LouisMoore16 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Hi all, i think this this might be a very simple question but my situation makes me difficult to understand so I was wonder if someone could provide some advice. Im going to China in a weeks time for 2 weeks. I have bought the huawei e5330 so that when I arrive in China I can purchase a data sim. I plan to get a China Unicom data sim. China quite heavily restricts websites such as Facebook, Twitter etc. I’ve even heard that WhatsApp does not Work. Obviously I would like these so that I may stay connected with home while away. I have read that a VPN is the best way to get around this and so have downloaded the app ExpressVPN. I have registered and set it up and can see that a VPN icon comes up at the top of iPhone 7s screen. However what I’m wondering is, if my phone is VPN but the WiFi router I’m using isn’t, then will I still be unable to connect to Facebook etc or not? In a nutshell, does a VPN have to be done on the 3G WiFi device or my phone to get round the firewall? Is there a way to configure the Huawei device or is there such thing of a data sim that can be set up for VPN? thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montage Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 I thought that the use of VPNs was made illegal in China? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted January 7, 2018 Moderator Share Posted January 7, 2018 4 minutes ago, Nefarious Trigger said: I thought that the use of VPNs was made illegal in China? That was me as well. I thought that was banned in China... Draconian Guppy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted January 7, 2018 Supervisor Share Posted January 7, 2018 11 minutes ago, Nefarious Trigger said: I thought that the use of VPNs was made illegal in China? It's illegal to sell a VPN Service in China, but not to use one as an individual. (Source 1) (Source 2) EDIT: As the article from the Economist mentions, you should be able to use a VPN to connect to Facebook and so on without an issue. Dick Montage 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montage Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 44 minutes ago, Nick H. said: It's illegal to sell a VPN Service in China, but not to use one as an individual. (Source 1) (Source 2) EDIT: As the article from the Economist mentions, you should be able to use a VPN to connect to Facebook and so on without an issue. Cool, just didn't want someone ending up on the wrong side of the law. As for the device: I have one and always just used it plug n play, felt it was a very basic device that serves it's purpose. The manual makes no mention of VPN, and couldn't see any settings. Better off managing that on your phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted January 7, 2018 MVC Share Posted January 7, 2018 just because there is no law against private users using them - doesn't mean they will work. China is notorious for blocking vpn connections. So depending which service you go with - may or may not work, etc. You can always just roll your own as well... Fire up a VPS somewhere, install openvpn on it away you go. Less likely for them to be blocking this netblock of a well known vpn provider when its just some random vps network in the US or some other country, etc. You don't need anything all that beefy to handle vpn traffic - I run it some 15$ a year low end vps that have 500GB a month transfer limits, etc. As to doing it on your router or your phone.. Are you meaning for your wifi router to be the vpn connection to the vpn server and all clients behind the router would then go through the vpn? If so that would depend on the vpn your using and the feature set of the wifi router. If your talking about your phone being on the wifi network of the router and using the vpn software on your phone - then really should be a non issue. But would depend on what specific vpn your using, openvpn, l2tp, pptp (dead should never use - not secure, etc), ipsec, sstp, etc.. It's possible some vpn protocols might not work with your router depending on the specific settings of that router, etc. Depend also what sort of connection your wifi router is on for its wan - if behind a carrier grade nat, then yeah your going to have issues with some types of vpn, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayW Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Hey @LouisMoore16 In a GREATLY simplified way: How does a VPN Work? The VPN is a 'secure' connection between your device and the VPN servers at the other end using your internet connection. All traffic then travels through this connection. Without the VPN, when you browse to a site, that information is available to the internet provider, which would allow them to see that you requested "thissite.com". They don't want you to see "thissite.com" so they block it. With the VPN connection, the internet provider sees that you have 1 connection to ExpressVPN (for this example). You browse to "thissite.com". The internet provider sees data going to ExpressVPN, but has no idea that it's "thissite.com" and therefore doesn't block it. For the other part of your question: You have ExpressVPN on your phone, connected to your wireless router. You have a laptop without ExpressVPN, connected to your wireless router. Using the above, you will get to "thissite.com" on your phone, and not on your laptop. The internet provider sees 1 connection from your phone to ExpressVPN, regardless of what you're doing. On your laptop, they can see you requested "thissite.com". There are a lot of if's and buts and what not, but hopefully, that answers your question in some way. The whole "Be Anonymous" stuff is completely overstated, so don't think of it as a way to get away with doing whatever you like. This is pretty much what a "VPN" is to most people I guess with the way it's sold and advertised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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