Using AFF in China

[Matt_01]

Just a question for the AFF members in China or those who have done trip reports have you had any issues with the Chinese hotel WiFi and AFF. I seem to be running into issues and every 10-15minutes or so am getting asked to for verification from Cloud Flair which is becoming quite annoying. If I use my phone date the issue seems to go away however that just chews up data. I am using an iPad, Safari and have changed the search engine to Bing (from Google).

Are there any tips and tricks or is just a case of suck it up princess.

 

[Hvr]

Are you using a VPN? If not your electronic equipment will need to be factory reset upon return to Australia.

And even if you are it should be reset.

 

[moa999]

Possibly VPN is continually changing IP.
I had no issues in China a few months ago, but just used roaming eSIM.

On Hvr's post for 99% or the population I'd be more concerned about Facebook than Chinese Govt collection.

 

[SYD]

Just a question for the AFF members in China or those who have done trip reports have you had any issues with the Chinese hotel WiFi and AFF. I seem to be running into issues and every 10-15minutes or so am getting asked to for verification from Cloud Flair which is becoming quite annoying. If I use my phone date the issue seems to go away however that just chews up data. I am using an iPad, Safari and have changed the search engine to Bing (from Google).

Are there any tips and tricks or is just a case of suck it up princess.

Yeah, just back from China and I was getting that annoying verification when on wifi - but at least AFF worked on all hotel wifi!

Pretty sure it was ok on eSIM data.

All fine now I’m back in Oz.

Are you using a VPN? If not your electronic equipment will need to be factory reset upon return to Australia.

And even if you are it should be reset.

That sounds a bit extreme but certainly a good idea to purge of cookies etc

 

[Matt_01]

Are you using a VPN? If not your electronic equipment will need to be factory reset upon return to Australia.

And even if you are it should be reset.

No not on a VPN it will not connect it I am using the Chinese hotel WiFi. I can connect to my VPN if I use data on the eSIM I am using or Telstra which I have turned off. I am using the eSIM on my phone however I am just using Wi-Fi for my iPad and when it get to bad I tether them.

 

[Matt_01]

Yeah, just back from China and I was getting that annoying verification when on wifi - but at least AFF worked on all hotel wifi!

Pretty sure it was ok on eSIM data.

All fine now I’m back in Oz.


That sounds a bit extreme but certainly a good idea to purge of cookies etc

I am on hotel WiFi not that I can 100% remember, I think Chengdu was fine, The big cities outside of Lhasa it was cough. I am now back in Lhasa and it is still not good.

 

[dtienloi]

If you use data roaming you bypass the “Great Firewall” entirely because your connection is first carried through to Australia and then exit to Internet. That is the only reliable option IMO.

The network in Tibet and Xinjiang has extra layers of fire-walling even with the rest of China, one that can be physically isolated if needed. I wouldn’t expect anything to work well there. If you return to cities like Shanghai the hotel or airport staff might help you set up VPN. In Tibet hmmm…

As a former Chinese citizen i keep Chinese apps on a separate phone and use a different “clean” phone when I returned to China. It’s more for appearing “clean” at the Chinese border than for fear of spying. I don’t think modern phones are that easy to hack into unless you are a highly wanted person.

 

[Matt_01]

If you use data roaming you bypass the “Great Firewall” entirely because your connection is first carried through to Australia and then exit to Internet. That is the only reliable option IMO.

The network in Tibet and Xinjiang has extra layers of fire-walling even with the rest of China, one that can be physically isolated if needed. I wouldn’t expect anything to work well there. If you return to cities like Shanghai the hotel or airport staff might help you set up VPN. In Tibet hmmm…

As a former Chinese citizen i keep Chinese apps on a separate phone and use a different “clean” phone when I returned to China. It’s more for appearing “clean” at the Chinese border than for fear of spying. I don’t think modern phones are that easy to hack into unless you are a highly wanted person.

The most frustrating experience I have come across was in Nyingchi. The hotel wifi did not use a traditional username and password. The only way to connect was via a QR code which was problematic as the QR code was directed to a Chinese site to get the access code. Here in lies the problem, my iPad is cell enabled however I did not get an eSIM for it and just use wifi. As it could not connect to the internet to get the code it became a circle of despair. My iPhone eSIM had run out of data so I turned on my AU carrier. I went through the set up process however the link from the QR code seemed to want a Chinese carrier only so the phone couldn’t connect. Although inconvenient not having access to data for a day or so is not the end of the world.

Thank you for your reply and welcome to AFF.

 

[RealtimeY]

A lot of online attacks/spam bots come from Chinese IP addresses. Cloudflare automatically places more scrutiny on these addresses. The only way to avoid it would be to either roam using an Australian SIM or travel SIM, or use a VPN (which has its own issues).

If you want to just buy an eSIM quickly, check out this thread:

R

Post in thread 'eSims, what is your experience.'

May 15, 2025

For mainland China specifically, I recommend China Unicom HK. The data breakout is in HK rather than halfway across the world, and not subject to firewall.

內地上網卡、澳門上網卡、儲值卡、數據卡-中國聯通(香港)CUniq網上商城

CUniq內地及澳門日上網卡，使用地：內地、澳門，數據：1.5GB，中國聯通(香港)CUniq網上商城提供數據卡、數據漫遊、上網卡、儲值卡、旅遊卡、電話月費計劃等優惠。

www.cuniq.com

At the moment for ~$17 (83 HKD) you can get 17 GB / 30 days, amongst many other options.

• RealtimeY

• 

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just a question for the AFF members in China or those who have done trip reports have you had any issues with the Chinese hotel WiFi and AFF. I seem to be running into issues and every 10-15minutes or so am getting asked to for verification from Cloud Flair which is becoming quite annoying. If I use my phone date the issue seems to go away however that just chews up data. I am using an iPad, Safari and have changed the search engine to Bing (from Google).

