Those who are in the know in China all say that a Virtual Private Network is the way to go if you want to get around the so-called Great Firewall in China. Most VPNs cost money, but I recently found this free one that works well, and I thought I’d share it with you guys. As you can see from the video, it’s a very quick and easy install and requires no expertise at all (my speciality!) to configure.
Spread the word among your friends in China. Screw proxies. This is friggin’ wonderful.
Watch the Video of the VPN install:
NOTE: I had to censor the part with The Daily Show in it. Â Apparently youtube is quite sensitive about showing Jon Stewart’s face anywhere! Â They took this video down the first time I posted it. Â How about that? Youtube censored a video about censorship!
Sounds good, I have been using witopia but it is about to expire, how does it fare for speed?
I have been use http://www.vpning.com for a long time. It’s just $4.98/mo .
Private Internet Access ( https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/ ) is the fastest VPN I’ve used and has both PPTP and OpenVPN for $6.95/mo or $39.95/yr ($3.33/mo)
Thanks for the tip. You were mentionned by Reporter Sans Frontière ! http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=27993
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing this with everybody! I hope it stays available for a while. I just learned of another tool yesterday, called Freegate, which you can download here — I guess it’s been around for a while, but I just learned of it. It’s also very fast. I haven’t read about how it works yet, but I do know that it installs itself as a local proxy, and then talks to one of a list of servers to allow you to browse.
You mentioned torbutton, but their most recent update broke a lot of things, and it’s unusable now. That’s not to say that tor is unusable — it still works, albeit slowly. There are other ways to control tor besides torbutton. Another setback, though, is that the tor website itself is now blocked, so it’s hard, for those just getting started, to find a place to download tor.
Interestingly, the English version of the RSF article mentioned above doesn’t link here. But anyway, smoothzhuhai, thanks for the link, that article has a lot of good information.
@Rick: Awesome stuff! Like Sir Stingley, I use WiTopia, and don’t know what I’d do without it. It’s $40/yr. price tag is barely an after-thought, but it’s good to know there are free alternatives.
@Klortho: The less we’re mentioned on the RSF site the more likely people will be able to read this without needing the above mentioned service 😉 Still, gotta love the RSF.
I wrote a long tedious blog post about the GFW and various tools, if anyone is interested.
Cool stuff Chris – thanks for sharing it!
Thanks for all those tips guys, I’m so going to try them. The constant interceptions on YouTube is really getting on my nerves! this internet censorship alone has made living in China quite a daunting experience…
There is another VPN that’s free. Go to http://www.hotspotshield.com
@frankie456 Uh, thanks Frankie. I’ll definitely have to try that VPN sometime. Yes, I’ll definitely have to try hotspotshield, which I’ve never ever tried before ever in life.
Rick, while you are at it, trying new VPNs that you’ve never tried before, you might want to think about trying Hotspot Shield. I can’t remember where I heard about it, but I’ve heard it’s pretty good.
You guys aren’t talking about hots pot shield are you? I’ve heard it’s good too – but is it free?
😛
So…this is great, but are they going to come and hunt me down or something?? Excuse my ignorance …
All of a sudden I couldn’t upload pictures to my blog…I installed the VPN and now I can…but is it safe? I’m not up on all this…I just want to post on my blog for my friends and family at home, thats all..
@nali
Take comfort in the fact that there are a quarter of a million people using hotspot shield in China. If they come after you, I guess they have to come after everybody else too.
Groovy. My pals in Panama can watch Hulu now!
I freaked when my friend’s first post in a month was about China banning facebook. I’m on my way over and would miss everyone in California even worse without some kind of connection. Appreciate the tips.
hi,
the hotspotchield is not working anymore. but now i access facebook with http://www.vpninchina.com
it’s not free (it’s 3€ / month), but still it works and it’s fast.
I use http://www.vpnbuddy.com on there shared usa plan its only 4 usd a month they dont even meter bandwidth its so great being in nanping china a very small city I can sit at home and watch youtube all night !
I just wrote a fairly comprehensive article about the so-called Great Firewall and also describes in details the various workarounds, including my recommendations for a very solid VPN system that allows one to even watch Hulu or other geographically restricted sites. If anything, this should clear up questions of just how China’s restrictions work and the legal ways around it. There’s a link as well to my VPN provider (came recommended by some Embassy and corporate contacts in Beijing.) It’s unmetered, very fast and has ten servers across the world including the UK, US, Canada, Japan which allows one to view content that is restricted to those areas as well as keeping your online footprint concealed.
http://web.me.com/superacidjax/Sparkling_Chaos/Main_Page/Entries/2009/11/27_Getting_around_blocked_websites_(and_protecting_your_personal_info..).html
The stupid GFW!! I’ve tried many VPNs and most of them are done now. I’m using Freedur now, it is fast and the Youtube videos stream super fast. Like it.
