Anyone who has been to China recently -- gmail

[v]

Does it work there?  My parents are wondering because they're going soon.

[compassrose]

It has not 2/3 times I've been there. Even with my vpn.
However, if you pop gmail elsewhere (like imail) it showed up about half the time.

[kpol]

Nope but then I upgraded from the free VPN I was using and Google, Facebook, Instagram etc all worked. I think I paid $.99 for 30 days.

[thebulldog]

In April, it did not work in Beijing. We did get it to work in Shanghai but we suspect the hotel wi fi was routed via somewhere else.

A vpn is the way to go if you really need access.

Sent from my SM-G900P using proboards

[v]

Thanks guys! Will tell him to get a VPN.

[origami]

Just want to add that I had issues with my VPN in China as well. After spending a few hours on it I finally got it to connect to german servers, but it never would connect to US servers. So be sure they get a VPN that works well in China. I.e. Not Private Internet Access.

[Captain Serious]

None of my e-mail addresses worked when we were in Tibet (2009). I could read e-mails, but could not send.

[rikki]

OMG. How did I not realize this?

How do I get a VPN?

[origami]

I found mine by googling "best VPNs" or something like that. I signed up on their website - got a u/n & password - and installed a program from them on my laptop. For ipads I didn't have to install anything. Just went through a list of steps to change some settings. Mine works great, except in China. So I would start by getting recs from people who use 1 in China specifically.

[kpol]

Aug 12, 2015 12:13:53 GMT -5 rikki said:

OMG. How did I not realize this?

How do I get a VPN?

I used Strongvpn when we lived overseas to access Netflix/Hulu but it would work for any other blocked sites. They have step by step instructions on their site to install it properly depending on your device. They also have a 24/hr chat support which was helpful.

Chrome also has a free add-on called "hola" that works as an IP mask. It worked pretty well in Korea, but I didn't try it in China.

For China, just downloaded a VPN app on my iPhone and would connect to that before using google, fb, instagram, etc. It's sounds more intimidating than it really is!