[Updated with solution:] Notes on Jio 4G Mobile Internet in Puttaparthi blocking some blog and software development related websites; Tests with Proxy, VPN and web cache

Last updated on 9 Jun. 2024

Major Update, 5 to 9 Jun 2024

One solution which works for me, is: In Access Point, change APN protocol and APN roaming protocol from IPv4/IPv6 to IPv4.

I got it from: Reliance jio internet problem website & apps not running, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPqtmkCvtlA, around 1 min., Sep. 2023. The video author says that this was conveyed to him by Jio customer support. I think I should call up Jio customer support and confirm that this is a safe solution to use and does not trip up something else.

On my Samsung M21, to get to APN protocol and APN roaming protocol: Settings -> Connections -> Mobile networks -> Access Point Names -> [Choose JIO SIM option on bottom right] -> Click on Jio 4G -> Scroll to APN protocol (which is followed by APN roaming protocol).

It was set to IPv4/IPv6 for both. I changed both to IPv4 (on late night 4/5 June 2024). Went back step by step till I was out of Settings. That's it. Without a phone restart, I was now able to access Wordpress.com on my PC when connected to Jio mobile Internet via mobile hotspot.  I was also able to access sites like Github.com which were earlier blocked on Jio mobile Internet.

...

On or around 7 Jun. 2024, I was able to access even Wordpress.com and github.com through Jio with Access Point Names - APN protocol and APN roaming protocol set to IPv4/IPv6! But later, once again, on IPv4/IPv6 setting, Wordpress.com and other sites were not accessible on Jio.

...

The impression I am getting is that at Jio usage peak times, IPv4 setting results in very slow speed and changing setting to IPv6 improves the speed to some extent. But I am not sure of this. I think I will need more time and experimentation before I confirm this.

end-Major Update, 5 to 9 Jun 2024

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Note: This post is a details-post for the post: Learning web app development through free online tutorials – Organized Notes and Log, https://raviswdev.blogspot.com/2024/03/learning-web-app-development-through.html .

Quick-Info: 

1. https://proxyium.com/ is one proxy workaround that works in Jio 4G mobile Internet in Puttaparthi (Jio 4G in PTP) to access Jio blocked sites from browser.
2. Web Cache Viewer Chrome extension gets Google cached versions of pages that are blocked by Jio 4G in PTP.
3. I could not find any free VPN that is not blocked by Jio 4G in PTP

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Some of the websites blocked by Jio 4G mobile Internet in Puttaparthi which I need for my software development related work, are given below (tested on 6 Mar. 2024):

1. wordpress.com in general: (a key blog of mine - ravisiyer.wordpress.com - having some software development related work is blocked)
2. https://github.com/
3. https://www.w3schools.com/
4. https://react.dev/
5. https://cloud.mongodb.com/
6. https://stackoverflow.com/
7. https://stackexchange.com/
8. https://www.quora.com/
9. https://twitter.com/home

All of the above work on Airtel 4G mobile Intenet in Puttaparthi (tested on 6 Mar. 2024).

https://proxyium.com/ is one proxy workaround that works in Jio 4G in PTP to access above sites from browser. Programmatic access, say to cloud.mongodb.com, as far as I know, cannot be done using proxyium.com. Interestingly, https://proxyium.com/ has a section titled, "The Difference between Web Proxy and VPN" where it states, "a web proxy can only open websites and can not mask your IP address for other applications on your device". It seems to me that for programmatic access, a VPN would be needed.

Yesterday 5 March 2024, I invested some time to explore some free VPNs and whether they worked for me with Jio 4G in PTP to access the software development related sites I need to access. Note that privacy is not a requirement for me, as of now. My interest in these VPNs is a way to access software develoment related websites blocked by Jio 4G in PTP.

I tried out the following free VPNs but unfortunately, none of them worked:

1. Hide.me
2. Proton VPN (I later saw that I had not verified my email in registration with Proton VPN at the time of the test. But I did not get any login related error message and, if I recall correctly, the error message was about not being able to connect.)
3. Opera Browser VPN (the desktop version allows me to enable VPN but it does not work for Jio 4G in PTP; the mobile version seems to not show the enable VPN button at all (perhaps that's hidden for India))
4. Tor browser (If I recall correctly, Opera suggested trying out Tor. So I downloaded the Tor browser to see whether that worked with Jio 4G in PTP. It did not. I did try out some bridge options it had - they too did not work.)

Some article links on this are given below:

1. The Best Free VPNs for 2024, https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-free-vpns : I tried out Proton VPN and Hide.me VPN after going through this article, if I recall correctly.
2. Best Reliance Jio VPN in 2024, https://vpnpro.com/best-vpn-services/vpn-for-reliance-jio/ claims that Jio 4G works with some VPNs. But all of them seem to be paid VPNs (starting package seems to be in range of few USD (e.g. 2 to 4 $) per month but for yearly/two-yearly/three-yearly plans). I tried out visiting the home page for these paid VPNs on Jio 4G in PTP:
1. https://nordvpn.com/ - Blocked
2. https://surfshark.com/ - NOT blocked (that's great!)
3. https://privatevpn.com/ - Blocked
4. https://www.ipvanish.com/ - NOT blocked
5. https://atlasvpn.com/ - NOT blocked (site claims it is freemium, but I could not see any free option!)
3. 7 Best VPN Services For India in 2024 (Server Speed Tested!), https://www.bitcatcha.com/research/vpn-india/ has a few other VPNs mentioned along with some of those mentioned in above article. All the VPNs mentioned seem to be priced.

An interesting workaround is to view cached version of a page that is blocked by Jio 4G in PTP. How To View A Cached Version Of Webpages In Chrome: 4 Ways, https://www.minitool.com/news/how-to-view-cached-pages-google-chrome.html mentions using Web Cache Viewer Chrome extension. I tried that out and found it to be quite useful to get Google cached versions of pages that are blocked by Jio 4G in PTP. Note that Google cache is NOT blocked by Jio 4G in PTP.