Arch Linux

AYBABTME

Member

Registered: 2012-07-30

Posts: 6

Can't connect/log in/post on/open many websites

Intro

I'm currently in Viet Nam, so I assume some of my problems are related to censorship policies, since I never had such problems before in my home country (Canada). I've been here for 3 months and I still have a month to go.

Details:

• I can load some websites (Twitter, some forum - SMF 2.0 or even here) but can't post anything (I get error 500, or server time out, or 'no data received').

   No data received
   Unable to load the webpage because the server sent no data. 
  Here are some suggestions: Reload this webpage later. 
  Error 324 (net::ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE): The server closed the connection without sending any data. 

• I can load some websites (Trello, StackOverflow), but can't login: when I try to use the Google Account auth, it loads forever and times out.

• When I push code to my github, 70% of the time, the ssh connection times out.

• I can't open Facebook, except for a few times when it worked for a single load, then any further link I'd click on the website would timeout.

• Youtube videos won't load: the flash player will show up with a spinning wheel and nothing else happens. It eventually timeout. However, if I use something like `youtube-viewer` from the AUR, I can stream Youtube in MPlayer just fine.

• On the same machine, from Windows, everything works fine.

• Other websites load just fine, at a speed that is expected for the connection speed (6 Mbps). Same for downloads.

What I tried:

• The Facebook block is known by VN people and they usually change their DNS setting to use OpenDNS or Google's DNS. I did it by modifying my `resolv.conf.head` file. It still doesn't work. However that fix worked on Windows.

• I installed Tor, but I can't connect to the network. The connection stalls while loading relay details.

I don't know what else to do to at least understand the nature of the problem.

Note Most of this is also true from my Android tablet.  But again, all these problem don't show up in Windows.  I don't know why.  However, from my Android tablet, if I use my phone 3G to make a hotspot, then I can access to everything normally.  Unfortunately, I do not have a wifi-card in my desktop.

I thought including this might help: /etc/resolve.conf.head

 nameserver 208.67.222.222 
nameserver 208.67.220.2200 
nameserver 8.8.8.8 
nameserver 8.8.4.4 
nameserver 127.0.0.1 

The same settings are setup in my router (for the DNS primary and secondary).

Cheers

Last edited by AYBABTME (2012-08-12 03:23:17)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,803

Re: Can't connect/log in/post on/open many websites

Be careful.  Is what you are attempting to do legal in Viet Nam? 
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … e#Legality
If it is not, these forums are not the place to discuss it.  I would also recommend caution.

If so, proceed...

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

AYBABTME

Member

Registered: 2012-07-30

Posts: 6

Re: Can't connect/log in/post on/open many websites

Well that's interesting.  I don't think I'm doing anything illegal.  For Facebook, I know the government here has no official policy against it but that ISP are somehow encouraged to block it.  However pretty much everybody circumvent the DNS block that they practice.

Other than that, I assume that posting on this very forum is not illegal, and logging in my Google account is not illegal as well.  But I'm not a lawyer and I can't read Vietnamese laws.

Also, using other ISPs I do not have the problem I encounter with my connection at home (which is provided by the landlord).  So in good faith, I do not think that I am attempting to do anything illegal in Viet Nam.

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Can't connect/log in/post on/open many websites

How do they cirumvent the Facebook block, I assume you are savvy enough to try a similar technique to access these other sites?

AYBABTME

Member

Registered: 2012-07-30

Posts: 6

Re: Can't connect/log in/post on/open many websites

They are under Windows and they change their DNS settings to use OpenDNS.  I did it in Windows, it worked.  I tried in Arch, with the resolv.conf.head file, but it doesn't work.

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Can't connect/log in/post on/open many websites

If you connect to the same network all the time and use a static ip (either through your machine or through your router's dhcp) you can try editing the resolv.conf file and then write protecting it. 

Edit: Now that I think about it, if you have access to your router's configs, you can set the router to use OpenDNS or GoogleDNS (8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 I think).

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-08-12 08:47:36)

AYBABTME

Member

Registered: 2012-07-30

Posts: 6

Re: Can't connect/log in/post on/open many websites

I did that too, see last line of my first post

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Can't connect/log in/post on/open many websites

Oh sorry, I didn't see that last line... I don't know what to tell you then.  I am really unsure what the Viet Nam internet policies are, but if it works under Windows, presumably it should work under Linux as well.