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Mac Cannot Access Internet in China

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RC has a problem related to Mac. He just got a new Mac and bring it to China. He could not connect the Mac to Internet no matter using LAN, Wireless... It is weird that he can use Skype, but cannot browse any websites.

Livid has a quick response: try to set the DNS to

208.67.222.222
or
208.67.220.220
(This is the OpenDNS)

RC tried, and it works!

Well. It sounds like a miracle.

So if you encounter the same problem, you may try this solution, since it seems not a solution that you can find out yourself.

Why this happens? I don't know exactly why. I just know the DNS setting of China Telecom is completely massed up.

Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at March 31, 2007 8:51 PM
Copyright: You are free to redistribute this work, as long as you keep this disclaimer and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20070331_mac_cannot_access_internet_in_china.htm

Related Entries: Internet Access
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  5. DSL in Shanghai January 4, 2006
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Comments

that is indeed weird and something I never could have figured out myself.

by using that open DNS, is a person's Mac more susceptible to a hacker attack?

Posted by: Shrek7 on April 2, 2007 1:08 AM

I'm in Shanghai and on a Mac. No problems for me so far.

Posted by: DKwan (external link) on April 2, 2007 2:44 AM

One of my best friend has a Mac in China, and no problem at all.
My brother came from aboard to China with his Mac and no problem at all.

Sometime I have difficulty connecting internet with my PC, should I writte a blog to say: "PC can not connect on internet in China" ????

Many people just read the title and will have a wrong idea.


886

Posted by: mememe on April 2, 2007 8:57 AM

I've had my Mac in Shanghai for almost 2 months now. No issues connecting anywhere. At home, at City Diner, at Blue Frog, via my friend's wireless LAN, at work. I don't think it's a Mac issue.

Posted by: Terence on April 2, 2007 11:13 AM

I agree with mememe -- I think this could be a general PC issue in China. My brother-in-law and another friend had a similar issue and both were on Windows machines (I discovered this after I resolved my issue and they had no idea what caused their problems). I originally thought it might be Mac-specific because on previous trips I was on a Windows machine and didn't have an issue.

Thanks again Livid and Jian Shuo!!!

Posted by: RC on April 2, 2007 5:47 PM

My friends and I have a Macs in China (both Shanghai and southern China). We have never had any DNS problems before. It must have been the location he was at.

Posted by: Shockr on April 4, 2007 5:47 AM

thankyou thankyou and very happy after 2 days of utter frustration.
I have used my mac for years travelling to china and never a problem.
lived in minhang with broadband connection no problems.
moved hoiuse and could only get an adsl connection...................horror of horrors. could only access .cn and any .com address returned a not connected to the internet error. your open dns number did the trick. oh yeah happy happy happy.
thanks again

Posted by: john on April 5, 2007 3:44 AM

I was having trouble with a China Telecom ADSL account and my wife's PC last week, and a switch to OpenDNS solved the problem. Hooray!

Posted by: Micah (external link) on April 6, 2007 12:22 PM

since everybody seems to be happy connect I hope someone can help me . I have a Mac book Pro . They just set up DSL at my apartment. But it do not work with mac. I also have windows on my mac and there it s no porblem . Already when I start the computer the Ethernet cable is not reconized in the mac mode but in the windows one no problem .
Please help me

Posted by: nicolas on April 9, 2007 6:48 PM

Thanks for the advice. The DNS setting makes a day-and-night difference for me on a MacBook Pro in Pudong. The problem is probably provider specific. I had the same problem here in January.

Posted by: Stodieck on April 16, 2007 3:19 AM

I just found this blog. I'll try the open DNS; I hope it works. I just moved into Zhengzhou in Henan province 3 weeks ago. I had an ADSL connection installed at my apartment, but they say that here in China it doesn't work with macs maybe only in Shanghai and Beijing, which I find hard to believe. They went back yesterday to try installing a thing called Macpoet, which started my old MacOs system 9. The internet worked for a couple of hours and now I'm back at no internet. They tell me I should just buy a PC. It makes no sense. Somebody please Help!, I can't go through a whole year with no internet on my mac.
Thanks

Posted by: sandra on April 18, 2007 1:37 PM

i may sound as foolish as i sound but it isnt working on my G4. then there is the fact that i recieved my mac as a gift before i came here to china and am not too familiar with the OS. all i've done is go to system preferences and went to networks. there i found DNS servers and tpyed in the given numbers. if i've done something wrong please let me know, i'd really like to have a personal computer at home.

otherwise, above mac solution does not work everywhere

Posted by: johnny on April 19, 2007 7:51 PM

Uh . . . are you connected to any kind of network?

