According to TurkeyBlocks, an impartial digital transparency monitoring network, Turkey has banned access to popular social media platforms: Facebook and Twitter along with video sharing website: YouTube and instant messaging application: WhatsApp nationwide since Friday November 4th 1:20 am local time. VoIP app: Skype and photo sharing app: Instagram have shortly followed. The mentioned applications and websites have been reportedly “blocked by throttling” meaning that they have been exceptionally slowed down by ISPs till the point they are inaccessible.
This is not the first time that Facebook and Twitter have been blocked in Turkey. They have been blocked earlier this year following Ankara blasts.
Source: http://www.vpnfaqs.com/2016/03/turkey-blocks-twitter-facebook-ankara-blasts/
However, it’s the first time that apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Instagram are being blocked. This time block is believed to be related to the arrest of 11 pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party leaders. Since the failed attempted military coup against President Erdogan administration mid July 2016, Internet restrictions have been dramatically increased to restrain media coverage of the current political events. Moreover, Turkish law forces ISPs to reserve logs of their users’ online activity.
Using VPN Applications to Bypass Internet Restrictions in Turkey
Although there are plenty of solutions to bypass blocked sites and apps in Turkey, VPN applications have been proven to be the best. VPN is not only easy to use but also it’s the most secure convention to hide Turkey IP address, replace it with another IP from a geographic location that has unlimited access to the internet and browse the web anonymously via a highly encrypted tunnel.
Best VPN for Turkey
When seeking to find VPN for Turkey, you need to keep in mind that you need a VPN provider that will not only change your IP address and spoof your current geographic location (Turkey) but also has the ability to conceal the VPN connection so it wouldn’t be recognizable to filtering systems.
b.VPN has developed VPN tunnel called SMOKE which camouflages packets to conceal VPN connection while its being established to avoid detection by firewalls. SMOKE works in the same pattern as UDP tunnel, which is more reliable than TCP; as it verifies packet delivery from user’s machine to VPN server by keeping data backup on both ends until it’s delivered properly. Additionally, SMOKE has the ability to detect throttle and adapt to it without even disconnection.
SMOKE tunnel is available in b.VPN OpenVPN applications for Windows and Mac and can be switched on directly from Gear button in the main window. After activating SMOKE mode, you can choose any server location you prefer.
Note: free trial users can only access b.VPN servers in 8 locations: Japan, Germany, France, Netherlands, Ukraine, Singapore and USA (New York and California) more locations options are available for paid users. Free trial is available for 30 minutes every day on Windows and Mac and doesn’t require registration not credit card details.
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