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Best and Fast VPN for China ?

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Old May 24, 2019, 11:11 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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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Best and Fast VPN for China ?

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Old Mar 23, 2019, 3:34 pm
  #91  
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
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While in china, i used vpnchina.io . It worked without any issues.
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Old Mar 24, 2019, 8:40 am
  #92  
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Originally Posted by tauphi
Did you recently use a Chinese WIFI network prior to the filtering? DNS pollution can persist after switching back to cellular. FWIW I use a HK SIM and it's still working right now.
If it were DNS pollution then I should still have gotten through if the VPN dropped. I didn't.
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Old Mar 27, 2019, 5:15 pm
  #93  
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Originally Posted by Loren Pechtel
My phone (Sprint, using the free level of international service) was filtered when I was there in November.
WhatsApp and Facebook's location sharing feature doesn't work in China. When I tried to send my location to my friend in Hong Kong, it showed that I was in the middle of the ocean.
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Old Apr 1, 2019, 9:13 pm
  #94  
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Originally Posted by lsquare
WhatsApp and Facebook's location sharing feature doesn't work in China. When I tried to send my location to my friend in Hong Kong, it showed that I was in the middle of the ocean.
I wasn't trying to use either of them.
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Old Apr 1, 2019, 9:21 pm
  #95  
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Originally Posted by lsquare
WhatsApp and Facebook's location sharing feature doesn't work in China. When I tried to send my location to my friend in Hong Kong, it showed that I was in the middle of the ocean.
Both work fine for me, but very few people here use those apps.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 3:59 am
  #96  
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Originally Posted by moondog
Both work fine for me, but very few people here use those apps.
I tried them on PVG T1-T2 transit at MU lounge (using their wifi). Can receive messages, can't reply.
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Old Apr 5, 2019, 4:04 am
  #97  
 
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Astrill is more expensive but very stable even during times there are some important events (when other vpns cannot get through).
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Old Apr 5, 2019, 4:14 am
  #98  
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Originally Posted by Sunshinekk
Astrill is more expensive but very stable even during times there are some important events (when other vpns cannot get through).
Disagree ime.
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Old Apr 8, 2019, 3:38 pm
  #99  
 
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I used Google Fi last month in China and it worked great. I didn't have any VPN installed and I was using google's VPN that comes with Google Fi and had no issue with any US sites. The only major issue I had was uploading pictures or video on google hangout. Uploading to instagram had no issues, so I wonder why hangout gives me trouble.

I had no issue at all in Shanghai.
Xi'an I had no issue but the google map locations for stuff is way off so don't rely on it.
Beijing I occasionally get dropped and I try to manually connect to another carrier and it works again. I had issues with google map labeling my hotel about a mile away from where it is actually so I would avoid relying on the map locations too much.
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Old Apr 8, 2019, 3:56 pm
  #100  
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Originally Posted by moondog
Both work fine for me, but very few people here use those apps.
Are you using VPN? I wasn't and I was just roaming. Like I said, my friend was in Hong Kong...
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Old Apr 8, 2019, 6:43 pm
  #101  
 
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Does any VPN (other than VPN.ac) have the split tunnel feature in its Android app? The split tunnel feature is one reason why I usually sign up for Express and VPN.ac every time I visit China. Express for reliability, and VPN.ac for the split tunnel feature. It's actually useful for being able to test my internet connection without actually disconnecting the VPN, by simply enabling the VPN bypass for an app like WeChat or Firefox and having everything else go through the VPN. Express, unfortunately, lacks this feature.
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Old Apr 9, 2019, 7:49 am
  #102  
 
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Originally Posted by STS-134
Does any VPN (other than VPN.ac) have the split tunnel feature in its Android app? The split tunnel feature is one reason why I usually sign up for Express and VPN.ac every time I visit China. Express for reliability, and VPN.ac for the split tunnel feature. It's actually useful for being able to test my internet connection without actually disconnecting the VPN, by simply enabling the VPN bypass for an app like WeChat or Firefox and having everything else go through the VPN. Express, unfortunately, lacks this feature.
Exp recently introduced this feature, but doesn't seem to work as well as .AC

tb
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Old Apr 13, 2019, 5:16 pm
  #103  
 
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OpenVPN?

Does anyone have experience with OpenVPN? I have almost no experience with VPNs, but I installed this on my home router and got it to work from Canada without a problem and was able to open USA-only content from there.

However, now that I am in China, when I connect with OpenVPN on my laptop or portable devices, it still looks like I am coming from China. If anyone can explain why this is happening, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Edit: I think I found my answer. Apparently China can see that this is VPN traffic over OpenVPN, so they can block it.

Last edited by wcj1; Apr 13, 2019 at 5:21 pm
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Old Apr 13, 2019, 5:31 pm
  #104  
 
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Any idea if ExpressVPN works well in mainland China? Will be heading there for a week starting tomorrow, and just wondering if I should get my free trial started today before I get there.
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Old Apr 13, 2019, 5:37 pm
  #105  
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37
Any idea if ExpressVPN works well in mainland China? Will be heading there for a week starting tomorrow, and just wondering if I should get my free trial started today before I get there.
Usually it does. In case you didn't notice, more than 50% of the recs in this thread are for express.
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