Facebook out again?

Hi Hisdudeness,

Maybe you could try downloading "UltraSurf"?

Best regards,

Nhung

For all Ex-Pat facebookers considering using Free proxy servers such as 'Ultrasurf' don't. 99% of the programs contain hidden malware that standard Anti Virus and Firewall software cannot detect.

Check out this link for more information:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=237184

If you wish to access Facebook with no interruptions my recommendation would be to purchase a VPN account from a company such as STRONGVPN, you will have 24/7 support and it is 100% safe.

PS. Apologies to Admins if you are not allowed to post links.

I can get on facebook at my work but not at home, I was using google DNS but it's not working at all and I know my friends have the same problem!

Em-England wrote:

I can get on facebook at my work but not at home, I was using google DNS but it's not working at all and I know my friends have the same problem!

Google DNS would of stopped working from April 2011 when the government found a fix to disable the solution from working,

I have to use hotspot to access facebook.

I use Hotspot Shield to change my IP.
Then i can go to facebook
Check it here hotspotshield.com

I wouldn't use Hotspot either.. It plasters your screen with adverts (some very in-appropriate), slows down and periodically cuts your connection to the internet.

Hopefully it will get better over the next few days, I would try to be patient and wait for it to get better.

If you desperately need to use Facebook go to a local internet cafe, I went for half an hour today and it cost me 5,000 dong. A price definitely worth paying.

You can use adblock plus to block pop-up ad

I use VNPT highest speed InterNet and I can access it at this time.

FPT slavishly follows government blocking lists. They have a monopoly on service to some parts of HCMC such as Phu My Hung and subscribing to VNPT 3G data is the only way around it.

VPN circuits terminating in the UK cost around GBP3.50 per month 24/7 and eve permit TV streaming, so they will be adequate for FB.

It is since along time on and off, afternoon and evenings are commonly the better chances.
I sill can't understand, why so many have to spread such a lot of private information to the public.

3ully:
You echoed my thoughts on FB but too often you get swamped with criticism

FB, to me, is lik those American TV programs where sparring partners go on ir and reveal all about their nothing lives. Not so long ago people preferred to deal with problems in private.

FB is a great source of help to police, private detectives and government security types - the US government has full access to FB. Of course, so does the public when yet another Zuckerberg 'feature' is applied without user consent.

If you use the privacy settings correctly within FB (admittedly most don't know how too) then there is no reason why not to use it to keep in touch with friends and family.
I don't put anything on there that can't be easily found out about me anyways but I still don't publish it too the world publicly.

Google DNS(or any of the other Tier 1 providers) still works, however other factors make this a slow option at times.
I'm not a fan of hotspot and the likes for various reasons adverts etc and security risks.
TOR works well as does a VPN but go for a paid for service rather than a free one and do some research on the company first.

For me I'm still able to access FB ok, albeit a little slower than usual but I still gain access ok

Jaitch wrote:

FB, to me, is lik those American TV programs where sparring partners go on ir and reveal all about their nothing lives. Not so long ago people preferred to deal with problems in private.

FB is a great source of help to police, private detectives and government security types - the US government has full access to FB. Of course, so does the public when yet another Zuckerberg 'feature' is applied without user consent.

Its an interesting and valid opinion on using Facebook but only really applies to the minority (of my friends anyway!)

I personally use it to keep in touch with friends and update family 
on my travels rather than having to E-mail them all individually.
I am most active on private groups I make for close friends and family and update my general status occasionally.

I can completely relate to some users who always seem to fill their statuses with a load of old Tripe! I found it really annoying until I found out how to block their updates on the live feed

laidbackfreak wrote:

For me I'm still able to access FB ok, albeit a little slower than usual but I still gain access ok

Way to rub it in

REMEMBER, when complaining about business versus domestic InterNet access that every service is assigned a Class of Service rating by the provider.

A COS ranking can include any feature of a service, to give or take away, determined by your COS.

This is used in all modern forms of communications these days.

