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.

Wall Street Journal report on the issue:

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2...nsition-nears/

The censors have now blocked google/gmail, though not google.ca. Google.com was practically unusable this week because, while searches loaded quickly enough, clicking on any of the results was an exercise in futility. But, this latest shot, while probably short lived, is clearly a blow to the "stern". I've heard through the grapevine that our Mountain View chronies strategically hired a number princeling children upon their return to China in order to make amends for past sins, but it appears that this strategy has its limits.

To those of you who wonder why I'm not using a vpn, I quit xpress* last summer during an extended trip to other places, and when I returned, a generous FTer hooked me up with his own VPN, which worked really well until about 7 days ago.

Since I need gmail to do my job (in addition to my personal account, I have 3 business accounts), I'll figure out a new solution by the end of the weekend in the unlikely event order hasn't been restored by then.

*Edited in order to preserve the integrity of the vpn in question.

It has been crazy.

Even the witopia workaround stopped working.

Had to get a workaround for the workaround. Use different ports and different servers. A real pain.

Can't miss "Big Bang Theory" this week.

Ggl & its email seems to work about 7 am BJ time in BJ for a couple of hours, then its gone for the day.

yesterday, the local CNN cable feed was blocked 3 times when 18th C.. news was reported on.

But , the SIN channel-news asia (cable) was not blocked...

Should be over on wend the 14th ?

I have to say: although speeds drop with xprss (deliberate typo), and not all servers work at all times, I have been able to have uninterrupted service. And at times, speeds have been good. It has been worth the (modest) investment.

Functioning without google/gmail is just not possible for me -- and it's just too unpredictable to rely on no vpn.

The irony is that on "speedtest" I can get speeds of 30MB/sec, against a local server, but not to anywhere I want to go!

tb

Beijing
 

using VPN and no issues at all .........

This VPN thing is a cat and mouse game. Since there are so many VPNs out there, the net nannies can't possibly take them all down, but when they focus their efforts on a handful at a time, they always win. This is why we try to avoid mentioning VPNs that we like here.

Btw, please don't use me as a referral for xpress any more. Several people have hooked me up, but I can't avail of the referrals because I don't have an active account. Use TB or others in the conga thread, instead.

Internet monitors are saying that the Google filter appears to have been lifted, but DNS updating not complete so access is still very spotty.

I'm on VPN almost 100% now because with so many domains blocked it is slowing down internet surfing considerably. Even the most benign of sites have Google analytics, FB/Twitter widgets installed, or use blocked blog platforms, and I have no patience waiting for time outs before the page content loads.

In Kunming, I'm getting spotty access to gmail/google, sometimes loading in Dutch, sometimes not loading anything. Most of the time, error messages appear.

FT is working fine, but considering that the convention will be over soon, I'd reckon non-Chinese site internetting will be copacetic once again.

March 5th, 2013
 

The date is out for the NPPC meeting, It will start on March 5th in BJ. So expect the public internet to be 'slow' a few days before & during this event...

And maybe abet more BJ security....

The Ggl search mode never did recover, so i went back to Yahoo for search's.

I don't find that internet has improved after the 18th Congress.... I presume this is the new normal. I can barely work off-VPN these days, my usual internet haunts are just not China-friendly. I dread the though of things getting worse next March!

The VPN mentioned by moondog upstream (*xpre*s) is no longer working in some parts China as of Dec. 5th (information from the company).

If you are using this and are having connection problems either send me a PM or fire off a message to customer support, and I (or they) can give you some workaround instructions (tested and working - I am connected as I type this message ...)

Internet issues
 

The 'smart' boys are meeting back in BJ, & the internet has been slowed, i am sure the sensors are doin the google 'blocks'. Its SLOW..... but, great BJ weather this week.

Got a question do people have problems with accessing hosted exchange email like office365.com? Been looking to switch just because gmail is such a pain in China.