You won't be surprised if I tell you that youtube or facebook is blocked in China, but what if I say that every last Google's website is blocked too? Oh, yeah, that is what is happening now. Gmail, Google Maps, Google Analytics, Google Search, schema.org and any other Google's website is blocked in China. This is really really suck! And it is not the end, they block any other foreign website for an hour or two if you open it too many times in a short period of time. The same works for VPN or any other encrypted traffic, the speed slows down and connection drops off if you send or receive too many bytes of data.
Broadband internet providers in China
Here is the list of most popular Chinese internet providers, I will write about each of them down below.
-
China Unicom, 中国联通, Zhong Guo Lian Tong - probably the most popular internet provider in China.
-
China Telecom, 中国电信, Zhong Guo Dian Xin - they all say it is the best Chinese internet provider.
-
China Mobile, 中国移动, Zhong Guo Yi Dong - an alternate to the previous two.
-
Great Wall Broadband Connection, 长城宽带, Chang Cheng Kuan Dai - a young company which claims to provide high speed at low price inetrnet connection.
-
Ai Pu, 艾普宽带, Ai Pu Kuan Dai - another young company similar to Great Wall Broadband Connection, but even less known.
China Unicom, 中国联通, Zhong Guo Lian Tong
Official website: http://www.10010.com/. I used China Unicom broadband connection for about a year and it is a nightmare. The connection is stable and I get the speed I pay for, but only inside China. Any kind of VPN is not useable, any VPN connection drops after 2-10 minutes and works very very slow.
China Telecom, 中国电信, Zhong Guo Dian Xin
Official website: http://www.189.cn/. All of my Chinese friends say that China Telecom is the best broadband connection in China. China Telecom also has the highest prices. I used it for about half a year, but it was long time ago and things may change by now, I was satisfied that time. I plan to check it again and will write down here how it goes.
A friend of mine uses China Telecom 10m internet connection. Here are the speed test results:
-
No VPN activated
-
Connected to Hong-Kong VPN server
China Mobile, 中国移动, Zhong Guo Yi Dong
Official website: http://www.10086.cn/cq/. China Mobile is the best broadband connection for me. The company does not provide high speed internet and the coverage is not as good as it should be, but the prices are lower compare to China Unicom and China Telecom. The most important for me, is that China Mobile internet connection works good with VPN. Sometimes I connect to a VPN server and stay connected for a day. The speed doesn't slow down and the connection doesn't drop off. I paid 330 yuan for 4M one year subscription also they take 30 yuan from my cell phone account each month. Unfortunately, but China Mobile is not ideal too, they have hardware crashes too often and internet connection may drop for a half of a day or a day. That is why you need a reserve channel if your work depends on internet.
I use HideMeVpn - http://hideme.ru/.
Here are some speed test results with and without VPN connection:
-
No VPN activated
-
Connected to Japanese VPN server
-
Connected to Hong-Kong VPN server
-
Connected to Russian VPN server
-
Connected to German VPN server
Great Wall Broadband Connection, 长城宽带, Chang Cheng Kuan Dai
Official website: http://www.gwbn.net.cn/. Great Wall is a very cheap internet provider. Unlike previous three it does not provide one month or three month subscription. You have to pay for six months at least. I used Great Wall Broadband Connection for half of a year. The connection is far from ideal, vpn works slowly, connection drops off, download/uplaod speed is not stable, Battlefield 4 is not playable. Another big drawback of Great Wall Broadband Connection is that torrents are completelly blocked. Inspite all of that Great Wall internet connection might be a good choice for a reserve line.
Ai Pu, 艾普宽带, Ai Pu Kuan Dai
Official website: http://www.cqaipu.com/. I have never used Ai Pu internet connection and did not hear anything significant about it. I plan to test Ai Pu internet connection and will write here the result.