I recently had a rumble with VNPT in which I used the Ministry of Communications to clear up. VNPT suspended service on one of my business InterNet feeds (we have three different feeds from three different InterNet providers).

When the Ministry ordered it restored, I was unable to access certain URL's, including CNN, so I telephoned mt VNPT technical centre and complained, and as we talked on-line, the VNPT technician said out loud, "Oh, it's the wrong COS", and without even resetting my modem I was able to access the blocked sites.

Business customers have better access than domestic as the government believes it can use businesses to control their own employees.

Foreigners can also access more sites than can domestic VN citizen users. InterNet cafe COS also include time of day controls that implement that new government rules about their hours of business (quiet between 23.30 and 06.00H).

VNPT users can call 1-800-1260 (free) 24/7 and complain about problems ... if they have an English speaking tech on duty!

Hi All,

I've found a way out of the problem without having to use any of the programs mentioned. It works for me but don't know if it'll apply to all.

Configure your facebook settings to send updates & alerts to your email (I use yahoo). Your mail will have a direct like back to facebook. You should be able to open your facebook page from the yahoo link since the authorities here don't block yahoo. The central server should recognise your facebook page as a yahoo URL. Once facebook is opened, save the page to your explorer favourites bar. You should be able to open your facebook page without loggin to yahoo.

It works for me. Good luck

Jaitch wrote:

REMEMBER, when complaining about business versus domestic InterNet access that every service is assigned a Class of Service rating by the provider.

A COS ranking can include any feature of a service, to give or take away, determined by your COS.

This is used in all modern forms of communications these days.

I recently had a rumble with VNPT in which I used the Ministry of Communications to clear up. VNPT suspended service on one of my business InterNet feeds (we have three different feeds from three different InterNet providers).

When the Ministry ordered it restored, I was unable to access certain URL's, including CNN, so I telephoned mt VNPT technical centre and complained, and as we talked on-line, the VNPT technician said out loud, "Oh, it's the wrong COS", and without even resetting my modem I was able to access the blocked sites.

Business customers have better access than domestic as the government believes it can use businesses to control their own employees.

Foreigners can also access more sites than can domestic VN citizen users. InterNet cafe COS also include time of day controls that implement that new government rules about their hours of business (quiet between 23.30 and 06.00H).

VNPT users can call 1-800-1260 (free) 24/7 and complain about problems ... if they have an English speaking tech on duty!

Ok this makes no sense to me,

My understandings are as follows :

COS (class of service) is a part of the QOS (Quality of Service) toolset and is used within a LAN(Local area Network) at a layer 2 (Inside the business). These are used to differentiate traffic based on protocol.

The values used are set on an egress interface and are either observed or discarded by your provider depending on whether they have mapped COS to DSCP(differentiated Service Code Point) settings (layer 2 to layer 3 conversion)

COS values are rated 0 through to 7 with 7 being the highest.
7 & 6 are usually reserved for network management
5 Audio
4 Video
3 Mission Critical (SQL etc)   
2 Email (imap, pop3 etc)
1 Web (http, https etc)
0 any other (P2P, bittorrent etc.)

While these are typical classifications and follow best practice they are obviously not hard and fast rules. You can then police these classifications as you see fit and allow or deny or restrict accordingly.

That said, for your provider to place all traffic coming out of your egress port into one class defeats the purpose of classifications, as all traffic is still being treated equally. This makes no difference if you place a business user at one class, eg 5, and a domestic user at another lower class, eg 1.
As soon as you hit the next hop(router) all classifications will be marked on the egress port of that router to whatever mappings have been applied. So using the example, business user of 5 v domestic user of 1 would end up the same at this point, with each protocol being re-marked accordingly.

It's also an overly complicated way to try to filter web-sites as the traffic is being carried over different protocols.
I suspect when you heard the technician say "Oh, it's the wrong COS" he was not referring to COS as above but some kind of proxy server setting, which is what IS used to filter web sites based on address and not COS.

