It is well known that the threshold for experiencing a complete and smooth ChatGPT experience is not low for "Strong Country". Through my exploration during this period and combining with the tools of the experts, I have summarized a seemingly good route.
Cause#
At the beginning, OpenAI only blocked login from the country's IP, and registration was out of the question. However, after logging in, it was possible to directly connect to the web for use, and the experience was good.
Later, we blocked OpenAI through DNS hijacking, which can be said to be a two-way effort. We don't let them use it, and they don't let us use it either. As a novice user, there seems to be no good way to experience ChatGPT except buying intermediary services.
Recently, OpenAI's risk control has become stricter, and many accounts registered and logged in from the Asian region have been banned. Regional issues during API calls can also lead to bans, regardless of whether you are a Plus user or not.
Account Issues#
This time we won't discuss the situation of buying a key from an intermediary. I have listed some shell tools in the Tool Index, and some tools provide key purchases. For those who don't want to bother, it is also a choice.
These listed shell tools should be quite reliable, but whether selling keys is legal or not is hard to say. It can only be said that they are useful and should be cherished, especially those without inspection (intermediaries like WeChat mini-programs definitely have inspections, so I don't recommend them much).
First, you need to have an account. Currently, registration should become more and more difficult. Many airports that provide unlocking IP can no longer register, at most, they can unlock login, and payment is a matter of luck.
In terms of phone numbers, it is relatively easy to solve. Find a platform for receiving verification codes, and there should be no problem. Since sms-activate is used too much, try to choose other platforms.
I don't know if buying a remote VPS or using CF Warp can solve the registration and payment problems. After all, OpenAI also uses CF. Both of my accounts are currently normal, the free API quota is enough, and I don't have the need to tinker with Plus for the time being, so I won't deal with payment for now.
The web version will be smarter in answering, but the experience in the country is indeed very poor. Currently, the API method is generally used.
To avoid being banned, it is recommended to check your IP's country by requesting https://chat.openai.com/cdn-cgi/trace before using.
As a backup plan, it is recommended to use Poe.
Shell Usage#
Since there are risks in visiting the official website of ChatGPT and it cannot be directly connected, the mainstream method currently is to use the API. There are also many shell UIs on GitHub, including web clients.
The shell is generally pure front-end and can be deployed on your own server. If you don't have a server, you can directly put it on CF Workers. You only need a cheap domain name to experience the direct connection.
You can deploy the shell UI by yourself or use someone else's. In general, you need to provide an OpenAI proxy address and a key.
The proxy can be built using CF Workers. The tutorial is at https://github.com/noobnooc/noobnooc/discussions/9.
If you have an Azure account, you can directly build an Azure OpenAI Service, which can be directly connected in the country.
Activate Azure OpenAI Service: http://aka.ms/oai/access
Activate GPT-4: http://aka.ms/oai/get-gpt4
As for the key, you just need to create one with your account. I will study how to pay when it expires (of course, the simplest solution is to freeload and register another account).
For those who use Telegram more, you can refer to Tool Index to build a Telegram bot, which can also be done using Workers.
This way, you can use the shell UI to directly connect to ChatGPT.
If you don't want to bother with building your own proxy, you can use community-shared proxies, so you only need to prepare a key to use it directly.
However, community-shared proxies are not necessarily safe, so you need to verify them yourself. Refer to Community Proxy
OpenCat#
OpenCat is a client on iOS/Mac, also a shell for ChatGPT. If you have a key and a proxy address, you can directly connect and use it on iOS.
If you want to share it with your non-technical friends to use but don't want to give them the key, you can try its Team feature, which allows them to use the intermediate service you provide through invitation. It requires you to deploy a backend using Docker. If you have a VPS, it is very simple. If you don't, you can continue to try the versatile CF Workers deployment for free.
Payment#
Incognito mode, global proxy, and clean IP are the three elements. If you are not confident in the IP, do not use a US address.
Generally, after three failed verifications, there is no need to try again. Just change the account.
For reference on IP cleanliness: https://whoer.net/zh
TODO: To be verified after the free quota is used up.
BiuBiu#
NewBing is actually in a similar situation. There are various blockages in the country, and there haven't been many shell-related tools seen yet. However, some experts have reverse-engineered it, you can take a look at EdgeGPT.