undefined | Better HN

0 pointsseanmcdirmid7y ago0 comments

Many foreigners have VPNs, but many do not. They aren't the easiest thing to set up, and they often close shop a few weeks after you pay a yearly subscription fee.

Email: I use outlook.com, but I shut my gmail account long before gmail was blocked. I'm weird.

maps: Apple Maps on an iphone works well enough. Not sure if gmaps on Android works or not. Many Google services still work even if a few are blocked.

Browsing: many websites work in China, but I also had full internet access at work for when I needed it, so Facebooking family was easy enough, I just didn't use it at night when I was at home...I didn't miss it.

Its definitely isolating, but not incredibly so. If you are addicted to social media, this can even help you become unaddicted, weird therapy for sure :)

0 comments

telltruth7y ago

Is VPN legal? What are English options for maps with transit available without vpn?

seanmcdirmidOP7y ago

Apple maps works perfectly fine in China. I’m not sure what it’s like for android users.

It includes transit, at least for Beijing, see https://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/. I always took a taxi though so that wasn’t very important to me, so I used mostly the didi dache app.

avcdsuia7y ago

For crying out loud, even using github based services like 'go get' or homebrew without proxies is a real pain in the arse, stop defending your 'it's not that bad' view cos it is.

dang7y ago

Please don't cross into flamewar mode. We're trying to avoid that here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse