Free or Economical VPN That Works for China - to Access Gmail and Google Map in China

arctan on 12/09/2018 - 10:11

Anyone knows any reliable VPN service I can get for 3 to 5 devices for my trip to China this month? Dont mind to pay for one month to get something decent if its not a contract based subscription. Of course if it's a free one then that would be the best.

Internet Asia China VPN

Comments

  • benwaffle on 12/09/2018 - 10:55
    +2

    You can order sim cards from ChinaMobile Hong Kong which won't be restricted by the Great Firewall in China

    • arctan on 12/09/2018 - 17:23

      Do you have a link on that please? How long is the delivery as I am heading over on 28th Sep

      • benwaffle on 12/09/2018 - 17:49

        You can pick one up if you travel via Hong Kong. Otherwise buy off ebay

        • arctan on 12/09/2018 - 18:00

          Is it easy to register unlike starhub you must use passport on-site to activate?

  • GG57 on 12/09/2018 - 10:55
    +1

    I would download some interactive offline maps rather than rely on internet access for that.

  • altomic on 12/09/2018 - 12:08

    flying via singapore?

    pick up a starhub sim at singapore airport.

    it's what I used last year to get unrestricted internet access whilst in Beijing.

    you have to order on-line and pick up at one of the counters within the terminal (you don't need to go through customs, etc)

    • arctan on 12/09/2018 - 17:24

      Yeah i know starhub but I won't be going through Singapore this trip…

    • illumination on 21/10/2018 - 04:35

      Good suggestion which I agree with, as the StarHub SIM is great, but just a correction - you do not need to order online. You can just buy it on the spot (at the time of writing).

      Am aware this is an old topic but just replying anyway in case other people read this in the future and make decisions off these comments.

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 12/09/2018 - 12:29

    The Hong Kong SIM sounds like a great idea but how do you get one? OP is leaving this month.

    When I was in China a few years ago I downloaded a few apps (before getting to China) in case another VPN was suddenly blocked or too slow. But only free ones like psiphon and tunnelbear, which are slow. I heard you can cancel ExpressVPN "no questions asked" so that would naturally be the preference for those that need a lot of data and high speed. There are a few lists on the internet (e.g. https://startuplivingchina.com/best-vpn-for-china/).

    At the time, none of the apps I normally use to communicate with Australians on-line had worked and I didn't have mobile roaming so it was very frustrating when something urgent came up. It's bad enough having CAPTCHA fail sitting at home, but imagine the frustration of having a VPN
    but then being asked to login to a backup email account that also sees you as suspicious.

    The last trip in Europe the wifi didn't work in a hostel so I tried to login to Outlook using a (probably virus-ridden) desktop computer. Thinking I outsmarted the system using the authenticator app, unless I missed something, I didn't realise you need an internet connection for the Microsoft authenticator app to work anyway.

  • apptrack on 12/09/2018 - 14:04

    NordVPN has obfuscated servers which bypass the firewall.

    • arctan on 12/09/2018 - 17:25

      But they only have contract plan right? Something like 24 months contract.

      • apptrack on 12/09/2018 - 17:34
        +1

        No, prepaid

        https://nordvpn.com/tv/

        • arctan on 12/09/2018 - 18:00

          Thanks let me look into this

        • ayad on 17/09/2018 - 22:43

          @arctan: This might be a dumb question but I use nord and connect to the country that I am in - does this defeat the purpose or does it still cover me?

          • arctan on 27/09/2018 - 16:34

            @ayad: Nord is good. I bought 2 years plan and used it in China.

            • ayad on 27/09/2018 - 16:44

              @arctan: ok so what do you think about my question

              • arctan on 27/09/2018 - 16:47

                @ayad: Its vpn so it does cover you and you dont leave trace on internet. Either way its a good tool to equip these days.

                • ayad on 27/09/2018 - 16:49

                  @arctan: even if you connect to the server of your country (where you live)?

  • parker55 on 27/09/2018 - 01:12
    +1

    I heard about Expressvpn and Nordvpn work in china but unfortunately they are not free. NordVPN is cheaper than Expressvpn if you purchase for a year. They have 30 days money back guarantee I guess so you can cancel it before that.

  • Mike33 on 30/09/2018 - 02:25

    Man, do some research about ShadowSockets. You can set up a server on a Windows computer that will be left in Australia in a few minutes. Last time I went back to China I sat up one and that worked. Only problem is you have to keep that server computer on all the time when you are away. The software I used is shadowsocks-libqss.
    Well, the speed to your home from China may or may not be good. In my case, it was always like 20-30kb/s. But good enough to check emails, facebook, twitter and play some mobile games that do not requeire constant high speed connection.

  • illumination on 21/10/2018 - 04:35

    OP what did you end up doing? I presume you're back now?

  • cauilfield on 30/10/2018 - 00:12

    +1 for shadowsocks!

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