July 2011 – You'll notice a lot of links that aren't working here on the site. It seems that in recent weeks, The Great Firewall has had some serious updates, and many of the VPNs featured/reviewed are blocked (at least the sites are). This may not be for the entire country, but at least here in Fujian, many have been blocked.
Securitales is a Web Based Proxy that is not blocked. A web based proxy is different from a VPN, but can also unblock sites in China. The advantage of a Web based service over a VPN is that you don't have to download anything onto your computer. It works on iPhone, iPad and other smart phones as well as laptop and desktop operating systems like Mac, Windows, and Linux.
I know I say a lot about how VPNs are better than proxies (see below) but Securitales is an exception.
The most important thing right now is that it's NOT BLOCKED.
Check out Securitales at www.securitales.com.
Instantly Unblock Facebook in China HERE
or keep reading for more details how to not only Unblock Facebook in China, but also protect your private information on the internet….
The Great Firewall of China get stronger every year. Just a few years ago it seemed like on a good day you could access Facebook (though with annoyingly slow connections), and even if you couldn't you could easily find a free proxy to catch up on the latest back home.
However, China keeps adding to it's list of blocked sites, and in increasing numbers, expats, travelers, and Chinese people are all looking for new ways to unblock Facebook in China.
You may have heard of proxies or VPNs. Proxies and VPNs are similar in that they can protect your information and help you to surf anonymously. However, proxies are no where near as safe as VPN's and they are easily blocked. You should be especially those "free" services out there because many of them are monitored by the government or even sponsored.
Don't believe me?
Try to stream video from Hulu, or listen to Pandora radio though a proxy. You'll get a message saying that you can't access these services from outside the USA, and it's not allowed to use a proxy.
Now switch to a VPN, and you're in business.
VPNs were originally used by businesses to allow their employees access to private information without having to be on location. From their mobile devices, they could access information stored on servers back at the office. In the same way, we can use a VPN to tunnel The Great Firewall and unblock Facebook in China.
A good VPN company has servers all over the world. The US, Europe, The UK, and even Hong Kong are all popular locations for these "servers" – the middle location where your information will be travelling. In short, your information is coded, wrapped up (so Big Brother can't see it), tunnelled, and send off to another location where it is decoded and sent off to the destination where you originally intended it to go. You then are using the IP address of that server, and Big Brother, The Great Firewall, Hackers, and all those unsavoury characters are none the wiser.
Unblock Facebook in China NOW
Just as recent as March of 2011, we saw the strengthening of The Great Firewall. VPN's are divided into "protocols", which are different ways of coding and tunnelling you information. The weakest (and first) called PPTP and it's younger (and stronger) brother L2TP are protocols used for mobile devices like iPhone and Android. These, although can could be used until just last month, are now blocked. I doubt we'll see them back anytime soon.
SSL, OpenVPN, and SSTP are protocols which can be used on laptops and desktops to tunnel the firewall and unblock Facebook in China. These are still active, available for purchase, and a representative at one of the larger VPN companies once told me, "we have yet to hear of a government that can block SSL/OpenVPN protocols".
"But I just want to unblock Facebook in China, I didn't realize it was that complicated"
If you're going to be in China for a period of time, a VPN is turning into more than just a luxury. Within the next year or so, many of our Western communications systems will be completely cut off from the Chinese internet. Facebook, Youtube, Justin TV, Twitter, Linked In, Pandora, Hulu, Digg, Blogger, and hundreds…thousands of sites are already blocked. Recently in the news it was announced that Skype and all other VoIP devices like Google Chat will be blocked. Have you noticed how unreliable Gmail is lately? Will it be blocked completely?
Protect my private information from Big Brother
Ok, so you're not sold on the idea of paying a monthly service to access these sites. You can live without them. Maybe you want to read up on how China has been spying on Gmail accounts. Or maybe you want to read about how hackers are jacking passwords and credit card information at wifi spots with the Firefox add-on called Fire Sheep.
Did you know that you're at risk of getting your Gmail account hacked by Chinese hackers?
Did you know that in the next year it may be impossible to access your Gmail account from China without a VPN or Proxy?
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For now, these two VPN services are our top recommendations to unblock Facebook in China, and why.
Strong VPN – Reliable, brand name, and lots of options, super fast
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12vpn – Excellent support team, reliable vpn.