How to Unblock Facebook, Youtube and Blog

Traveling abroad and need to know how to unblock Facebook, Youtube or even your blog and other social media sites?

Luckily, there are some solutions!

From someone who has blogged throughout my trip across the world and an avid user of Facebook and Youtube, I just wouldn’t settle for the blocked access to these sites while on the road. After getting Facebook and my blog blocked once in China and then again in parts of Southeast Asia, I decided to fight back. I especially did so once realizing I would be traveling back to China to live and work for an extended amount of time. My original plan was to live in Taiwan or Hong Kong for a while but after settling in South China, I realized I’d’ need to find a work around to unblock my blog, Facebook and other sites. So today, I’m writing to help others figure out how to unblock Facebook, YouTube and other sites!!

Here are some quick solutions for How To UnBlock Facebook:

First, go to http://www.f3.fbprx.com/  You should be able to sign in as usual through the site with your username and password. If that site doesn’t work, try http://www.f1.proxymice.com/  Either of these two worked for me during the past year of my travels. Every once in a while, they will again be blocked so you may need to research the most up to date Facebook ‘work around’ that is out there. Try to Google, “Facebook in China”, or something relevant. If found, there may be a new URL to get you to the login page however, as the time of this writing, these two URL’s should work on your end.

*Keep in mind that if you do have success getting to the login page, two things may happen. First is the fact that if you get logged in, the connection to Facebook will usually be slow. This is the site itself and not necessarily your connection. You’ll realize this as you will have a normal connection to other site’s but Facebook’s connection will be slow, especially when uploading or downloading photos or trying to check your messages.

Second is the issue if you get a response saying you’ve been ‘Locked Out’ of your account. This message may be due to the fact that you are signing in from a  foreign country or location that Facebook doesn’t recognize so they have locked your account due to security reasons. While this is obviously frustrating, it’s a good measure they’ve taken. I’ve been locked out twice during my trip however, someone did manage to hack my account from a location in Indonesia which I’ve never been to. To resolve this, usually you can just login to the email account that is tied to your Facebook page. They will likely have emailed you to notify or confirm your location. Once you can ‘OK’ the fact that you’re in that foreign location, you can go back to log back in and answer their security questions.

How to Unblock Facebook, Youtube and Everything Else including a blog:

This other option out there will cost money but is more than worth it in my opinion if you’re traveling through a country for an extended amount of time that blocks your access to your blog or other’s blogs as well as Facebook, Youtube, etc. You may have heard of a ‘VPN’. If not, it stands for Virtual Private Network and it essentially answers the question of how to unblock Facebook, Youtube and everything else!

VPN’s are a lifesaver for foreigners traveling abroad and this made for one of the first purchases I made so I could unblock Facebook, my blog and beloved Youtube. They really aren’t expensive either, it all depends on how long you want to subscribe for. Most typically have plans for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and a year. You can sign up for one month only or make your subscription recurring. Obviously, the cost goes down the longer your subscription but you can get one for less than $10USD per month.

The way a VPN works is it basically shows that your computer (network connection) is ‘located’ in your home country or another country where there are no restrictions on access.

Truth be told, my motivation for writing this article occurred just moments ago after helping a couple in the hostel I’m in as I write this. They just arrived to China and realized Facebook was blocked. Well, knowing just how annoying this was for me, and after helping them get access, I decided to go ahead and write this post. However, since I do use a VPN, I might as well recommend the one I use since I thought it was the best one for the money and reviews it had received when I was doing my own research. And after 5 months of use, I have yet to have any issues with their connection. I have been using PandaPow and so far, so good.

Once you get set up, the connection to the VPN is automatic once you get onto the internet. You never have to login. However, if you have an iPad, iPhone or Android, etc, you will likely just need to go to your internet settings to turn it on each time. (This was the case on my iPad2) For computers though, it should log you in automatically. Right now, PandaPow costs $9USD for one month and $24USD for 3 months. For me, the decision was easy. No more would I ever have blocked access to my own personal blog or any other site!

Some other recommended VPN’s out there are: StrongVPN, HideMyAss, and IPVanish. There are dozens more floating around out there but instead of listing an overwhelming list of them, I did some research and chose only to list those that seemed to top the list! And that list was based on reviews and ratings… They are worth checking out. And if you do some further research on these, be sure to type in the current year in the search phrase otherwise you’ll encounter VPN’s that no longer exist or may not be providing the best connectivity in all countries as VPN’s can come to get blocked in certain countries over time. At the time I was in China, PandaPow was rated as one of the best to use for this area and is another reason I decided to go with them.

Some things to consider aside from the price per month of a VPN: Do they allow a one month subscription only or only multiple months? Do they have issues working or getting connected properly in the country you’re traveling in? Will they slow the speed of your internet connection? Is there customer service rated well?

These are some things to consider when you choose one. Cheapest in this case is not always best when it comes to a couple of dollars difference.

Good luck with it and if you have questions or comments, feel free to list them below or email me!