Posted by: Stodieck on April 19, 2007 9:12 PM

i am connected by a LAN line. i work for a school teaching english and it's all run throught the same network, specifically the "local area connection."

adress type is manualy configured and i al the rest of the Ips, subnet mask, etc. at my disposal.

Posted by: johnny on April 20, 2007 12:50 PM

Since you are on a private LAN I can't guarantee anything. You will ultimately have to check with your system admin.

But usually on a Mac your best first effort is to just open the browser and surf away.

The network control panel "location" setting is set to "Automatic" by default. In the US and in most of the world this almost always works and there is no configuration required. In fact, PC users frequently can't get their new Macs on the net because they are used to major configuration tasks and have gone in and screwed something up in the network settings instead of just opening the browser and surfing away or checking their email.

The Shanghainese situation is a little different in my experience. The Apple default settings provide access to only a very small number of sites. So try this: Go to the Apple pull-down-menu - Location - Network Preferences. Then set "Locations" to "Automatic" and set "Show" to either "Airport" if you are wireless, or "Ethernet" if you are wired. "Configure IP4" should be set to "Using DHCP". Now for "DNS Servers" type 208.67.222.222

Now try a little Google action and see what turns up.

Posted by: Stodieck on April 21, 2007 8:48 PM

it is not true, I have a PB bought in US, in china, it is P&P to get internet with DHCP.

Posted by: oncerest on April 25, 2007 2:20 PM

I tried the DNS server using the DHCP setting and still no internet. It looks like
I have a power book G4, I hired internet through tietong; they said it didn't work with macs; after several tries, it finally worked but it only lasted for 2 weeks so I'm back to no internet. I don't think the company knows what to do to make it work, they think my computer is the problem but I don't agree.
Anyone knows what should I do or try?
Thanks!

Posted by: san on May 10, 2007 2:26 PM

Thanks for the advice on the open DNS. I live in Shanghai and have no problems connecting my Mac Book Pro to my office network or my home wireless. However, at my flat in Beijing I can't connect to the ADSL properly. I get the same wierd situation described above... I can get onto Skype and Gmail, but not much of anything else. I'll try the open DNS. Another suggestion for you. I travel with a portable wireless router and my Mac connects to its wireless signal just fine. The router has no problems connecting to ADSL in China, so it sends a good internet connection to my Mac. This functions as a nice little workaround if you can't get an ethernet connection to work directly into your Mac.

Posted by: Sandor Weiss on May 11, 2007 6:33 PM

just got internet installed in our apartment. it works fine on pc but not on my mac. we are in shanghai. i dont know to get it to work??

I have the exact same problem as nicolas :( I am using a powerbook g4 with 10.4. Any ideas or help much appreciated.

Posted by: super on May 20, 2007 1:14 PM

couldn't go online with my macbook via wireless router either (only under windows or only directly plugged to the modem). i changed dns as described and everything works fine now. i would never have found out by myself. thanks a lot!!!

Posted by: ofenrohr on July 6, 2007 12:15 PM

Thank you, Stodieck, I did as you said and it worked! I am in Anshan for 3 months and wanted to use my Macbook.
Now I would appreciate if someone could help me again. I am with Hotmail. I would like to be able to have my inbox contents download when I go online so I can access it offline. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Vera on July 8, 2007 11:08 AM

I have a MacBook and have been able to use it in both Guangxi and Xinjiang.
Using ADSL was a problem at first in Xinjiang. The mac wouldn't even recognize that internet was plugged in. But as soon as we got a wireless router everything worked fine. Though there are some websites I can't get on my mac, that my boyfriend can get on his windows... like hotmail :(

Posted by: LN on October 14, 2007 11:22 PM

Hey, I had a friend from CA who had a Macbook, and last year her myself and one other friend decided to get ADSL in our dorms in Fuzhou. (She was using mac i was using Ubuntu and he was using XP).

XP - no problem - we all know chinese loooove FAKE windows.
Ubuntu - Ok after i changed some of the settings.

Mac however...
The guy played and played with it, she even changed the machine into chinese for him, and he still didnt do it..

she went next door to get something and when she came back she found he had put a XP install disk into the computer and was rebooting to install windows.
She went mad called him a fucking idiot, demanded her 700Y back and threw his bag out, she then added that this computer alone was more than his yearly salary.

Now im back with a macbook and im hoping i dont have the same problem. There seems to be lots of people using Macbooks in Xiamen and they connect with no problems but most use a router or a wifi set up.
So my suggestion..

Get a router let the router do the work - you might even get one from the telecom office if you ask, i got mine for 60Y - 59Y cheaper.


Anyway sorry i cant be much of any help to anyone but i think this story is funny.


Sam

Posted by: Sam (external link) on October 15, 2007 12:08 PM

This is another post from Facebook.

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on January 6, 2008 10:13 PM
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