Business users get a better service usually because they are paying more money. They are usually paying for leased lines and as such get the full throughput they are paying for without contention.
Domestic users are generally using a broadband service and the speed on these varies depending on how many other users are connected to the local exchange.

laidbackfreak wrote:

JaitcH wrote:

A COS ranking can include any feature of a service, to give or take away, determined by your COS.

Ok this makes no sense to me,

My understandings are as follows :
COS (class of service) is a part of the QOS (Quality of Service) toolset and is used within a LAN(Local area Network) at a layer 2 (Inside the business). These are used to differentiate traffic based on protocol.

Wrong - nothing to do with LAN.

The values used are set on an egress interface and are either observed or discarded by your provider depending on whether they have mapped COS to DSCP(differentiated Service Code Point) settings (layer 2 to layer 3 conversion)

A COS' attribute can be anything an ISP cares to assign to given COS.

VN currently has a shitlist of about71 URLs.These are applied to every residential user. Biz users can access these sites, bur they also have to justify it if asked.

My DakLak office has three services, and using directional antennae I can access office facilities from home. We also have a fibre feed at home. I now what I can't access on the home feed but can access through the office.

Business users get a better service usually because they are paying more money. They are usually paying for leased lines and as such get the full throughput they are paying for without contention.

The fibre feed to my office is a shared facility from BMT Central Office to a distribution panel in the Business Park. From there to our building is anther fibre feed. Each of the two landline feeds are on separate fire cables. A routing check shows that ne goes throw SaiGon and the other is now routed through Da Nang gateway. The third js from HongKong.

Domestic users are generally using a broadband service and the speed on these varies depending on how many other users are connected to the local exchange.

You are describing a cable TV distribution network. They use a WAN.

Tonight FB is available on the office feed and not on the home feed.

laidbackfreak wrote:

Jaitch wrote:

REMEMBER, when complaining about business versus domestic InterNet access that every service is assigned a Class of Service rating by the provider.

A COS ranking can include any feature of a service, to give or take away, determined by your COS.

This is used in all modern forms of communications these days.

I recently had a rumble with VNPT in which I used the Ministry of Communications to clear up. VNPT suspended service on one of my business InterNet feeds (we have three different feeds from three different InterNet providers).

When the Ministry ordered it restored, I was unable to access certain URL's, including CNN, so I telephoned mt VNPT technical centre and complained, and as we talked on-line, the VNPT technician said out loud, "Oh, it's the wrong COS", and without even resetting my modem I was able to access the blocked sites.

Business customers have better access than domestic as the government believes it can use businesses to control their own employees.

Foreigners can also access more sites than can domestic VN citizen users. InterNet cafe COS also include time of day controls that implement that new government rules about their hours of business (quiet between 23.30 and 06.00H).

VNPT users can call 1-800-1260 (free) 24/7 and complain about problems ... if they have an English speaking tech on duty!

Ok this makes no sense to me,

My understandings are as follows :

COS (class of service) is a part of the QOS (Quality of Service) toolset and is used within a LAN(Local area Network) at a layer 2 (Inside the business). These are used to differentiate traffic based on protocol.

The values used are set on an egress interface and are either observed or discarded by your provider depending on whether they have mapped COS to DSCP(differentiated Service Code Point) settings (layer 2 to layer 3 conversion)

COS values are rated 0 through to 7 with 7 being the highest.
7 & 6 are usually reserved for network management
5 Audio
4 Video
3 Mission Critical (SQL etc)   
2 Email (imap, pop3 etc)
1 Web (http, https etc)
0 any other (P2P, bittorrent etc.)

While these are typical classifications and follow best practice they are obviously not hard and fast rules. You can then police these classifications as you see fit and allow or deny or restrict accordingly.

That said, for your provider to place all traffic coming out of your egress port into one class defeats the purpose of classifications, as all traffic is still being treated equally. This makes no difference if you place a business user at one class, eg 5, and a domestic user at another lower class, eg 1.
As soon as you hit the next hop(router) all classifications will be marked on the egress port of that router to whatever mappings have been applied. So using the example, business user of 5 v domestic user of 1 would end up the same at this point, with each protocol being re-marked accordingly.

