I’m American, coming to work in Hong Kong for 3-6 months. My employer will provide Wifi. I also have GoogleFi as my cell phone provider. I use gmail as my main personal email.
From what I understand, google services are not blocked in Hong Kong like they are in the rest of China. I can also use my phone as hot spot if I needed to circumvent my employer’s wifi for some reason.
Is there a reason for me to get a VPN for Hong Kong if I don’t use one in the US (I understand there’s good reasons to use a VPN in general).
The VPN is only needed for some apps not available in HK, which off the top of my head are Hulu, tik tok and ChatGPT. I’m sure there are others but those two are what i know. Google is fine.
Streaming networks are also going to have different content, or the network isn’t available at all like Hulu. A VPN can mitigate this but not all VPNs work in this regard. I think Nord is still the most solid results. I stick to Netflix and D+ and for the most part have plenty of content. Amazons got some stuff too but I use it less, apple too.
Also, am American but been living here for awhile.
Nah you don’t really need a VPN for regular internet stuff. Idk about googlefi as a service, but getting internet in HK is usually cheap and reliable. I use a service called Birdie, which is 98hkd a month with 16gbs of 4g connection via esim or sim mailed to your door, it’s not the cheapest service out there, but it does not require you to sign a contract commiting to 12/24 months like some other service providers. You do need to identify yourself via scanning passport for a local sim though, it’s the law.
Also if you ever need to go to mainland china, a HK simcard allows you yo circumvent the great wall and access stuff like gmail. I do that all the time whenever i go up north. Most mobile data packages also allow you to buy extra data on the fly for trips to China.
There are some US government sites that are blocked by the US side, so you might need one if you need to do something, but no rush, you can easily sign up for a VPN here if you run into issues.
If you continue to have a place in the U.S. and you have a capable router, why not just configure the OpenVPN server for your own use? That way, your connection would make it as if you are still in the U.S.
Btw it’s millions of dollars of advertising that made you think it’s better to use a VPN. It’s useless most of the time, downright worse than nothing in a lot of cases too.
If your concern is whether you can access the websites you often go, such as Youtube and Facebook, in the short run, the answer is no. However, it is hard to say in the medium to long run. If the data you need to transfer are some very sensitive ones, such as internet banking, the answer is always a big yes.
Hint: Most big foreign companies have their own private internet network.
For secrecy, protection from the government, access to major websites, right now I don’t find it necessary. If you want to have more continuity in terms of entertainment, though, it might be worth it. (Shows you follow on US netflix might not be available on HK netflix, that kind of thing. It’s… pretty specific.)
This sword-rattling about Google from the HK gov’t about Glory to HK is kind of worrying, though. I’m not sure where things currently stand.
No, if you can use your company Wi-Fi and the public Wi-Fi will be fine.
If your company need VPN for your job , they will tell you already.
Hong Kong is still a free ad no wall for the internet for now.
Hk isn’t the same as mainland. Pretty much nothing is blocked(with the exception of TikTok). Internet and apps are the same as the US. You only need a vpn for shows/movies etc that is not available for hk.
Since ChatGPT blocked Hong Kong, you can use POE instead if you need it, developed by quora and I believe it’s one of if not the most reliable provider outside of the official ChatGPT itself.