Can Anybody Recommend a Great VPN?

[Idun098TZZ]

Hello,
as said previously there is plenty of VPN on the internet. I see you are looking for a free version of some sort of service, but I would not recommend that. And the reason is quite simple: the security.
I suggest you read this article: https://windowsreport.com/can-free-vpn-be-trusted/ and get your own opinion, to me, it was extremely helpful before deciding to switch from a standard to a premium plan.
If you are occasionally using a VPN, getting a free product cannot affect you that much, as much as you are aware of the risks, but if you want more protection and peace of mind... go for a premium version.

Hope it helps,
Cheers

 

[steve62388]

Hello,
as said previously there is plenty of VPN on the internet. I see you are looking for a free version of some sort of service, but I would not recommend that. And the reason is quite simple: the security.
I suggest you read this article: https://windowsreport.com/can-free-vpn-be-trusted/ and get your own opinion, to me, it was extremely helpful before deciding to switch from a standard to a premium plan.
If you are occasionally using a VPN, getting a free product cannot affect you that much, as much as you are aware of the risks, but if you want more protection and peace of mind... go for a premium version.

Hope it helps,
Cheers

Don’t endorse sites that are recommending VPN services based on who is giving them a kick back.

Did you bother to click the ‘Affiliate disclosure’ link?

 

[Idun098TZZ]

Don’t endorse sites that are recommending VPN services based on who is giving them a kick back.

Did you bother to click the ‘Affiliate disclosure’ link?

Sure, it doesn't recommend any specific VPN if you meant that, and I found it quite reliable, at least for me. Maybe it can help someone else.

 

[markchen]

I recently switched from ExpressVPN to Mulvad VPN.

 

[KayEm6419]

Hello HappyDude20,

I'm using NordVPN.

I've found Sven Taylor's site Restore Privacy to be quite helpful.

Merry Christmas & Happy 2022!

-KM

 

[2021]

Mullvad doesn’t have an affiliate program, another reason to recommend them above others.

 

[HappyDude20]

I started this thread almost 3 years ago and am condensing what I've read in this thread re: reputable VPN's, quickly:

1. PrivateInternetAccess $80 for 3 years.

2. Proton VPN $80 for 2 years

3. BitDefender 1 year for $30

4. SurfShark $60 for 2 years

5. Mullvad $66 a year

6. TrustZone VPN $56 for 2 years

7. Windscribe $50 a year

8. AirVPN $86 for 2 years

9. NordVPN $60 a year

10. KeepSolid $70 lifetime 5 accounts

11. ExpressVPN $100 a year

12. CactusVPN $95 for 2 years

13. iVPN $160 for 2 years

14. StrongVPN $80 2 years

If anyone has any advice before I commit to a service for the next year or two, or any promo code, I'd really appreciate it.

By the way, my personal frontrunners at the moment are PrivateInternetAccess, SurfShark, Mullvad or Windscribe. At the end of the day, I want something fast, reliable and easy to use whether it be on my MacBook Pro or iPhone.

 

[SkimPappa]

Still happily using Private internet access for a long time. Haven’t tried the others. Works great for me on fast fiber connection with no notices from monitoring.
Mac and iOS.

 

[HappyDude20]

Still happily using Private internet access for a long time. Haven’t tried the others. Works great for me on fast fiber connection with no notices from monitoring.
Mac and iOS.

Yeah PIA is one of my front runners.

Considering it’s a 2 year purchase I’m wanting to make the best decision. Something fast and reliable on both iPhone and Mac.

I keep hearing this Wireguard feature is worth it and worth the speed so am considering getting a vpn service with that.

 

[KaliYoni]

15. Mozilla $60 a year

 

[svenmany]

I'm a PIA user and fan. But, be aware that just having their client installed will disable the private email feature and private relay that Apple provides.

I reported this to PIA support. They were excellent on their follow through. They concluded that their software is not compatible with those Apple features. But, they added that many VPN services are incompatible.

You don't really have to install their client if you use a different one (e.g. Viscosity). But, if you do install their client, it is not enough to just disconnect the tunnel in order to restore Apple's privacy features; you have to deinstall their client.

 

[LV426]

Private Relay (free with iCloud+) probably meets the needs of a lot of people wanting the most important benefits of a VPN. It's for Safari traffic only, and fixed to an IP address in your physical country, but for many that should be good enough.

 

[steve62388]

15. Mozilla $60 a year

Mozilla uses Mullvad’s infrastructure.

 

[HappyDude20]

I'm a PIA user and fan. But, be aware that just having their client installed will disable the private email feature and private relay that Apple provides.