It's also an overly complicated way to try to filter web-sites as the traffic is being carried over different protocols.
I suspect when you heard the technician say "Oh, it's the wrong COS" he was not referring to COS as above but some kind of proxy server setting, which is what IS used to filter web sites based on address and not COS.

Business users get a better service usually because they are paying more money. They are usually paying for leased lines and as such get the full throughput they are paying for without contention.
Domestic users are generally using a broadband service and the speed on these varies depending on how many other users are connected to the local exchange.

Ever thought about teaching English?  You'd be a real good teacher!

I had a visit at my office from a high-level support type from my ISP VNPT to sort out a problem we have with our servers and he said a few interesting things:

(1) When the VN government blocks web sites they block at the DOMAIN level, not indivdual pages.
(2) Most people use UltraSurf to access Facebook;
(3) Mobiphone has it's own InterNet gateway (even though it is owed by VNPT);
(4) 3G services from Mobiphone, Viettel and VNPT are often wide open - no blocking.

Jaitch wrote:

Wrong - nothing to do with LAN.

Actually I’m right COS settings should be set closest to the source as possible. In a LAN this would be the access layer. 
At an ISP level this would be the egress port on your connection with them.

Jaitch wrote:

A COS' attribute can be anything an ISP cares to assign to given COS.

It is still only a system to mark traffic. As I said previously those were best practice and not hard and fast rules. It would still be highly unusual for an ISP to totally disregard the rest of the world’s markings in favour of its own. And yes I know this is Vietnam but they still work with the same tools as everyone else.

Jaitch wrote:

VN currently has a shitlist of about71 URLs.These are applied to every residential user. Biz users can access these sites, bur they also have to justify it if asked.

They will be using a different set of tools to police these URLS. They probably are using COS to mark the traffic, but it still will do nothing other than mark it.  In the case of CISCO routers they can use a feature called NBAR to police traffic. Other manufacturers (e.g. Juniper) use policing statement to control the flow, giving it less bandwidth or dropping it all together. Cisco can also do it this way.
Typically they will use a match statement with the COS and the URL in then apply any rules to it.

Jaitch wrote:

My DakLak office has three services, and using directional antennae I can access office facilities from home. We also have a fibre feed at home. I now what I can't access on the home feed but can access through the office.

So? You’re using a wireless LAN to connect to your office.  Your fibre feed at home is a broadband connection, unless you’re subscribed as a business user at home.

Jaitch wrote:

A routing check shows that one goes throw SaiGon and the other is now routed through Da Nang gateway. The third js from HongKong.

So? That’s what routing does; it directs traffic via the best\preferred or pre-determined path. The fact your routes go different ways represents this perfectly.

Domestic users are generally using a broadband service and the speed on these varies depending on how many other users are connected to the local exchange.

Jaitch wrote:

You are describing a cable TV distribution network. They use a WAN.

No I’m not. Networking definitions explained:

“Broadband definitions vary widely. However, "broadband" is commonly understood as a reference to high speed, always-on communication links that can move large files much more quickly than a regular phone line. "Broader" lines carry more information faster. Broadband Internet access is available over a variety of platforms including, at present, cable modems, digital subscriber lines (DSL), wireless, satellite, powerline (BPL), fiber optics to the home(FTTH), or Long Reach Ethernet (LRE).”

“A LAN is a high-speed data network that covers a relatively small geographic area. It typically connects workstations, personal computers, printers, servers, and other devices. LANs offer computer users many advantages, including shared access to devices and applications, file exchange between connected users, and communication between users via electronic mail and other applications.”

“A WAN is a data communications network that covers a relatively broad geographic area and that often uses transmission facilities provided by common carriers, such as telephone companies.”

Source CISCO

“A leased line connects two locations for private voice and/or data telecommunication service. Not a dedicated cable, a leased line is actually a reserved circuit between two points. Leased lines can span short or long distances. They maintain a single open circuit at all times”

Source About Networking

I suspect we are talking apples and oranges; potato and potatoe; gas and petrol.