Hi Bill, I recommend you have a look at https://12vpn.com/ Their installer got me back online in a minute or so.
hey guys! thanks for the advice but now none of those links you gave us are working.
the government’s great firewall is better and better (for them of coars!) i hope oneday a verry good computer crack can make the strongest vpn in the world and just give it for free for the sake of the wolrd!
and all those stupid chinese will look damn stupid as usual and loose the face as usual and they will think they didnt loose the face because they act like so wich the rest of the whole entire galaxy dont believe and know they they loose the face even if they dont think! OH I FORGET SOMETHING! “”as usual””!!!!
My hotspotshield has been down for a couple of months now. I’ve been looking for another alternative.
http://www.thefreevpn is a great service and works great in China, most free servers are USA based and there even specific ones to use for Hulu. Works great for Facebook and YouTube.
i also use the paid version of vpn in china, but never heard about your stuff.
hi all, i can’t use hotspotshield in beijing , but i find a vpn that is so cheap . $28 / year .
their site is http://www.vpn38.net . but the site is chinese 🙁 their custom can speak english 🙂
Now that freevpn is blocked, any chance of an update as to what everyone is using ? I am using a proxy now that lets me view FB, but I cannot use most of the features.
I visited 12vpn site – does it work well ?
I’ve been using http://www.boundip.com/ for a couple of years now while I travel, it seems like a small setup, but it’s reliable and gets the job done.
Been using http://www.vpn38.net.VERY GOOD,works on iphone and the connection is fast and stable,i recommend this for anyone looking to use facebook youtube etc.
although they process their payment through taobao,i think you should at least have a chinese bank card that can do online banking.i use bank of china and they are very good.
my 5 cents!
Hotspot shield doesn’t work anymore! Blocked, along with the rest of the free VPNs.
I use 12vpn since about 6 months. Their support and documentation is the best I’ve seen. Right now I’m having some trouble with it disconnecting about once a day, and needs restarting to work again. So I’m gonna have to bug their support again to see if its my fault or theirs. Apart from that it’s reliable, and it’s fast.
I used Hotspot Shield but unfortunatelly the servers’ speed was too slow. Now I’m using ibVPn and I recommand it because it’s fast and cheap. http://www.ibvpn.com
Worst vpn out there is ibvpn…Worst Customer Support and Server use to give me only 1mbps while i have 10mbps Connection…i recommend switchvpn[dot]com i am getting great speed and Faster streaming of videos from youtube and hulu…
switchvpn[dot]com
Best VPN out there!!
Oriental VPN (http://www.orientalvpn.com). Server based in HK and is very fast when used from China!
I used GoVPNGo http://www.govpngo.com when I worked in china. they have VPN servers in hongkong specially tuned for cn. service really good and fast. even watching youtube is not a problem.
Hi,
If you need advice or consulers reviews about VPN providers service, go to this website
http://www.start-vpn.com/
i just paid for the ibVPN who advertises on your website but it doesn’t work on my mac and their tech support seem hopeless, perhaps they shouldn’t be allowed to advertise here…
It’s not free, but it’s service is really very good, once you use it, you don’t need waste your time in finding VPN…
It’s FBVPN, http://www.fbvpn.com, What impresses me most is their service is very very good, which I appreciate very much.
yes, it really work here. Thank you John!
Most free VPNs are already blocked, as well as some “famous” paid ones.
Now I use this:
http://www.highspeedvpn.com/
It`s a paid service, but I never had any problems with it.
Any update on which VPNs are working in China? Just moved to Beijing and would like to access sites. Also, any way to check the safety of vpn services?
I have a friend China that gave me a VPN and I can now access Facebook in China.
Jessie Ma, what is that VPN? is it free? give email to mr.kn16ht@yahoo.com please..thanks
Hi, I live in China, Xian.
But I can not log in Facebook…..How can I get VPN in China please inform me…Tanx. xiexie ni
Well, wonderful suggestion, I was using it. However, looks like the good old government has found this and squashed it. Looking for something else now so I can keep up to date with my friends and family.
Another one to recommend, with local support team and servers in HK, the USA and the UK: http://www.sinovpn.com ; it is more targeted to businesses in China though, although there is a personal package
i wouldnt bother with any vpn based in a western country. they will keep charging your credit card even after you cancel their “service”. ive had this happen to me, as has many others. use the Chinese vpn’s. Chinese bank cards do not allow anyone to deduct money automatically like they do in the west. every bank authorisation requires a password. thats how people in the west get screwed.
So are there any free VPN’s still working?
You can search free VPN in Google. I think you can get tons of results. I can suggest a paid VPN with trial account without registration if you will test on PC. Definitely FlyVPN highly recommend. 20 minutes per time.3 times per day. Good luck!