I reported this to PIA support. They were excellent on their follow through. They concluded that their software is not compatible with those Apple features. But, they added that many VPN services are incompatible.

You don't really have to install their client if you use a different one (e.g. Viscosity). But, if you do install their client, it is not enough to just disconnect the tunnel in order to restore Apple's privacy features; you have to deinstall their client.

Darn, PIA was a front runner but I do very much like the private relay and email feature that apple
Provides.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

I started this thread almost 3 years ago and am condensing what I've read in this thread re: reputable VPN's, quickly:

1. PrivateInternetAccess $80 for 3 years.

2. Proton VPN $80 for 2 years

3. BitDefender 1 year for $30

4. SurfShark $60 for 2 years

5. Mullvad $66 a year

6. TrustZone VPN $56 for 2 years

7. Windscribe $50 a year

8. AirVPN $86 for 2 years

9. NordVPN $60 a year

10. KeepSolid $70 lifetime 5 accounts

11. ExpressVPN $100 a year

12. CactusVPN $95 for 2 years

13. iVPN $160 for 2 years

14. StrongVPN $80 2 years

If anyone has any advice before I commit to a service for the next year or two, or any promo code, I'd really appreciate it.

By the way, my personal frontrunners at the moment are PrivateInternetAccess, SurfShark, Mullvad or Windscribe. At the end of the day, I want something fast, reliable and easy to use whether it be on my MacBook Pro or iPhone.

What level if trust or assurances does anyone have any one of these so called "privacy" VPN providers? Or are they all scams to separate you from your coin$?

Don't use VPN services.

Don't use VPN services. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

gist.github.com

All you are doing is shifting the trust from your ISP to the "privacy" VPN provider who is still subject to the same lawful subpoenas. And what is stopping malicious actors from finding a vulnerability in one of the "privacy" VPN providers protocol or backend and exfiltrating all the data?

You can accomplish almost the same "privacy" for free.

1. Toss your consumer router/firewall in the trash!
2. Install open source enterprise class firewall software from https://pfsense.org on almost any X86_64 hardware, or buy an appliance from https://www.netgate.com or https://protectli.com
3. Set up a firewall rule to route all un-encrypted DNS traffic (port 83) to your pfsense DNS resolver.
4. Enable pfsense DNS resolver DNSSEC and DNS over TLS (port 853)

All DNS queries from any client behind your pfsense firewall will now be encrypted. Sure, your ISP can still see what https sites you visit from the http header server name indication (SNI), but it prevents them from hijacking your DNS requests, redirecting content, inserting ads, etc. If you are that concerned about your ISP seeing which sites you visit, perhaps you need stop visiting sites your ISP would consider a ToS violation or law enforcement would consider of interest.

 

[steve62388]

What level if trust or assurances does anyone have any one of these so called "privacy" VPN providers? Or are they all scams to separate you from your coin$?

All you are doing is shifting the trust from your ISP to the "privacy" VPN provider who is still subject to the same lawful sopenas. And what is stopping malicious actors from finding a vulnerability in one of the "privacy" VPN providers protocol or backend and exfiltrating all the data?

You can accomplish almost the same "privacy" for free.

1. Toss your consumer router/firewall in the trash!
2. Install open source enterprise class firewall software from https://pfsense.org on almost any X86_64 hardware, or buy an appliance from https://www.netgate.com or https://protectli.com
3. Set up a firewall rule to route all un-encrypted DNS traffic (port 83) to your pfsense DNS resolver.
4. Enable pfsense DNS resolver DNSSEC and DNS over TLS (port 853)

All DNS queries from any client behind your pfsense firewall will now be encrypted. Sure, your ISP can still see what https sites you visit from the http header server name indication (SNI), but it prevents them from hijacking your DNS requests, redirecting content, inserting ads, etc. If you are that concerned about your ISP seeing which sites you visit, perhaps you need stop visiting sites your ISP would consider a ToS violation or law enforcement would consider of interest.

You’re absolutely right. You’re shifting your trust onto somebody else. The best we can do is assess their general business practices and make a judgment call. Some are undoubtedly better than others in this regard.

In terms of subpoenas (or their equivalent) if you have faith in statements that they don’t keep logs, there is nothing to subpoena.

But it’s abundantly clear to me that ISPs do not respect your privacy. A lot of them monetise your data.

 

[MacBH928]

Yeah PIA is one of my front runners.

Considering it’s a 2 year purchase I’m wanting to make the best decision. Something fast and reliable on both iPhone and Mac.

