Strage issue with Fastweb and SSH/GitHub

I recently changed my Internet Service Provider and suffered from a strange connectivity issue.

When connecting to SSH on Fastweb network I got some random hangs and especially on GitHub I couldn't either fetch/clone or anything.

The solution is quite strange, as found on this forum, and requires to add a flag to every connection made, -oIPQoS=cs0

However it's not possible (or I haven't found a way how) to set connection parameters for git, so I had to rename the system ssh into ssh_right and supply this simple script instead:

$ cat /usr/bin/ssh
#!/bin/bash

exec ssh_right -oIPQoS=cs0 $@

pemissions on .ssh

Remember that every user's .ssh folder needs to have 700 as permssion, or ssh will complain and revert to passphrase authentication.

It is also good practice to have authorized_keys as 600.

Breaking the Great Firewall

...breaking the law, breaking the law!!!

I'm in the main country of Asia on a work trip and I don't really like the censoring applied here. I will briefly explain how to use the Internet like it should be.

1. Set up a computer with an accessible IP address with an SSH server (I recommend doing this while you are still in your country)
2. Connect using this line

   ssh -ND port usrname@host
   

   -N disables shell input
   -D is the port which will be forwarded to
   username@host is your ssh server
3. Go to Firefox under Options->Advanced->Network->Settings, select Manually enter proxy information" and in the SOCKS section insert 127.0.0.1 and
4. Enjoy your free internet

Now, traffic might be a little slow so I recommend using the Foxy Proxy Firefox extension and manually set the website that are needing it. This extension replaces Firefox proxy implementation so you'll have to configure it again by creating a 'New Proxy' and inserting the site rules like in the example. Don't forget to activate the proxy and Foxy Proxy itself in the main page.

By the way Blogger is normally blocked here, so you'll have to read this blog before leaving.