Regarding social media in China

Old Jun 9th, 2020, 05:19 AM
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Regarding social media in China

Once the lockdown is uplifted I'm planning to do lots of travelling in China. But there's one thing - I'm a blogger and trying to build up my YT channel, and I will need to access social media while I'm there. I'm planning to pack a VPN but I heard it might affect the connection speeds to unusable rates, maybe someone has experience first hand regarding VPNs and their speeds in China?

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jcomelsal is offline  
Old Jun 9th, 2020, 08:56 AM
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If you look back through the threads you'll find several discussing VPNs. The number of companies consistently able to cope with the efforts of the Chinese authorities to block them, and who feel the financial investment is worthwhile to continue to do so, is quite small, and you should worry about being able to connect at all with a VPN before worrying about speed.

My experience over several years, but not in very recent times, was that WiTopia successfully kept up, and was open to being questioned on China access before a subscription was paid. While there are annual arrangements, service can also be by the month, which suits the short-term traveller. If an account is opened for use on a computer, then that account can be used once in China for a live chat that will help you make the VPN also work on your phone.

I notice some loss of speed when using the VPN, but have always been able to use social media without difficulty. I haven't attempted, however, to stream video or to upload anything larger than text and image files.
temppeternh is offline  
Old Jun 10th, 2020, 02:44 PM
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Suggest you inquire at Hong Kong forum site: GeoExpats dot com. Folks there are much more in tune with China and the various current difficulties with technical/online connections.
jobin is offline  
Old Oct 21st, 2021, 11:06 PM
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Originally Posted by jcomelsal
Once the lockdown is uplifted I'm planning to do lots of travelling in China. But there's one thing - I'm a blogger and trying to build up my YT channel, and I will need to access social media while I'm there. I'm planning to pack a VPN but I heard it might affect the connection speeds to unusable rates, maybe someone has experience first hand regarding VPNs and their speeds in China?

Although using a VPN is not illegal in China, authorities do what they can to limit access to them. One way they do this is by removing VPN apps from app stores. As with all Google services, Google Play is blocked in China. ... The Apple App Store is still accessible in China, but the VPN apps have been removed.
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Old Jan 16th, 2022, 06:42 PM
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You might even find that asking the locals to help might be beneficial. I say this because when i was in China in 2017, i saw many teenagers on Instagram openly in cafes and such. They would know the best vpns to use in their own country. I downloaded a bunch of different ones before i entered the country and then tested which one worked the best with the internet i had. I wouldn't be able to tell you what app i used now, but i think it had a rabbit on it.
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Old Jan 17th, 2022, 07:24 AM
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Originally Posted by temppeternh
If you look back through the threads you'll find several discussing VPNs. ...
Peter N-H, is that you? Been a while. Or maybe you are some guy from New Hampshire with an interest in China.
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Old Aug 25th, 2022, 06:56 PM
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The key is customer support. you want to be able to reach them while there. More often than not, their sites are blocked so reaching them is a hard thing to do. I used ExpressVPN and they have an alternative site. When I had difficulty connecting or with speed, I would contact them and they always had a solution (often directing me to a specific server). Make sure to note how to reach them BEFORE going to China.
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