Tried and Tested VPNs in China
The Great Firewall of China has been the bane of my existence since the moment I touched down in China. When I first arrived I had no clue how to get around it, all I had heard of was some magical buzz word, proxy server. For the first few weeks I stumbled around the Internet using various free proxy sites like VTunnel. Sure I could check my Facebook page but when it came to updating my status and letting people know that three weeks into China I was indeed still alive, sadly all I could do was see not participate! And then I discovered the existence of VPNs and my online life was saved!
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is the way in which expats and Chinese get around The Great Firewall blocks on websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more. But VPNs aren’t always reliable and some are better than others especially since China’s latest round of Internet censorship crackdowns. In all my time in China The Great Firewall has been a constant frustration. I have tried and tested multiple VPNs from free ones to paid ones to try and ease my frustrations and get back to the online life I had back home. Below are my comparisons of the three I’ve tried and tested.
l
Identity Cloaker
l
The Good
Identity Cloaker was the first VPN I tried in China after having it recommended to me by a fellow ESL teacher. One of the advantages Identity Cloaker has over other VPNs and one that I really found helpful when debating whether to fork out to buy it was the free demo. Unlike a free trial something that most other VPN services will offer, the free demo offered by Identity Cloaker can be used for an unlimited amount of time, the only downside it will only work on a selected list of blocked websites. One of the other big advantages is the automatic switch between servers, this ensures that you don’t spend too long on one server giving you greater privacy and minimizing the risk of your Internet actions being tracked. Additionally the automatic switching of servers ensures that you are always running on the fastest server. The other great feature of Identity Cloaker is its location of servers in countries all over the world particularly in Europe. If you’re European this is a good option if you want to view European websites and watch TV online.
l
The Bad
In China at least, I found that Identity Cloaker’s connection often droped out particularly on the European servers. Additionally I had the problem that i could only use it on my work desktop computer that runs Windows as they currently have no Mac compatible version. If you have smart phones, unless they run off Windows, Identity Cloaker will not be compatible.
l
Stats: 16 Servers in 11 Countries.
Price Per Month: €12.97 (Approx $18USD).
For more info check out their website.
l
Express VPN
l
The Good
Express VPN is one of the most trusted names in VPN service providers. One of the main advantages of Express VPN is it’s compatibility with multiple operating systems and devices including Windows, Mac, Linux and devices such as iPhone, iPad, Android and various other smart phones. They also have a 30 day free trial as well as a 30 day money back guarantee.
l
The Bad
Once one of the best VPNs in China since the most recent crackdown on The Great Firewall with more restrictions Express VPN has been sketchy to say the least. I found the service had been slow and often dropped out. When the connection dropped out often switching to another server didn’t seem to work and I had to physically quit the program and restart it to select another server. Since then they have managed to tackle the problem but supplying an add on that you can easily add to the program file that restored services back to normal levels for China. However I had been disappointed with Express VPN for some time even before the government crackdown that caused a whole bunch of problems, it was this frustration that led me in search of an even better VPN. I do however know people who are still very satisfied with the service Express VPN provide.
l
Stats: Servers in 5 Countries
Price Per Month: $12.95USD
For more info check out their website.
l
Astrill
l
The Good
Astrill is currently rated the No#1 VPN for China by Best VPN Service, this was one of the reasons I chose to try Astrill after having several issues previously with both Identity Cloaker and ExpressVPN. One of the great features with Astrill is the 60 servers located in 30 different countries. This not only gives you the flexibility to view specific regional sites and watch TV and movies in specific regions it also means that there are lots of backup options if one server fails. Infact there are 25 servers locate in the US alone as well as several servers located in the United Kingdom, France and Australia giving you a multitude of back up options. Another great feature of Astrill’s VPN is it’s compatability with Windows, Mac and Linux as well as iPhone, Android and other smart phones. There’s also the aditional Video Accelorator feature which allows you to watch videos online without the hassel of buffering along with the Stream Recorder which allows you to stream media from YouTube, Vimeo etc on to your hardrive so you can watch them offline. Additionally Astrill offer features specifically designed for China called Smart Mode which allows you to only have the VPN running when you try and get onto blocked sites. Whilst your browsing on unblocked sites the VPN automatically switches off, as a result these websites will load much faster and won’t be slowed down by the VPN.
l
The Bad
I recently have been experiencing some problems with Astrill dropping out, it hasn’t been a problem if I’ve been browsing non-blocked sites (one of the great features of Astrill) however it did prevent me from accessing Facebook and YouTube though getting onto Twitter wasn’t a problem. It was particularly inconvenient when I was in the middle of uploading a 9 minute video! The other problem I was having was when I switched to another server in an attempt to amend the problem many of those servers also weren’t working. I would have thought with so many servers it wouldn’t be hard to find a good back up server! I was however impressed when I contacted customer service support to fix my problem and found that their service was both prompt and extremely helpful. Within a few minutes of emailing them I was issued with an support ticket and a promise that they would get back to me in less than 24 hours. Just an hour and a half later they emailed me with detailed, easy to follow trouble shooting steps that promtly resolved my problem. Despite the issues Astrill might have their service was prompt and extreamly helpful, I was very impressed!
