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Best and Fast VPN for China ?

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Old May 24, 2019, 11:11 am
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Last edit by: moondog
If you want to use sites like Google, FB, and Twitter in China, you need a means to bypass government imposed blocks.

Roaming on your home country's network works like a charm, but this can be slow and/or expensive.

Most of us use VPNs or Shadowsocks (the latter requires a bit more legwork because you need to find, and pay for, a good server on your own you want good results).

While this topic is not illegal, we have definitely noticed that over plugging solutions that work well often results in diminished performance (because this makes them targets).

As such, my hope is that we can refrain from using buzzwords or complete company names in this thread. By way of example, "E" is impossible to catch via search, while the company name is easy.
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Old Nov 30, 2019, 3:27 am
  #271  
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Originally Posted by moondog
I don't really care about the carrier, as long as it works. But, one of my HK friends has been buying China Mobile prepaids at Stanley, and he likes them.
I don't get it, why not just buy a China Mobile simcard from the store itself? How is he charging his card while away from HK?
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Old Nov 30, 2019, 4:53 am
  #272  
 
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Originally Posted by lsquare
I don't get it, why not just buy a China Mobile simcard from the store itself? How is he charging his card while away from HK?
You can top up your China Mobile prepaid SIM with a credit/debit card from overseas. I know several people living in mainland China and using prepaid HK SIMs with the cross-border roaming. It's a little costly but it works much better than any VPN. Also, if you know someone who has HKID, and they trust you, you can get very good postpaid plans in HK that include data roaming in China and even a mainland China phone number.
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Old Nov 30, 2019, 7:55 am
  #273  
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Originally Posted by lsquare
I don't get it, why not just buy a China Mobile simcard from the store itself? How is he charging his card while away from HK?
Because they are cheaper at other stores, and I want to buy a lot of them.
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 7:24 am
  #274  
 
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Re: my question about using a CMLink UK SIM card with a roaming allowance in China effectively gives you unfiltered internet access. Wasn't answered here but in another thread.
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 9:16 am
  #275  
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Originally Posted by moondog
I don't really care about the carrier, as long as it works. But, one of my HK friends has been buying China Mobile prepaids at Stanley, and he likes them.
Originally Posted by lsquare
I don't get it, why not just buy a China Mobile simcard from the store itself? How is he charging his card while away from HK?
Gee, this is HK. Nobody local pays full retail for anything that they can buy at a reseller for a discount.

Our respected Moondog has emptied enough kegs in Wan Chai that I consider him a local.
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 11:03 am
  #276  
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Originally Posted by moondog
Because they are cheaper at other stores, and I want to buy a lot of them.
Can you please explain to me why you would need "lots" of simcards? You're planning to sell them in the Mainland?
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 11:04 am
  #277  
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Originally Posted by tentseller
Gee, this is HK. Nobody local pays full retail for anything that they can buy at a reseller for a discount.

Our respected Moondog has emptied enough kegs in Wan Chai that I consider him a local.
Please educate me on this. Why would anyone wants lots of simcards unless they're planning to resell it? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to pay full retail price if I don't have to. We're talking about a simcard right? How much money are you saving by buying from a reseller over the China Mobile store in HK?
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 11:06 am
  #278  
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Originally Posted by bobbytables
You can top up your China Mobile prepaid SIM with a credit/debit card from overseas. I know several people living in mainland China and using prepaid HK SIMs with the cross-border roaming. It's a little costly but it works much better than any VPN. Also, if you know someone who has HKID, and they trust you, you can get very good postpaid plans in HK that include data roaming in China and even a mainland China phone number.
Thanks for the response. With regards to HK SIMs, how much is the rate for cross-border roaming?

I actually know a few people with HKID, but I never asked for help like this. With regards to the postpaid HK plans, does it include data roaming throughout the APAC region or just Mainland China? What am I looking at with regards to pricing?
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 11:08 am
  #279  
 
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Do China Mobile HK/China Unicom HK support eSIM? Now that I have a phone that uses eSIM, I'd like to just do away with having to get a physical card altogether. Found this on the CMHK website, but it doesn't say whether prepaid is supported: https://www.hk.chinamobile.com/en/co...M_Service.html
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 11:36 am
  #280  
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Originally Posted by lsquare
Please educate me on this. Why would anyone wants lots of simcards unless they're planning to resell it? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to pay full retail price if I don't have to. We're talking about a simcard right? How much money are you saving by buying from a reseller over the China Mobile store in HK?
The cost of them made refilling them not worth the trouble so you toss them once the data preloaded upon first activation is used up.