Are there any tips and tricks or is just a case of suck it up princess.

Oh! Yeah. I had the same in Shanghai a few weeks ago.

It never occurred to me that it was because i was in china lol.

And once i got back the issue resolved itself so i forgot all about it.

But yeah, it was a ‘thing’.

 

[SYD]

A lot of online attacks/spam bots come from Chinese IP addresses. Cloudflare automatically places more scrutiny on these addresses. The only way to avoid it would be to either roam using an Australian SIM or travel SIM, or use a VPN (which has its own issues).

If you want to just buy an eSIM quickly, check out this thread:

R

Post in thread 'eSims, what is your experience.'

May 15, 2025

For mainland China specifically, I recommend China Unicom HK. The data breakout is in HK rather than halfway across the world, and not subject to firewall.

內地上網卡、澳門上網卡、儲值卡、數據卡-中國聯通(香港)CUniq網上商城

CUniq內地及澳門日上網卡，使用地：內地、澳門，數據：1.5GB，中國聯通(香港)CUniq網上商城提供數據卡、數據漫遊、上網卡、儲值卡、旅遊卡、電話月費計劃等優惠。

www.cuniq.com

At the moment for ~$17 (83 HKD) you can get 17 GB / 30 days, amongst many other options.

• RealtimeY

• 

VPN didn’t work at all for me last two weeks on hotel wifi that routed within China. It just shutdown your wifi connection.

In Shanghai, the hotel routed via HKG and general worked ok but still got the Cloudfare check. The VPN worked there and was one work around.

I used several foreign supplied China eSIMs without issue.

 

[Daver6]

Are you using a VPN? If not your electronic equipment will need to be factory reset upon return to Australia.

Why? What's the connection between not using a VPN and the need to reset your device?

 

[moa999]

Shanghai, the hotel routed via HKG and general worked ok

Interesting. That use to be pretty common (including in some foreign condos) but has been wound back a lot in recent years.

 

[SYD]

Interesting. That use to be pretty common (including in some foreign condos) but has been wound back a lot in recent years.

The annoying thing, I’d paid for a one off Nord VPN because reviews stated that it worked in China - it doesn’t. So after to hotels (Beijing and Xi’an) well and truly behind the GFWoC, I topped up my eSIM thinking the wifi in Shanghai would be equally close to useless - only to be pleasantly surprised!

Must claim the money back guarantee from Nord….

 

[Matt_01]

The annoying thing, I’d paid for a one off Nord VPN because reviews stated that it worked in China - it doesn’t. So after to hotels (Beijing and Xi’an) well and truly behind the GFWoC, I topped up my eSIM thinking the wifi in Shanghai would be equally close to useless - only to be pleasantly surprised!

Must claim the money back guarantee from Nord….

I have been using Nord for years and can state it used to work in China. I didn’t give it a second thought and was surprised when it would connect to AU. Next I tried HK and that also didn’t work. At a guess the Chinese may have changed something or introduced greater restrictions and Nord seems to have not keep up. From what you have posted it sound like their marketing is out dated.

 

[SYD]

I have been using Nord for years and can state it used to work in China. I didn’t give it a second thought and was surprised when it would connect to AU. Next I tried HK and that also didn’t work. At a guess the Chinese may have changed something or introduced greater restrictions and Nord seems to have not keep up. From what you have posted it sound like their marketing is out dated.

It works fine over eSIM / non Chinese mobile of course. So one can access their USA Netflix… But my McAfee VPN does as well (but I knew it didn’t work at all in China).

The info I went off was a couple of recent, independent reviews. Here’s another….

https://au.cybernews.com/lp/best-vpn-cn/?campaignId=20409176520&adgroupId=152646471515&adId=683120383612&targetId=kwd-3434782810&device=m&gunique=EAIaIQobChMIpdTx29DCjQMVuOUWBR3UzADOEAAYASAAEgL1SfD_BwE&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20409176520&gbraid=0AAAAACyNk215JomWz6QfCtHu2CMjxBFp3

I think Surfshark might actually work but was more expensive for a short period.

 

[elanshin]

Possibly VPN is continually changing IP.
I had no issues in China a few months ago, but just used roaming eSIM.

On Hvr's post for 99% or the population I'd be more concerned about Facebook than Chinese Govt collection.

Roaming is different because all roaming bypasses Chinese great firewall. You're connected by the roaming services country of origin.

 

[Matt_01]

@SYD i will not disagree that in general VPNs work in China if you’re using an eSIM or an Australian carrier. Using data from the eSIM I had no problem with using Nord to connect to other Locations. I was using hotel Wi-Fi to save on the data that you burn through with your eSIM or Australian carrier daily packages.

 

[elanshin]

I have been using Nord for years and can state it used to work in China. I didn’t give it a second thought and was surprised when it would connect to AU. Next I tried HK and that also didn’t work. At a guess the Chinese may have changed something or introduced greater restrictions and Nord seems to have not keep up. From what you have posted it sound like their marketing is out dated.

Nord has failed in china for many years now. Most big name VPNs suck in china and can't/don't invest enough in getting ahead of the Chinese firewall game. They sometimes intermittently work for a small period of time because they get a new server/IP setup somewhere but then after a while it gets added to the blocked list.

I've personally been using a mix of roaming and LetsVPN. There's a couple of other solid VPNs for china but they're more for long term residents.

 

[SYD]

I was using hotel Wi-Fi to save on the data that you burn through with your eSIM or Australian carrier daily packages.

and that was the gist of my advice over on the eSIM thread - buy at least double the data you might normally budget if visiting China. You can’t rely on wifi….

I also mentioned that the $5 daily roaming with Optus and Vodafone come into their own with the decent data allowance.