Stats: 60 Servers in 30 Countries.
Price Per Month: $10.95USD
l
The Verdict
No questions asked in my opinion Astrill is the clear winner out of the three VPNs that I have tried and tested during my time in China. Astill beats out the others for its combination of features from compatibility with multiple operating systems and devices to its 60 servers across 30 countries, its additional features such as the video accelerator, stream recorder and smart mode, its excellent service and on top of that it beats the others on price and value for money! I’m so impressed with Astill’s service in China that I have happily affiliated with them to offer Shanghai Novice readers an exclusive 20% off when you subscribe to the newsletter. That makes it even better value then it already was! Sign up now!
*Just the nature of all VPNs at some stage or another they will cut out. Sometimes it’s just a matter of switching servers, other time you may need to restart the program and in some cases it’s a far greater problem and may take some time for you to reestablish a connection with the VPN server.
What VPN do you use in China? How would you rate its performance? Leave your comments below.
Category: Internet
Astrill does sound good.
So you actually use a paid VPN? It sounds fairly expensive. :s I have been using Freegate, Dynaweb since 2008. Its free, works well and auto-updates its version.
It was specifically created for places like China, Iran and such.
Cheers
Usha recently posted..Off Wheels
I wish I could use free VPNs but they just never seem to run well on a Mac or aren’t even compatible to begin with. Using a payed service is certainly an investment, as so much of my business is online between writing, video and website stuff it’s been a vital investment for me. But for a lot of people the kind of features I pay for are unnecessary and would just be a waste of money. Great tip on the Freegate, If you’d be interested in writing a review let me know, I’d love to feature it!
Astrill sounds really good.. I like the special features it has. I don’t like to spend too much time thinking about my VPN. I have been happy enough with Express VPN so I haven’t even thought about switching. It’s really just a shame we have to use them anyways. The internet should be free to use as you like.
Tom @ Tom’s China Blog recently posted..Chinese Learning iPhone App GIVEAWAY- Over 100 In Chinese Iphone Apps
Yeah it really sucks having to use a VPN in the first place, they’re never ideal and never 100% fantastic! I hate that I not only have to pay just to have the internet but actually pay to get anything productive out of it! That’s one thing I really miss about home, internet freedom!!!
I’ve been using 12vpn for over a year now, and it’s seriously good. Extremely reliable.It’s like USD 80 for twelve months, but I think you can do shorter time periods if you need to.If you’re highly and shamelessly dependent on Facebook, Youtube, Blogger, Twitter, Tumblr, et al, I recommend the investment.
Thanks Melissa for this little review on 12vpn! I’m sure it will be of great help to many people. There are just so many VPNs out there!
I totally agree with you Sasha, Internet Freedom is a beautiful thing. Being from Silicon Valley I never could imagine such a restrictive internet. It goes against everything that makes the web so great. I used StrongVPN but it was driving me crazy. I met some guy at “The Apartment” told me about Moca. Just signed up for a year and pretty chill. Even works on Iphone and Ipad. Finally HULU and the GMAIL again!!. hahaha
))))
Hey Bryan, thanks for dropping by the site and commenting!
I bet it’s pretty weird having such tight internet restrictions here in China coming from Silicon Valley the internet capital of the world! My brain just snaps thinking about it!
I must admit I’ve never heard of Moca VPN before, good to know now!
30 days & quite impressed with Astrill in China.
Ubuntu Linux PC’s/ Android tablet.
Uni LAN / China telecom 3G
I got disgusted with having at least 30% of the internet blocked.
Google Docs? Give me a break. Any reason for that?
Hulu is speedy during off-peak.
Wow. I’m happy.
Google Docs, well I guess you could be uploading docs that are anti government! Some times I think they block things just for fun! I’m glad Astrill is working well for you Lance!
[...] Tried and Tested VPNs in China [...]
Thanks for the very detailed review. Astrill sounds interesting especially the “Smart Mode” feature. Right now I am using ProXPN( http://proxpn.com/ ) and PD-Proxy ( http://www.pdproxy.com/index.htm ) proXPN is much cheaper than expressvpn and astrill but it works on my Mac. While I only use PD-Proxy (This is actually a vpn, I dont know why they call it pdproxy when its in fact a VPN) on my PC since their vpn only works on windows OS.