All Google Services Blocked in China!?

AndiNovember 10, 2012

We’ve been experiencing problems with Google.com over the past week but put it down to slow internet, however today reports are flooding in that many Google services and even VPN’s have been blocked in China!

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Personally we have had issues connecting to our VPNservice all week along with Google.com, however other Google sites such as Google.co.uk have been working as normal.

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It turns out it isn’t just us having issues either. Reports from users across China are showing up on Weibo, Twitter and tech blogs today with internet users experiencing similar problems with not only Google search, but also Gmail, Google Maps and even the Play store on Android phones and tablets!

The sudden crackdown on Google services is likely due to the 18th Party Congress which is just beginning in China and could last for the rest of the week!

Are you having problems in your Google accounts or VPN services? Let us know in the comments.

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About the author
Andi

Mike
November 10, 2012
Google is very unstable for me too (i am in GZ), but my VPN still works like a charm. (Astrill). Actually it seems that only the “openvpn” mode is blocked.
Notme
November 10, 2012
Sure, Astrill ($70/yr) performance SUCKS right now and for the last 3-4 days maybe. Hope the day ALL governments decide to free the web arrives soon!
Cheers!
- November 10, 2012
  I’m using Overplay which is working great today, but all last week (and especially yesterday) I was having huge problems connecting.
- mike
  November 10, 2012
  The openweb mode still works very well for me, as fast as usual (only the openvpn mode seems to be blocked on Astrill).
  For those who don’t want to pay for a VPN, i highly recommand Goagent. It’s not blocked and it’s probably the fastest free way to access blocked websites.

njren
November 10, 2012
Very much a regional or case-by-case basis. No (or just sporadic) problems with Big G or VPN for me living in a provincial capital city.
raoul
November 10, 2012
I have a lot of problems and the news that it is because of the party congress doesn’t come as a surprise. i live in beijing. gmail doesn’t work, it does if i switch to basic html view. other services are down and all the vpns that i use don’t work anymore since 2 weeks. it actually started when new york times published the article about wen jiabaos billions. 1 hour later internet started to slow down a lot it it didn’t get better since. as far as i know the deligates leve beijing the 18th, so hopefully in one week we ll be back to normal.

Freeje
November 10, 2012
Having the same problem here. Hope the changeover is over.
Gus
November 10, 2012
Well it seems that exept all made in china products, ever internet is unreliable!!! Been there twice!
stu
November 10, 2012
I am in shenzhen,
can’t go to google, google drive, play store is very slow (often get the error message),
and open your web is very-very slow..
Apple
November 19, 2012
I am in Shijiazhuang, Hebei last week. I almost didn’t make it back to my country. Just when I was about to print the e-ticket our company has booked for me, I found out I couldn’t log onto my gmail account. Luckily, I was able to access MSN messenger and asked our office staff to send the e-tickets through messenger. Now, I am having second thoughts about ever going back to China.