is it my computer? (internet problems in Beijing)
 

On my laptop I have both Internet Explorer and Firefox. (not the latest versions though, for work we cannot use the latest versions)

The first day or two when I got here, I was able to check my yahoo email, but it was not consistant.

But ever since then, I have been unable to at all.
I can log in, but when I click on an email, nothing happens.

I thought it was due to the internet here (for instance, half the time google's search results do not load and a blank page comes up)

But I noticed in the hotel (yahoo does not work there either on my laptop) yahoo email will work on my cellphone (using the hotel wifi)

So, could it be something wrong with my computer? (since it works on my cell using the same wifi)
But I've never had problems checking email at home.

Very strange

The censors have kicked things up several notches for the past 5 days or so.... even with a VPN, the internet has been painfully slow all over the country. We expect that things will return to normal in 3 days.

yep, it's slow..
 

yes, its been slow, maybee a tad faster in the early am, but by 8, its nasty slow in BJ this week. Even on sunday, NFL.com was a no go on the clips.

The in china web sites are ok, but any over the water sites are mixed , LI is variable. And NYT is still blocked !.

Even some of the cable TV channels are off this week in BJ. But CCTV is there !

but its strange how it doesnt work on my laptop (tried both browsers) but it worked (only tried twice) on my cellphone.

Can't explain it from a technical perspective, but it's quite common. Sometimes, gmail on my laptop is playing up, but I can check it with ease on my phone. Not sure why, but there it is.

tb

How strange to live in a paranoiarchy.

...18C...

It's not your computer.

Yahoo! Mail's mobile site is almost certainly hosted on different servers than the desktop version, and our beloved Net Nannies have likely not bothered (or yet gotten around to) blocking the mobile page. This happens often: the Google+ Android app continued to work for several weeks after the web version had been blocked, for instance.

Things should go back to normal (most likely less the NYT) once the 18th Party Congress is over.

I also suspect that Unicom operates on different protocols than the major land based ISPs (e.g. Telecom/Netcom) because my mifi router is now actually more reliable than the internet in my residence and office. Google sans VPN has been effectively useless for the past several days; while searches load pretty quickly, clicking on the results themselves is like watching grass grow.

As such, my two choices are:

1) google with VPN
-really slow
2) yahoo without VPN
-yahoo isn't as good as google, but this approach is arguably the best until 18C is over and done with (for those of us who lack really expensive VPNs)

If push came to shove, I would grudgingly use baidu as a third option, but I really dislike baidu (first ~8 results are often paid).

Honestly, as annoying as this internet problem is, it's merely a small manifestation of the underlying issues; transactional business is basically at a standstill this week because everyone is in "wait and see" mode (i.e. who cares how fast your internet is if you can't actually get anything of substance accomplished?). The US election is also a factor. But, I'm confident that as soon as the dust settles, we'll all be able to resume making money.

With regard to the paranoiaocracy concept, I've now spent enough time in these parts to give the Chinese a pass on this point. IMO, it's their country, and they are free to run it as they see fit. What's more I'm not the least bit shocked by the fact that its leaders are stinking rich.

Greatfirewall.org has reported selective IP blocking for Gmail so that users would think that it is a provider or software/hardware issue.... I assume that principle applies for other similar services. So TPTB is sneaky about how they control the Internet so as to throw pp of its scent.

As others have noted, give it a few days. Even on VPN it is prehistoric speeds....

Words cannot describe how happy I am to not be in Beijing or China during this testy Party Congress period. It's lovely right now to have fast speeds, streaming video, no censorship of search results, everything Google-related works, no need to turn on VPN, etc. etc. I could get used to this! Sympathy for the rest of you.

But I do think this Party Congress and changeover is much worse than the paranoia around the last one when we changed from Jiang to Hu. I just don't recall it being this bad. Then again, back then there wasn't the exposure of internal political struggles nor the unveiling of Politburo family wealth as there has been this year. And Tibet and Xinjiang were a bit quieter and less restive back then.

I've been able to get facebook and twitter from my blackberry (int'l roaming) but not via internet. (not this week-generally)

For those with witopia, they have a workaround.

With the workaround vpn, I can now resume watching my TV. :D


You have to contact customer support, they are well aware of the problem and they will give you a separate IP address. If you can't get to the witopia website, you will have to go to their other alternative site which is not blocked.

besides your phone addressing different IP addresses it also uses a different ISP, therefore phone sometimes is faster.

"Elections" coming up, prepare for weeks without google...

International data roaming always avoids the GFW as traffic is essentially "VPNed" by your home country provider. Likewise, if you roam in another country using a Chinese provider, you'll find that all the usual suspects are still blocked.

Of course, the downside to relying on this is the cost, unless your company is paying and doesn't care.