Best VPN?

[Munkus]

AirVPN flies under the radar, but is pretty expensive. Apparently some VPN vendors are now leasing blocks of IP addresses from residential ISPs to get around the streaming service blacklists.

That's cool. It really sucks that streaming services block VPN IPs even if they are in the same country as the subscriber. Blocking IPs from other countries to get around regional licensing restrictions, I get. But if I'm logged into a server in Arizona, I should still see US content. I guess it's because too many hacker douchebags use VPNs to spam other sites, so the IPs just get blacklisted altogether.

[GTwannabe]

*sigh*

Ever since VPNs have become so popular, many sites are detecting the known IP addresses and either not letting you log in (imgur.com), not letting you stream, or throwing additional security checks at you (are you really you?) constantly. So far NordVPN is better than ExpressVPN in that regard, but I'm wondering if there's a lesser-known VPN out there that isn't on everyone's blacklist.

AirVPN flies under the radar, but is pretty expensive. Apparently some VPN vendors are now leasing blocks of IP addresses from residential ISPs to get around the streaming service blacklists.

[Lazy8s]

PIA works so well for me I'm hesitating to change, but my current sub runs out in Feb...I may revisit this topic then.

[Munkus]

*sigh*

Ever since VPNs have become so popular, many sites are detecting the known IP addresses and either not letting you log in (imgur.com), not letting you stream, or throwing additional security checks at you (are you really you?) constantly. So far NordVPN is better than ExpressVPN in that regard, but I'm wondering if there's a lesser-known VPN out there that isn't on everyone's blacklist.

[Gregor976]

Decided to go with NordVPN. Only $3/mo for the 3 year plan. I don't know if they lie about keeping logs or not. All I know is it's fast and relatively cheap, and Netflix & Amazon Prime don't block most of the IPs I've used with it. I don't download many keyboard drivers, so I'm not particularly concerned.

I'm considering re-upping for $89 with another of those 3 year plans. My current one was $75 for 3 years and it expires in Nov.


Holding off for now, but I'll probably just stick.

[andino]

Someone set up an Android TV box with Modbro for me and I noticed I can't get alot of channels to stream. These are channels from around the world that's not available on any US provider, like BT and Sky. I wonder if I need a VPN.

[Exposed]

Someone set up an Android TV box with Modbro for me and I noticed I can't get alot of channels to stream. These are channels from around the world that's not available on any US provider, like BT and Sky. I wonder if I need a VPN.

[Munkus]

Decided to go with NordVPN. Only $3/mo for the 3 year plan. I don't know if they lie about keeping logs or not. All I know is it's fast and relatively cheap, and Netflix & Amazon Prime don't block most of the IPs I've used with it. I don't download many keyboard drivers, so I'm not particularly concerned.

[Silent-Runner]

reading up on this a lot lately left a sour taste in my mouth. Most, if not all vpn providers do keep their logs although blatantly lieing about it to their customers. Kinda hard to find a trustworthy provider as it seems. Good luck on that

[Nascar24]

Mozilla has a new VPN service for $5/mo. Supposedly fast, lots of locations, and no log keeping. Can't vouch for that, though.

https://vpn.mozilla.org/

At $60 for the year not one of the cheapest.

[Munkus]

Don't go with UFO VPN see here - https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn...data-exposure/

Hong Kong-based VPN

'nuff said.

[howard stern]

Don't go with UFO VPN see here - https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn...data-exposure/

[Munkus]

Mozilla has a new VPN service for $5/mo. Supposedly fast, lots of locations, and no log keeping. Can't vouch for that, though.

https://vpn.mozilla.org/

[howard stern]

My vote is for PIA, fast, stable and they keep no logs. Its the way it should be.

[andino]

I look for a VPN that doesn't keep records of me downloading occasional keyboard drivers.....

[Cyko]

What VPNs are recommended if your main goal is to access the various regions of Netflix?

You’re just looking for speed and # of locations then, not necessarily anonymity.

Surfshark, Cyberghost, ProtonVPN IMO.

[Kain]

What VPNs are recommended if your main goal is to access the various regions of Netflix?

[Cyko]

I've sworn by PIA for years, but, as Ray said near the beginning of Ghostbusters, I won't touch NordVPN with a ten-meter cattle prod:

https://www.techradar.com/news/whats...at-we-now-know

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/10/...user-accounts/

The one thing that NordVPN is really good at though is spreading their brand feces all over the Internet by putting tons of ads up wherever they can, getting spotlighted in puff pieces on the mid and lower tiers of the tech media, and sponsoring quite a few YouTubers (I winced when they sponsored one of Simone Giertz's episodes a few months ago, because she's an awesome maker in Adam Savage's circle of friends).

It may have been several months since the breach was acknowledged and supposedly fixed, but that breach was active for about a year before that and their official responses didn't fill me with confidence, especially since they didn't even dial back their ads/YT sponsorships a bit when the breach was publicized.

