So I’ve noticed people on this subreddit can be a bit dodgy on their personal VPN solutions, particularly for the less well known options. However, I thought I’d toss my own in, now that I’m no longer using mine, and found the experience to be the best one I’ve had in multiple trips to China.
For context, I just returned from 3 months in China, and in addition to Astrill, and a corporate VPN, for this trip I experimented with the Outline platform. Of the 3, I ended up using Outline as my primary VPN throughout my stay. It worked so well that I actually cancelled Astril after the first month.
The basic premise is that unlike the commercial providers that host VPN servers on your behalf, this software allows you to essentially spin up your own private, personal VPN servers on cloud computing services like AWS or Google Cloud. You can choose the location of the server, so it’s easy to spin up a few in different countries as contingencies. There’s a slight learning curve to doing so, but the software is very user friendly.
The main advantage of this solution is that you theoretically fly under the radar. It’s a personal VPN with its own dedicated IP address, unlike commercial services where you’re sharing addresses with other users. In my experience it wasn’t perfect, and about 1 month in, one of my server addresses did get throttled, but having a backup server spun up and ready to go quickly resolved it.
I also never experienced any lags that typically accompany the commercial vendors, and had no trouble for instance streaming HD off YouTube.
But particularly since I don’t see Outline frequently mentioned in the endless VPN discussions, I wanted to encourage you guys to check it out.
I used outline in the past. At first it worked great. But after a few weeks, I would have difficulty connecting to the VPS because the IP address of my VPS is blocked by the firewall. If I were to get a new IP address for the VPS, it would work again. I mostly used digital ocean for VPS
Ah nice one mate! I second the post wholeheartedly, best solution I’ve come across so far having tried a bunch of others in my short time here. As for what server I’m using, I found a server provider here that has been really reliable for me - ahaspeed.com
Can pay with alipay and weixin too. A bit stingy on the package benefits admittedly.
I got this recommended from few chiense citizen in guangdong, it works pretty well and was 30 rmb for 100gb traffic, i get from 60ms to 150ms on average to HK/TH/SGP. bit.369.cyou this website is their loss of contact so i could set this up while i was already inside china.
can recommend always worked for me on all devices
Just set up Shadowsocks on a min-pc or R4S and connect it to your router, then forget about VPN issues forever. This is the best solution and doesn’t require expensive apps like Astrill.
Globally yes you can set up a VPS on a hosting. Its obviously a bit more complex.
Practically I use DigitalOcean, but got blocked already 3 times and every time i need to change hosting. Otherwise it works but the speed is obviously slower than Astrill or Shadowsocks.
This is going to be an annoyingly indeterminate answer, but the short answer is it will vary. There’s no cost for the Outline software itself, simply for the cloud computing resources you use.
Specifics for me: I used Google Cloud for my hosted servers, which was running a 90-day free promotion I came in under, so it cost me nothing for the duration of my trip.
Having two VPS at the price of 6 dollars a month each would add up to around 12 dollars a month. And for two years, it would cost more than Astrill, which was the reason why I switched. But outline is definitively a good option for short term use.