Internet in China
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 210
Internet in China
Staying at Hyatts in Shanghai and Shenzen. Does the internet at these hostelries work pretty much like in most other countries. Do they block access to anything like Skype or news sites? Is it safe to do online banking there?
#2
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: SPG Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 356
There's a thread on this in the FAQs sticky that probably answers most of your questions. My experience was the internet mostly worked as usual but certain things were unavailable like Twitter, YouTube, and Face Book.
#3
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 7,402
The hotel won't do the blocking--it's the great firewall. At the Hyatt in Beijing I was able to get twitter and youtube access, and Skype has not been a problem anywhere (except for connection speed).
#5
Ambassador: China
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Malibu Inferno Ground Zero
Programs: UA AA CO
Posts: 4,836
If you little or no money in your accounts.
Dan Harris: China Law Blog
Do The Walls Have Ears, Part II: Traveling To China Naked. Electronically, That Is.
Dan Harris: China Law Blog
Do The Walls Have Ears, Part II: Traveling To China Naked. Electronically, That Is.
#7
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,824
Let the record show that, in Beijing at least, August 30, 2012 (working hours) was the worst I've ever seen it. It appears that they are experimenting with some new censorship techniques, and have started off with a blanket approach, which they will (hopefully) fine tune later.
Basically, google.com and yahoo.com load without fail, but when I click on search results, those links are almost unilaterally blocked (e.g. 5% success rate). Since I let my VPN lapse (I don't use FB/twitter, and can live without youtube) a few months ago, I felt completely and utterly powerless doing my research work, but I managed to (grudgingly) make do with baidu. Again, I honestly believe this is a very short lived trend so I'm not going to get back on the VPN bandwagon on account of today alone. But, on the off chance the game continues for a week or more, I won't give it a second thought.
ETA: I checked google/yahoo again seconds after posting, and it appears that order has been restored.
Basically, google.com and yahoo.com load without fail, but when I click on search results, those links are almost unilaterally blocked (e.g. 5% success rate). Since I let my VPN lapse (I don't use FB/twitter, and can live without youtube) a few months ago, I felt completely and utterly powerless doing my research work, but I managed to (grudgingly) make do with baidu. Again, I honestly believe this is a very short lived trend so I'm not going to get back on the VPN bandwagon on account of today alone. But, on the off chance the game continues for a week or more, I won't give it a second thought.
ETA: I checked google/yahoo again seconds after posting, and it appears that order has been restored.
Last edited by moondog; Aug 30, 2012 at 7:55 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: PEK and BOS
Programs: BA - Blue
Posts: 4,530
Do you really mean 12th August, or today?
I found one day this week absolutely awful, but today wasn't so bad.
Without vpn, I can't download files from gmail 30% of the time, let alone search results etc, so I find it really critical for my work.
tb
I found one day this week absolutely awful, but today wasn't so bad.
Without vpn, I can't download files from gmail 30% of the time, let alone search results etc, so I find it really critical for my work.
tb
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,320
Let the record show that, in Beijing at least, August 12, 2012 (working hours) was the worst I've ever seen it. It appears that they are experimenting with some new censorship techniques, and have started off with a blanket approach, which they will (hopefully) fine tune later.
Basically, google.com and yahoo.com load without fail, but when I click on search results, those links are almost unilaterally blocked (e.g. 5% success rate). Since I let my VPN lapse (I don't use FB/twitter, and can live without youtube) a few months ago, I felt completely and utterly powerless doing my research work, but I managed to (grudgingly) make do with baidu. Again, I honestly believe this is a very short lived trend so I'm not going to get back on the VPN bandwagon on account of today alone. But, on the off chance the game continues for a week or more, I won't give it a second thought.
ETA: I checked google/yahoo again seconds after posting, and it appears that order has been restored.
Basically, google.com and yahoo.com load without fail, but when I click on search results, those links are almost unilaterally blocked (e.g. 5% success rate). Since I let my VPN lapse (I don't use FB/twitter, and can live without youtube) a few months ago, I felt completely and utterly powerless doing my research work, but I managed to (grudgingly) make do with baidu. Again, I honestly believe this is a very short lived trend so I'm not going to get back on the VPN bandwagon on account of today alone. But, on the off chance the game continues for a week or more, I won't give it a second thought.
ETA: I checked google/yahoo again seconds after posting, and it appears that order has been restored.
#10
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,824
Sorry, I meant yesterday (already corrected).
#13
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: BRU, SIN, PEK
Programs: SQ TPP, LH SEN
Posts: 3,235
hardcore!
I lived off my company VPN for the first half year I was here and thought I could do fine. That was until my friend let me have his account to use. Within weeks I told him to send the renewal notice my way - no way I'm giving it up!
I lived off my company VPN for the first half year I was here and thought I could do fine. That was until my friend let me have his account to use. Within weeks I told him to send the renewal notice my way - no way I'm giving it up!
#14
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,824
IMO, google is categorically better than baidu (note: Chinese clones of foreign sites are often superior to the cloned: witness 'weibo v. twitter', 'qunar v. kayak', 'taobao v. ebay', etc). But, for standard research functions, google is still #1, particularly insofar as images are concerned.