Do hotel Wi-Fi’s block VPN’s, and how to get around this?

VPN
1

Currently in quarantine in Shanghai, got 4 VPN’s prepared well in advance (Express, Astrill, Surfshark, Nord). They all work fine on roaming data, but the minute I log into the quarantine hotel’s wifi none of the VPN’s work.

Considering this is my first time in China, I would like to know, is this just the result of the hotel’s specific wifi? Or do all wifi (even in my future apartment I will have after quarantine) block VPN’s?

And is there a way around this? My computer is basically useless for any processes connecting to outside of China at this point, as it can’t use cellular data as it’s a computer. Would like to use my computer for work and emails during quarantine.

Edit: UPDATE - Solved! Astrill’s StealthVPN was able to get me through. It seems certain Wi-Fi’s block the ability to use VPNs, but some of them they aren’t very good at blocking.

2

Another thing to keep in mind (and people can correct me if I’m wrong): it being a national holiday and right before the party meeting means that the government seems to crack down on VPNs.

Personally, I’m in Chengdu and Express hasn’t worked reliably for a month or two. Astrill works well on my PC and my Firestick, but doesn’t work on my iPhone.

3

Some do, some don’t. If you can manually set your port, 80, 8080, 443, 25, 587 or 110 usually work. 23 might as well.

Hotel wifi can be real shit though, I’m using my phone as a wifi hotspot almost exclusively when traveling in China; and then either run my vpn on the phone and use VPN Hotspot (Android app, needs root) or connect the laptop directly to my VPN, works fine on a shared connection.

Edit: Saw it’s your first trip, so you probably don’t have a Chinese SIM yet. Nihao Mobile delivers to quarantine hotels, but they are more expensive than local operators. On the plus side, they are English speaking and you can use paypal to top it up. Else, see if your current ISP has a decent roaming package.

PS: Absolutely use astrill, all other vpns are utter crap.

4

Usually it has to do with international peering. Essentially the routing VPN traffic takes. It’s possible that the Hotel WiFi blocks various ports. Try Astrill’s StealthVPN or OpenWeb. Open VPN is super easy to block.

I’d just contact Astrill customer support and see what they say.

5

I had problems connecting to VPN for the whole quarantine, even my own router’s VPN, but I could get on eventually. If you are working, it would be better for your IT to set up a VPN.

6

Have never had an issue with vpns not working on hotel (or other) wifi. Or rather, just the usual issues.

However, it is the big meeting, and vpns get weird around those.

7

I must be the only person that never has this problem. Odd?

8

Usually I found ssl VPN can bust through anything.

9

It’s always amazed me how any post about VPN choices fails to mention the one I’ve been using for years… all I see is those big names like Express etc. But I’ve met a Polish guy who uses the VPN I got. OP if you still trying to find the right VPN, msg me. Mine charges like USD 80 per year but I’ve never had problems