Google users report erratic service in Beijing

Users of Google Inc.'s search engines across Beijing reported erratic service on Wednesday, with the site sometimes failing to open, and some searches for even non-sensitive terms like "hello" returning error messages.

There were problems across several of Google's search engines, users said, not just the Google.com.hk site to which it has been directing traffic since shuttering its mainland Chinese-language Google.cn late on Monday.

However, other users reported no disruption to their access, or said they were able to search Google successfully minutes after initial searches returned an error messages.

Businesses, university students and people in private homes also reported intermittent problems on the main Google.com site, the Google.co.uk site and Google.ca.