By Chris Chang, posted Mar 29, 2011 at 2:28 PM, 547 views,

AOL Mail and Gmail Facing Slow Download Speeds in China

According to tests done by www.greatfirewall.biz, the download speed of Gmail in China has dropped sharply to an average of 34 kbps, while AOL mail has plummeted to an average of 24 kbps. Comparing with the greatest Chinese email service, QQ mailbox, they are 45-60 times slower than QQ’s speed of 1514 kbps. This is terrible, but if you using a VPN to access these foreign mail services, everything is alright since the Chinese government could not monitor what comes in and out of your mail service through VPN. However, we heard that there are some VPNs getting blocked recently in the mainland, so we think that communicating from foreign servers in China may get more difficult after China dismissed Google’s accusations that Gmail services on the mainland are being disrupted.

Chinese netizens are now telling the foreigners who live in China to use the Chinese email service, such as 126 mail, which claimed to provide a good speed in downloading and sending emails to the West.

Well, the problem is that the foreigners do not trust Chinese email services, since these services will follow the Chinese government’s regulations to monitor users’ communications and personal data.

Looking at this situation, it seems to be an irritating problem for foreigners in China to use the popular Gmail to handle email tasks, and this proves that China is isolating itself more and more by blocking websites that would enable it to open a door to the world beyond its own borders. We really can’t accept the evil ways in which entities in China go about hijacking your email account. Just in case you are curious about Gmail’s speed in China over the past few weeks, here’s a detailed tracking from GreatFirewall.biz.

Source: GreatFirewall.biz via Shanghaiist