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To use a VPN or not?

do you use a VPN for day to day use on your home network?

  • Total voters
    3
  • Poll closed .
kaplaninternational

kaplaninternational

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 19, 2016
48
0
If you download torrents, not often but now and again - and in general, is it important to always use a VPN?

How many people here use VPN's? And what is really the pro's of them? I see many people using them
 
bolehVPN
only down side is no easy iPhone support, you can do the iPhone but takes some effort.


goto a web site, there are always tags that would identify you. Your MAC address for one. you can spoof your mac address but likely this will confuse your lan side. Your router will not know its you.
 
I don't understand your reply - so your saying, for a website to identify me is a bad thing? My point is really why use a VPN? Is it important to use one?
 
Depends. It can cause some websites to malfunction. (I could not get the login prompt for Comcast even if I wasn't using my VNP. I had to log in the VPN to get the Comcast login to work.) I don't use it at home unless I want access to geographically restricted websites. May use it in public or using public WiFi.

See:

 
how many people here use a VPN for day to day use at home?

And which is the best recommended VPN, I download torrents also but not that often, maybe like one torrent every 2 months
 
While I don't use a VPN for day to day use at home, I would use a VPN when I'm travelling abroad to bypass local state's censorship and privacy and security while using online banking in public hotspots. You will get a wide variety of answers with home usage, because it really depends where people live. If people live in democratic countries where they have almost zero internet censorship, then a VPN would be a waste of money. The only time people use a VPN is to bypass streaming services geo-location protection or they use bittorrent to download illegal and pirated files (music, video and software) to evade local enforcement. I don't think it's common, otherwise the VPN companies wouldn't keep offering discounted signup deals almost every year.

The 2 most popular VPN providers are NordVPN and Express VPN.
 
jeyf said:
bolehVPN
only down side is no easy iPhone support, you can do the iPhone but takes some effort.


goto a web site, there are always tags that would identify you. Your MAC address for one. you can spoof your mac address but likely this will confuse your lan side. Your router will not know its you.
Click to expand...
Your MAC address is not accessible by web sites you go to. MAC addresses are layer-2 addresses in a frame, but frames are stripped off at a router.

If you're using IPv6 with a EUI-64 address your MAC address might could be derived from the IPv6 address, but it's very unlikely that would be the case.
 
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work at home peeps:
working for a small company often they pay the vpn bill
its only $0.30/day where my totally basic internet bill is $80/mo

you all must live in a open democracy.
but a medium quality vpn provides some remediation for friends/family members living under a junk environment

a few years back the NYT had a link in their tech section to prove just how deep your home network can be scanned
it was bad.
 
I use NordVPN, but not routinely, only if I feel the need for extra privacy.

VPNs are not foolproof, and they come with a performance hit.

Hypothetically, if I was to download a torrent, I would turn on the VPN, download the torrent, and then turn it off again.
 
kaplaninternational said:
My point is really why use a VPN? Is it important to use one?
Click to expand...

In your context of "at home", I don't really think so. Not for normal people who aren't breaking the law and/or violating the terms they agreed to with their ISP.

But everyone should use one when using a Wi-Fi network other than their home, every time. (I know that's not what you asked, but I mention it for others reading this thread who aren't making the same "at home" distinction.)
 
ActionableMango said:
In your context of "at home", I don't really think so. Not for normal people who aren't breaking the law and/or violating the terms they agreed to with their ISP.
Click to expand...
 

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I think it depends on what you want to do. If you want to torrent or stream content, then it's a great way to protect yourself online. If you want to access more content on Netflix, VPN is also the way to go. If you're traveling or using public WiFi often, then I say you should also consider getting a VPN since it protects your data. On the other hand, you should be prepared to pay for it, cause free VPNs are not that reliable. I found this article where they mention all the use cases of a VPN, and you can decide if you need it by reading them: https://surfshark.com/use-cases
 
I don't use a vpn for personal use anymore, though I used to. Now I only use it at the office, we have nordvpn teams installed so whenever anyone needs to use it for remote work or geo-block we can. Apart from that, I'm good.
 
swimmer008 said:
I don't use a vpn for personal use anymore, though I used to. Now I only use it at the office, we have nordvpn teams installed so whenever anyone needs to use it for remote work or geo-block we can. Apart from that, I'm good.
Click to expand...

At your office what server are you running or even some routers have a a way to install a VPN Server! Heck even a PIon you work network can be setup as VPN server

See the video of PI VPN Server:
 
satcomer said:
At your office what server are you running or even some routers have a a way to install a VPN Server! Heck even a PIon you work network can be setup as VPN server

See the video of PI VPN Server:
Click to expand...


Just be careful, many organizations take a dim view of users connecting random hardware. :D
 
I use Mullvad, affordable and reliable.
Nord is only good if you want to watch Netflix from other countries(ie you live is US but want to connect to watch Netflix France shows). They were super great a while ago but after they got popular their network slowed down a ton! They do have excellent customer service, I must say.
 
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kaplaninternational said:
If you download torrents, not often but now and again - and in general, is it important to always use a VPN?

How many people here use VPN's? And what is really the pro's of them? I see many people using them
Click to expand...
Use this https://ipleak.net/ you will defo invest in a vpn.
I been using expressvpn for years plus they are not in the 5,9,14 eyes countries.
 
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Express VPN is excellent. Netflix works well.

FastestVPN is super cheap. Like USD 20 lifetime. Netflix doesn’t work. Rest all is well.
 
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