If NordVPN spent as much time and money in securing their network (which is also their product) as they did in buying buttloads of ads and sponsorships, they might not have to deal with breaches as severe as that one was.

Love the ghostbusters reference.

I've only used PIA. Nord is something I've heard tossed around as being good.

After doing a little research, if I ever switched off PIA it'd be to ProtonVPN, CyberGhost, tunnelbear, torguard or mullvad (depending on what I was using said VPN for).

[Munkus]

I canceled my automatic renewal of ExpressVPN. Because it's one of the most popular services, most of the streaming sites and even my old Comcast email server (which I still use) blocks the IPs of the fastest VPN locations for me. Makes it so I can't leave it on all the time, unless I log into a location that has high latency and slower speeds. No thanks. Time to try a different service.

[andino]

I've been using Private Internet Access for a couple of years and it's been worth the $29 per year.

Cons:
-not free
-Does not start with Windows on occasion
-Need to reconnect when waking from sleep etc

Pros:
-Servers everywhere, huge choice.
-Have never noticed a slowdown regardless of region/server chosen
-Regularly updated with bug fixes/features
-Support has been very responsive when needed.

I'm sure there's better, but it works fine and I'm not willing to sink the time into shopping for a new one...

edit:
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/

Mine starts with windows all the time. And it reconnects after sleep too.

What version are you running?

[Talon_262]

PIA user for years here. Other option may be NordVPN. Pretty good too.

I've sworn by PIA for years, but, as Ray said near the beginning of Ghostbusters, I won't touch NordVPN with a ten-meter cattle prod:

https://www.techradar.com/news/whats...at-we-now-know

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/10/...user-accounts/

The one thing that NordVPN is really good at though is spreading their brand feces all over the Internet by putting tons of ads up wherever they can, getting spotlighted in puff pieces on the mid and lower tiers of the tech media, and sponsoring quite a few YouTubers (I winced when they sponsored one of Simone Giertz's episodes a few months ago, because she's an awesome maker in Adam Savage's circle of friends).

It may have been several months since the breach was acknowledged and supposedly fixed, but that breach was active for about a year before that and their official responses didn't fill me with confidence, especially since they didn't even dial back their ads/YT sponsorships a bit when the breach was publicized.

If NordVPN spent as much time and money in securing their network (which is also their product) as they did in buying buttloads of ads and sponsorships, they might not have to deal with breaches as severe as that one was.

[Destroy]

PIA user for years here. Other option may be NordVPN. Pretty good too.

I also use PIA and would recommend it.

[Nascar24]

Used CyberGhost VPN for about 5 years, worked fine, During that time bought lifetime windscribe I think for $29. Could not beat that deal, will now use them for that price as long as they stay afloat which already has been years. Also works fine.

[Mahjik]

Just keep in mind that any of these "VPN providers", there is no anonymous browsing if they keep any logs for any length of time. However, for getting around regional limitations, try to find reviews of which ones haven't been blocked yet. I used the term "yet" as those using regional blocking, will find a way at some point for each VPN provider.

[Munkus]

PCMag thinks highly of ProtonVPN. I'll probably switch to that once my ExpressVPN subscription runs out. ExpressVPN is one of the pricier vendors @99.95/year. ProtonVPN has a 33% a two year subscription deal going on.

https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-vpn-services

[Cyko]

PIA user for years here. Other option may be NordVPN. Pretty good too.

[Munkus]

I use ExpressVPN, but most of the fast locations are blocked by the streaming services. That's the downside to the big VPN vendors.

If you're really seeking anonymity on the web and don't mind if it's slow, use Tor.

[Kain]

The websites of Proton VPN and PIA are blocked here. Guess I'll need a VPN to access them.

[ugly]

It's hard to say best because I'd assume most people have only used one or two.

I'm with Private Internet Access and it's been good enough.

I guess another con is that PIA is popular enough that their servers are usually known to companies that geoblock. So, it seems to be less likely that you can get around geoblocks using PIA.

[Trunks0]

"Technically", or rather potentially, you could also add another con to PIA being that it's based in the USA. Just because US laws can force them to grant access to your VPN traffic. No logs for them to check though

[Lazy8s]

I've been using Private Internet Access for a couple of years and it's been worth the $29 per year.

Cons:
-not free
-Does not start with Windows on occasion
-Need to reconnect when waking from sleep etc

Pros:
-Servers everywhere, huge choice.
-Have never noticed a slowdown regardless of region/server chosen
-Regularly updated with bug fixes/features
-Support has been very responsive when needed.

I'm sure there's better, but it works fine and I'm not willing to sink the time into shopping for a new one...

edit:
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/

[Trunks0]

I don't know allot. But I've been getting the impression 1 of the better ones is Proton VPN.

https://protonvpn.com/

[Kain]

Any recommendations for a VPN that works on Windows 10 and iOS? How is ExpressVPN that I keep hearing about?