Using AFF in China

[dtienloi]

The annoying thing, I’d paid for a one off Nord VPN because reviews stated that it worked in China - it doesn’t.

Most well known commercial VPNs such NordVPN or ExpressVPN aren't designed for circumventing GFW. They are designed to hide your traffic from your Internet Service Provider, not from a nation state. If they claim to work in China they are usually being dishonest.

I read that Mullvad VPN seem to have made some effort for China and Russia: Using Mullvad VPN in restrictive locations But I have not tested it myself.

Geph Geph is another one that specifically targets China and Iran. SkyfireVPN is another SkyFire VPN – Keep Your Internet Safe and Secure. Again, not tested myself, but some friends in china have used them.

The most common approach among Chinese users who want to bypass the GFW involves a mix of self-hosted servers and black-market VPNs. I wouldn’t recommend these for a visitor though.

Challenges of networking in China aren’t limited to the Great Firewall (which actively blocks traffic). There’s also the issue of congested international exit bandwidth and poor interconnectivity between the three state-owned Internet Service Providers. Welcome to GFW.Report and GreatFire.org - We use AI to Monitor Censorship and Expand Free Speech are full of the juicy details for those interested.

from the QR code seemed to want a Chinese carrier only so the phone couldn’t connect.

The QR code, instead of the straightforward username/password approach, is probably due to police regulations requiring Wi-Fi providers to "know their customer." They ask for a Chinese phone number because those are linked to ID numbers. Some airport Wi-Fi networks will ask you to scan your passport in exchange for access. Although I’ve heard that some airports have been loosening this requirement lately.

All being said, data roaming is really the only "good" solution. The price you pay actually does solve a whole big bucket of problems. Or just touch grass and forget about internet for a while.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

If you going to China then ASTRILL is only VPN to consider - but as always your $s so spend where you please

 

[elanshin]

Also as an aside for those that have Google Pixel phones, it often checks if your wifi has connectivity when it joins but that server is automatically blocked in China so it perpetually thinks your wifi has no internet when it in fact does. This sometimes leads it to not connect on the wifi unless you tell it to use the network as is.

If you going to China then ASTRILL is only VPN to consider - but as always your $s so spend where you please

Astrill is solid for longer term. For short term stays i found their pricing and model to not make as much sense.

 

[Matt_01]

……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…
……

The internet in the hotel just stopped working this morning and after informing the staff the lady cam up to my room, logged onto something on her phone, maybe a management console but I have no idea. A couple of minutes later she said all fixed. I ask what was wrong and she just said I modified some of the settings, it is still not 100% perfect but streaks ahead of what it was like before.

 

[moa999]

I think all the VPNs are whack a mole. Remember the Chinese authorities can easily sign up to the same service, quickly detect the IPs and block them.

A few years ago I just used OpenVPN to my home router (many good models have this feature) and that worked well.

 

[SYD]

But in reality, for the average tourist just forget the advice that a VPN is essential. Just get a decent eSIM or roaming plan on your home mobile.

Use whatever VPN you have if you want further protection or need to force a routing to Oz (or the country of your choice).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But in reality, for the average tourist just forget the advice that a VPN is essential. Just get a decent eSIM or roaming plan on your home mobile.

Use whatever VPN you have if you want further protection or need to force a routing to Oz (or the country of your choice).

Agree.

On our recent trip we had wifi in many places, and one of our party had roaming and they did everything we needed… train tickets, convenience stores, entrance tickets, didi… anything that required alipay or wechat.

When we got back we just divided everything by 3.

Same person was in charge of maps and directions. Made a very pleasant holiday for the rest of us