I apologize if public discussion of this is not allowed. If so, I would appreciate if someone could PM me about this issue.

Basically, today I moved to the LAU dorms and discovered that the internet is quite useless because everything even remotely related to gaming is blocked. Steam, many forums, TeamSpeak, and pretty much everything I use the internet for are blocked, and this is a huge disappointment. Would a VPN work to unblock these sites safely? I really need a heads up on this because this is practically like living without internet and I'd rather live home and spend 45 minutes getting here each day rather than living with this unusable internet.

Thanks.
Hi tempto, you need to make sure that VPN connections are not blocked. If they aren't, then you're likely to be able to bypass most restrictions, as the uni will not be able to detect what kind of traffic is going through the network. Good VPN accounts are not free, but they are relatively affordable (50-100$ per year). They also come in handy when you are surfing on a public wi-fi network.
Thanks for your reply. I tried downloading the free version of Hotspot Shield, but it was obviously blocked and not downloadable (I think a payed account would be better as well, right?). I plan to try to download it using off-campus internet and hope that VPN connections aren't blocked here, but in the case that they are, would there be any other convenient way around this?
I tried vpn today. As samer said it is blocked.
I will check the other options when I have time.
Hey, I just have a couple of questions before I can help, do you have quota limits? And do you have a proxy that you have to connect to before you can access the internet?
They're basically the same questions.
If you don't have to set any proxy settings or quota to worry about, then bypassing the block won't be very difficult.
You do have both. Not sure about quota limits though, but most probably there is.
When you first connect to the wifi you get to sign in with your username and password given by the university for each student.
Roudykh wroteYou do have both. Not sure about quota limits though, but most probably there is.
When you first connect to the wifi you get to sign in with your username and password given by the university for each student.
I don't think that counts. Another way of asking the questions is: Do applications like dropbox or steam open/work normally? (in other words, can such applications that need internet work without the need of 3rd party applications such as proxifier)
riqmarmes wrote
Roudykh wroteYou do have both. Not sure about quota limits though, but most probably there is.
When you first connect to the wifi you get to sign in with your username and password given by the university for each student.
I don't think that counts. Another way of asking the questions is: Do applications like dropbox or steam open/work normally? (in other words, can such applications that need internet work without the need of 3rd party applications such as proxifier)
Nope. I haven't tried Dropbox on this computer, but Steam doesn't work (it says there's no connection), and also trying to connect to the website with a browser yields the following:


Access Denied (content_filter_denied)

Your request was denied because of its content categorization: "Games;Shopping"

For assistance, contact your network support team.

I've had a chat with a member in PM, tried Proxifier to no avail.
Roudykh wroteDropbox works normally.
Then a VPN should solve the problem (hotspot shield might not be the best solution), and you'll be able to do anything. (It's the best solution however you'll have to pay 40-60$ a year)
I too tried VPN and it did not work.
a month later
about a year ago i used an ipv6 tunneling tool to bypass all restriction... http://www.gogo6.com/freenet6
many do not block ipv6 traffic so it worked for me but it was a year ago.. give it a shot.
here is my solution for you: Get a cheap linux VPS Hosting, change SSH port from 22 to 443, since 443 should not be blocked, download squid3 proxy, then use bitvise ssh client to make a tunnel with VPS machine. if it's hard for you i can help. Regards.
, then use bitvise ssh client to make a tunnel with VPS machine
If you're on Linux or OS X, you can use the built-in SSH client to create a tunnel: 
ssh -ND 3000 user@yourserver -p 443
Any connections made on localhost:3000 will be forwarded over SSH to your VPS. Replace 443 by the port on which the SSH daemon is listening. The default port is 22.
I used ultrasurf when I was at LAU for browsing whatever I want. Some students where using somethign called "yourfreedome" to play world of warcraft. though I never understood how that worked.
user wroteI used ultrasurf when I was at LAU for browsing whatever I want. Some students where using somethign called "yourfreedome" to play world of warcraft. though I never understood how that worked.
UltraSurf is unstable and a little slow.
I tried tor proxy.
Works well.
Beware that Tor is considerably slower than other solutions.