I Got News for You) but after 4pm it seems impossible to get through.

 

 

 

 

[DavyJonesLocker]

yup its frequently a problem this year. I use ExpressVPN

I find that their recommended servers are often a poor choice and need to scour the world to find a good one

Right now using Canada and connected

 

[mungouk]

Yep, definitely scouring the planet here... Canada no good but finally managed it via the Bahamas!  Slowly, mind.

 

Hasta la victoria siempre!

 

[StChris]

I'm with ExpressVPN, but neither Canada nor the Bahamas are working for me. I normally save my youtubing for the weekend, but I guess it's not gonna happen this week. You win this round, great firewall!

[DavyJonesLocker]

I can't connect anywhere today

[艾墨本]

Yep. Not only does the GFW seem extra potent, but another round of sites got put behind it recently and also even sites that aren’t blocked are slower than usual. 

 

[mackie1402]

I've actually got 2 VPNs for this reason. Express VPN has been down for a while now it seems. I can't connect to any. In the meantime I've switched over to Star VPN which is working fine and logs into multiple countries. Even the free version of Star VPN connects pretty well. 

[DavyJonesLocker]

21 minutes ago, mackie1402 said:

I've actually got 2 VPNs for this reason. Express VPN has been down for a while now it seems. I can't connect to any. In the meantime I've switched over to Star VPN which is working fine and logs into multiple countries. Even the free version of Star VPN connects pretty well. 

 

When my expressvpn account expires I think I'll switch to another one. It's been fairly poor since last year. The customer service is good but end of the day it's all about the results . Hard to know if others will be any better though

[anonymoose]

If China has the ability to block VPNs, why don't they just block them permanently? Sporadic blocking doesn't seem to make much sense.

[mackie1402]

2 hours ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

When my expressvpn account expires I think I'll switch to another one. It's been fairly poor since last year. The customer service is good but end of the day it's all about the results . Hard to know if others will be any better though

 

When Express VPN works, I find it works really, really well. The locations are accurate (instead of saying 'UK' but still can't access 4OD etc), plus the download speeds are fast. It's just recently it's had way too many problems. Star VPN is a bit more consistent, but it's pretty slow. 

[StChris]

1 hour ago, anonymoose said:

If China has the ability to block VPNs, why don't they just block them permanently? Sporadic blocking doesn't seem to make much sense.

 

I've often wondered this myself. I used to think that it was because they don't mind higher up sections of society (returning students, people who work at international companies etc) being connected, but don't want the 老百姓 being influenced by the foreign devils. But a university professor and party member I know said that the party has expressly forbidden him from using one, so now I'm not so sure. Maybe blocking it for a takes so much effort that it's only worth doing for a few days at a time during special periods.

[StChris]

1 hour ago, mackie1402 said:

When Express VPN works, I find it works really, really well. The locations are accurate (instead of saying 'UK' but still can't access 4OD etc), plus the download speeds are fast. It's just recently it's had way too many problems. Star VPN is a bit more consistent, but it's pretty slow. 

 

My Express VPN subscription expires next week, but I think I'll probably stick with them. I'd prefer for to be able to connect 80% of the time at fast speeds than being able to connect 100% of the time but at relatively slow speeds. I don't need to rely on a VPN for work purposes, so for me it's more a minor inconvenience rather than a real annoyance when it does go down. Looking on the positive side, not being able to access youtube probably benefits my productivity anyway ?

[mungouk]

ExpressVPN have just posted an update a few minutes ago:

 

Updated 10:50 GMT / 18:50 GMT+8, June 2, 2019.

 

VPN connectivity in China has been significantly impacted as a result of upcoming political events. Our engineers have been working around the clock to restore connectivity. Thank you for your patience as we continue to address the blocks.

 

We now recommend trying to connect to the following server locations. If you tried and were unable to connect earlier today, we recommend that you try these locations again:

 

Hong Kong – 4
USA – Los Angeles – 5
Singapore – Marina Bay
UK – Wembley

 

I just tried HK4 and it connected right away, first attempt.

 

Over the past few days I've actually found it has been connecting more reliably on my phone using 4G data than on my laptop with Wifi. Unfortunately when tethering the laptop it doesn't seem to send the network data via the VPN connection. Not sure if there's a setting somewhere for this in iOS...

 

 

[mungouk]

2 hours ago, anonymoose said:

If China has the ability to block VPNs, why don't they just block them permanently?

 

Yes, this is an interesting question — I imagine it would cause widespread anger though. 

 

I have 11-year-old students who regularly fire up VPNs on their laptops when necessary, and have even offered me the software. 

 

 

[StChris]

19 minutes ago, mungouk said:

I just tried HK4 and it connected right away, first attempt.

 

Thanks for the update, HK4 work for me too.

[889]

”I have 11-year-old students who regularly fire up VPNs on their laptops.”

 

So make some enquiries locally and fire up a Chinese VPN yourself. You'll know you’re at the right place if they take RMB on WeChat. And if they work when all those expensive foreign VPNs don't. Yes, they're probably in cahoots with the PSB -- they may even be the PSB -- but so what.

 

[mungouk]

@889 sorry I don't understand what you're saying here.

 

[889]

Do you think those kids are using Express? There are domestic VPNs that are cheap and work well, but you have to ask around locally for suggestions. They're a bit underground but not much.