andrewrh

My latest attempts to access banned sites has been blocked. Anyone have a recommendation of a proxy vpn I can use (free or not)?
Hotspotshield does not work well on my computer

Hurdle_bunter

I use Witopia which costs $60 pa. Each time you launch (each day) you can choose where your server is. I choose London or Manchester and then I can get BBC iPlayer but you can choose from various cities in USA and Hong Kong. Of course it is slower than your local China Telecom etc. connection. But you can get anywhere you like, throw that rope ladder over the Great Firewall of China and run free.

If I do not need to get over the wall I do not launch Witopia, I just use the Chinese broadband connection and the speed is great. With iPlayer I have to download the pgm (overnight as it's sizable) then watch it whenever I like. Alternatively I buffer the content... launch it, have my lunch, go out, come back and it's buffered enough to watch it online.

Don't use the free VPNs, not only do they go very slowly but because they are free, they attract a lot of users and then the Chinese shut them down. This done not seem to happen with the paid ones.

Good luck

Sian in Nanjing

andrewrh

You are correct about the free ones being swamped, then being found and closed very often. The pay-for ones are not expensive, but I sometimes worry that my company laptop will get messed up after downloading them - then the payment can't be refunded.

I am lucky to be able to leave China 4 or 5 times per year and access these sites - and like you say, it's great to be able to download tv programmes to watch later - though I only use the ones posted on YT.

Thanks Sian - nice Scottish name.

Hurdle_bunter

Welsh actually

Fleurette

We've been using www.vtunnel.com for about 6 months now and its still not been blocked yet, although we are lmited on what we can do with it. For examples photos on some sites dont load or you can't write on Facebook etc (but you can see it!). It's a free one. Still, it's been fine for us.

andrewrh

Yes, I agree. VTunnel is limited, but you can see what everyone is doing. It might not work in the future, though, when facebook 'lite' is discontinued.

Fleurette

Facebook lite has already been shut down by the Facebook people. But, you can still use vtunnel on normal Facebook. Only difference is that with fb lite, you could write messages or statuses but you can't with normal Facebook.

Inselaffen

I used to use Witopia from the UAE. It was UAS only hosted then so couldnt access BBC Iplayer. worked fine for other things and was great for the price

Jim Smith

It's now blocked 'ere!