As the full speed wired service where I am is not 100% reliable I use LTE data on a second router for my backup access on my home office network for web conferences and webinars.

At the present time I buy in bundle of 20 SIM that gives me 8Gb of data for 30days with face value (full retail) at $78 at deep discount. To refill for a second 8Gb/30days would be more than twice my cost of one SIM. I just toss them when the data is used up.
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Last edited by tentseller; Dec 1, 2019 at 9:27 pm
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 11:40 am
  #281  
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Originally Posted by tentseller
The cost of them made refilling them not worth th trouble so you toss them once the data preloaded upon first activation is used up.

As the full speed wired service where I am is not 100% reliable I use LTE data on a second router for my backup access on my home office network for web conferences and webinars.

At the present time I buy in bundle of 20 SIM that gives me 8Gb of data for 30days with face value (full retail) at $78 at deep discount. To refill for a second 8Gb/30days would be more than twice my cost of one SIM. I just toss them when the data is used up.
Gotcha! That makes perfect sense. It does seem inconvenient though.
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Old Dec 1, 2019, 1:04 pm
  #282  
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Originally Posted by lsquare
Gotcha! That makes perfect sense. It does seem inconvenient though.
IMHO it is faster for me to swap the old/new SIM than to reload one. YMMV.
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Old Dec 6, 2019, 8:18 am
  #283  
 
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Best VPN solution for 4 days and two users?

I am looking for a solution for a 4 day trip to PVG. I unfortunately will not be transiting HK before the trip, and will not be able to pre-purchase a HK sim (wish I had known about this during previous connections though).

I cannot read (or speak) Chinese which makes purchasing a HK SIM on Taobao difficult. I was considering having it sent to my hotel in advance of my arrival. (if anyone has a reliable seller that they reocmmend that they would be able to help me out with and this is the advised solution feel free to PM me)

If not what's the next best solution. 4 days, 2 users, 2-4 devices. Google, gmail, google maps, facebook, insta, what's app, etc. is what I will want access to.

My home carrier already slows down the connection overseas after a certain data limit is reached per day, so the VPN may slow it down even more. I've never used a VPN overseas so I am not sure. I could also use a HK SIM (if that's available to be delivered or purchased in US) on an old cell and share the wifi among all devices

Any suggestions are appreciated. If privacy is a concern feel free to PM.
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Old Dec 6, 2019, 8:39 am
  #284  
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Originally Posted by Zoltar
I am looking for a solution for a 4 day trip to PVG. I unfortunately will not be transiting HK before the trip, and will not be able to pre-purchase a HK sim (wish I had known about this during previous connections though).

I cannot read (or speak) Chinese which makes purchasing a HK SIM on Taobao difficult. I was considering having it sent to my hotel in advance of my arrival. (if anyone has a reliable seller that they reocmmend that they would be able to help me out with and this is the advised solution feel free to PM me)

If not what's the next best solution. 4 days, 2 users, 2-4 devices. Google, gmail, google maps, facebook, insta, what's app, etc. is what I will want access to.

My home carrier already slows down the connection overseas after a certain data limit is reached per day, so the VPN may slow it down even more. I've never used a VPN overseas so I am not sure. I could also use a HK SIM (if that's available to be delivered or purchased in US) on an old cell and share the wifi among all devices

Any suggestions are appreciated. If privacy is a concern feel free to PM.
Can you survive without this stuff during the 4-day trip? I ask because I've learned that I can; not being able to access company email (Google) is admittedly an issue, but those social apps aren't critical.
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Old Dec 6, 2019, 8:45 am
  #285  
 
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Originally Posted by Zoltar
My home carrier already slows down the connection overseas after a certain data limit is reached per day, so the VPN may slow it down even more.
If you are using your home carrier, you don't need a VPN. Sign up for and use a VPN only for WiFi to conserve cellular data. If you are using Android, you may need kill LTE data to force it to use the WiFi link when you do have WiFi.
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