What a dictionary states doesn't mean that everyone is going to call it the same name, especially in different languages.

COS apply to all manner of things (for those who don't know it means Class Of Service). COS applies to all manner of systems, both computer, communications, etc.

COS was used in crossbar, electronic central office and PBX applications, long before LANs, WANs, cell systems, etc. ever happened along. COS is similar in use to RIGHTS. It assigns the right to a service or option.

When I was working on Autovon electronic telephone switches, and PBX, as a technician I had the highest COS available because it was necessary for my work.

A grunt in the field might be assigned a Class 1 and his commanding general would have a much higher COS. Technicians COS were still higher - we could make international calls anywhere without restrictions.

Autovon central offices and Autovon PBX (the telephone sets had 16-button Touch Tone pads) each had COS that weren't even linked to each other, in other words each piece of equipment looked after it's own housekeeping.

Your expression 'to mark traffic' is not common parlance in my experience.

This morning the tech, using one of the company computers that has a key logger on it, checked on our problem, then he signed in under his password and could see blocked web sites. He even said he could get FB, and he did so straight off our terminal with his password. Different COS.

He then moved to another area on his system and actually upped our COS so our (legal) destination could be seen by us, rather than blocked.

The routing we have is determined by us. I happen to know what's connected to the three of VN's gateways (it's public knowledge). Our HongKong route is via satellite from our office, it only becomes terrestrial when it hits the HK frame.

We are a commercial service with VNPT, we sign contracts and certain elements of service are transferred to our responsibility whereas VNPT, et al, look after this housekeeping for ordinary retail customers.

All our terminals have Traceroute and other network tools and we constantly monitor what 'games' are being played or if external InterNet routes are changed. It keeps ISPs on their toes if they know customers are as up to speed as they are.

CISCO/LINKSYS (RIP) have always used their own terminology and use as they want to - not necessarily as others do.

Jaitch wrote:

I suspect we are talking apples and oranges; potato and potatoe; gas and petrol.

Always a possibility online, things are easily mistaken and taken the wrong way at times.

Jaitch wrote:

What a dictionary states doesn't mean that everyone is going to call it the same name, especially in different languages.

Nope your right it doesn’t but it is certainly a good point of reference to ensure everyone is talking the same language.

Jaitch wrote:

COS was used in crossbar, electronic central office and PBX applications, long before LANs, WANs, cell systems, etc. ever happened along. COS is similar in use to RIGHTS. It assigns the right to a service or option.

And in the IT world these controls are called Access Controls. Typically username and password. Although stronger methods are creeping in such as two factor authentication. 

E.g.  User A has user access they can log in and use the system and is restricted to what files\areas they can access.
        User B has super-user access, they can log in do all the above and typically has greater access to other areas.
        User C has administrator access, they can log in as above and amend the system configuration and anything else they want to do.

Jaitch wrote:

When I was working on Autovon electronic telephone switches, and PBX, as a technician I had the highest COS available because it was necessary for my work.

Now this explains a lot. The COS techniques used within a traditional PBX\telecommunications’ systems have little to do with the COS markings used within the routing and switching domain.

However that said they were the building blocks for routing and switching techniques. The QOS tools of which COS is one of many have been around a long time. With the fairly recent uptake of VOIP services they have become a lot more prevalent and widely  used.  Rather than the old way of just throwing more bandwidth to fix the problem. The object being to provide VOIP services with the five 9’s (99.999%) uptime that traditional PBX’s usually supply.

Jaitch wrote:

This morning the tech, using one of the company computers that has a key logger on it, checked on our problem, then he signed in under his password and could see blocked web sites. He even said he could get FB, and he did so straight off our terminal with his password. Different COS.

That’s not a different COS that’s a different level of access control.  Your key logger is just that a log of text that can be read. To actually do anything about the problem you need to elevate your rights hence why he logged in using his credentials as it would be expected he had greater access to the systems than the end user.

Jaitch wrote:

He then moved to another area on his system and actually upped our COS so our (legal) destination could be seen by us, rather than blocked.