I keep hearing this Wireguard feature is worth it and worth the speed so am considering getting a vpn service with that.

If you are looking for privacy there are two gold standards:-

protonvpn
Mullvad VPN

the following could be trust worthy but I am not confident enough to make a recommendation but they are great seconds:-

Wireguard
iVPN
AirVPN

anything else I simply do not trust

What level if trust or assurances does anyone have any one of these so called "privacy" VPN providers? Or are they all scams to separate you from your coin$?

Don't use VPN services.

Don't use VPN services. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

gist.github.com

All you are doing is shifting the trust from your ISP to the "privacy" VPN provider who is still subject to the same lawful subpoenas. And what is stopping malicious actors from finding a vulnerability in one of the "privacy" VPN providers protocol or backend and exfiltrating all the data?

You can accomplish almost the same "privacy" for free.

1. Toss your consumer router/firewall in the trash!
2. Install open source enterprise class firewall software from https://pfsense.org on almost any X86_64 hardware, or buy an appliance from https://www.netgate.com or https://protectli.com
3. Set up a firewall rule to route all un-encrypted DNS traffic (port 83) to your pfsense DNS resolver.
4. Enable pfsense DNS resolver DNSSEC and DNS over TLS (port 853)

All DNS queries from any client behind your pfsense firewall will now be encrypted. Sure, your ISP can still see what https sites you visit from the http header server name indication (SNI), but it prevents them from hijacking your DNS requests, redirecting content, inserting ads, etc. If you are that concerned about your ISP seeing which sites you visit, perhaps you need stop visiting sites your ISP would consider a ToS violation or law enforcement would consider of interest.

this is completely wrong. Here is some clarifictions:-

1- Yes people think when they are using VPN they are invisible on the web. This is not true.

2-Using VPN does help your privacy for the following reasons:-

• You are shifting the trust point from your ISP to VPN of your choosing, So if you trust the VPN you are all good
• If using VPN that does not log, that means no record of your internet activity exists
• Using VPN helps protect you from local networks like hotel or coffee wifi
• Using VPN shifts your data from one country to another. So lets assume You are in the USA and you use VPN in Switzerland, the orders of USA courts to collect your data is worthless since the USA court does not have any legal power in Switzerland to enforce that. Now think how this helps in places like Iran-Switzerland , Russia-USA , India-Germany , Egypt - Ireland.
• Once your ISP and local providers can not see your activity they no longer can gather and sell your data

 

[VideoFreek]

Yeah PIA is one of my front runners.

Considering it’s a 2 year purchase I’m wanting to make the best decision. Something fast and reliable on both iPhone and Mac.

I keep hearing this Wireguard feature is worth it and worth the speed so am considering getting a vpn service with that.

Why do you insist on locking in for 2 years before you've tried something? You can go month-to-month with Mullvad and I'm sure many others. I'd strongly suggest trying them out to make sure they meet your needs before signing up for a longer commitment. For myself, I'm using Mullvad and I've been pleasantly surprised by the speeds I've been getting.

 

[HappyDude20]

Why do you insist on locking in for 2 years before you've tried something? You can go month-to-month with Mullvad and I'm sure many others. I'd strongly suggest trying them out to make sure they meet your needs before signing up for a longer commitment. For myself, I'm using Mullvad and I've been pleasantly surprised by the speeds I've been getting.

Just cause the price offer is so good.

Lol

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

All you are doing is shifting the trust from your ISP to the "privacy" VPN provider who is still subject to the same lawful subpoenas.

Uh no. Some of us use them because we are away from home (and thus our ISP) and in hotels with public wifi that cannot be trusted for anything.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Uh no. Some of us use them because we are away from home (and thus our ISP) and in hotels with public wifi that cannot be trusted for anything.

You know you can set up a VPN behind your home firewall, and route all traffic through the VPN?

Annual cost $0.00/year. I prefer that vs paying some scummy "privacy" VPN provider.

 

[2021]

Just cause the price offer is so good.

Lol

Mullvad is the same price per month for any duration.

 

[HappyDude20]

Mullvad is the same price per month for any duration.

Definitely considering Mullvad. That or Surfshark seems easy to use and not worry about it.

 

[edubfromktown]

Wireguard on a Raspberry Pi 3+ (total cost including case and power adapter is under $50 total one time/no $ub$cription).

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

You know you can set up a VPN behind your home firewall, and route all traffic through the VPN?

Annual cost $0.00/year. I prefer that vs paying some scummy "privacy" VPN provider.

LOL, and go through all that? I prefer not to be my own IT department thank you very much. I’ve got better things to do with my time.