Did HE say he was changing your COS settings or is that just your interpretation of it?

Jaitch wrote:

All our terminals have Traceroute and other network tools.

All terminals (dumb terminals aside) have traceroute and other tools in built to allow devices to access the internet and allow support to troubleshoot problems. The difference is most end users don’t know they are there or how to use them.

Jaitch wrote:

CISCO/LINKSYS (RIP) have always used their own terminology and use as they want to - not necessarily as others do.

Leaving the domestic product Linksys aside (CISCO bought them to break into this market) CISCO are pretty much recognised as the world’s leader of routing and switching. Although not at the ISP level they compete heavily in this arena with Juniper. They do however have one of the best certification programs in the world and pretty much every networking engineer starts out down this path. The terminology used within this realm is universal no matter what the language.  That holds true for most IT technology.

Man.. all i want is to access facebook.

Those jargons can kill me...

Hi! Try changing your DNS to 8.8.8.8 . Works for me and worked for my guests who were just here last weekend. Kinda surprise me cos I am otherwise hopeless at IT. Hope it works for you too!

Okay, I'll try my best to guide you through on how to access to FB. As until now (March 7th), this method still works.

For Windows user:
Click on Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings

In the LAN Settings box that just appeared, select "Use a proxy server for your LAN". After you'd done that, the "Address" and "Port" field should be available. For address, type in 27.131.130.66 . For port, type in 8080. The IP address is a Thai one. I'll skip the detail explanation.

Now, using this proxy means that you might experience a bit slower connection but it is insignificant. You might notice streaming has more hick-up than normal.

If you decided to disable the proxy, just follow the whole process of "Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings" and uncheck "Use a proxy server for your LAN".

Some Windows version show a slightly different "LAN Settings" box. In that case, click on "Advanced Settings" in the box to type in Address and Port.

For iPhone/iPad users:
This guide only applies for those who use Wifi. If you're on 3G, I'm afraid I don't know how to setup proxy there.
Go to Settings -> Wifi
Now, you should see the wifi network that you're connected to at the moment. There's a little blue circle with a white arrow pointing to the right at the right hand side of your current connection. Touch on it. Scroll down to the bottom and select "Manual" for Proxy server. The server should be 27.131.130.66, port 8080. Close the Settings app. You should be able to use Facebook now. To turn off the proxy, follow the same steps. At the last step, select "Off" instead of "Manual"


The proxy IP might be blocked in the future. Just search for another one and follow the same steps and you should be fine.

Cheers,

bem1985, although I don't use FB I've seen the question asked many times on this blog and others here in Vietnam. Your response was the best that I've seen so far. Thanks

yes but it ruined the argument between the two geeks ! I was beginning to enjoy it.

bem1985 wrote:

For iPhone/iPad users:
This guide only applies for those who use Wifi. If you're on 3G, I'm afraid I don't know how to setup proxy there.

Have you got that to work? I've never had any success with that method using WiFi on any smartphone. However 3G on mobifone works without problems, at least most of the time.

I only had experience with iPhone/iPad. The method works on both of my iPhone and iPad. For other phones, I think it's just the matter of finding out where the proxy setting is. The IP address and port should remain the same.

Sorry about that Sir Alex Is All That I just wanted to give him a pat on the back for the clear instructions. The other two are talking things way way above anything understandable.

Haha i completely agree Budman1, he nailed it for all the laymen like us so thanks indeed to bem 1985. I actually can not use FB on Iphone so i am going to check it out now too.

It was amusing to read the other two fighting over definitions et al. Slow day at work as you can tell.

Or they are really impressed with them selves.

Bem 1985, it works! thanks a lot!

Whoops sorry guys,

having worked for a few ISP's over the years and configured hundreds routers\switches etc, this stuff is important to me and I do often get carried away with some silly arguments at times.

So to all those bored to tears I apologise and if I see you around I'll buy you a beer and try not to talk too geeky to ya...

heck at least it beats watching x-factor\no ones got talent\some wannabe show

I just enjoy seeing someone argue with Jaitch besides me...