VPN Recomendation.

[ukracer]

I have been with Nord VPN for 5 years but like broadband existing customers are asked for more.

So I am not sure whether to let it lapse and take a new one out.
Or search for a new provider.

So I am open to suggestions.

One of the biggest problems is a lot of these companies have add ons already attached making comparison difficult.

 

[Pilgrim22]

I use Express Vpn and I can recommend them. I'm currently in South America and can access all UK TV channels with no lag. You can use it on 5 devices simultaneously and it is a doodle to set up an use.
If you decide to go for it let me know I think I have a promotion code you can have.

 

[Onthespotwelding]

Proton vpn.

Based in switzland. extremely strong privacy and top grade encryption, tracker, ad blocker and malware protection to.

 

[Kayos]

What is it used for? Work or just staying anonymous?

 

[fractured]

How much do these services cost?

 

[Pilgrim22]

Both.
I can use it to ' appear' to be in the UK when I am overseas, giving me access to I player etc.
I also use it when I need to connect to WiFi in a hotel, airport, coffee shop etc as these connections are rarely secure.
Also your Internet service provider is obliged to record all you activity that passes through their servers. This will give you a secure tunnel through their servers to the Vpn server.

 

[Pilgrim22]

How much do these services cost?

Around a £5 a month.

 

[25.4_mechanic]

Or search for a new provider.

ZENmate -> https://zenmate.com

Cheap, fast, the for me most important BBC, C4, ServusTV, ORF, SRF are working good - almost no setup to do - and I'm very safety conscious - leftover from very long stretches of my professional activity.

Over 2 years about € 1.99/month or even less ... several devices covered, never used up all possible

 

[ajlelectronics]

Both.
I can use it to ' appear' to be in the UK when I am overseas, giving me access to I player etc.
I also use it when I need to connect to WiFi in a hotel, airport, coffee shop etc as these connections are rarely secure.
Also your Internet service provider is obliged to record all you activity that passes through their servers. This will give you a secure tunnel through their servers to the Vpn server.

So are the VPN providers. There are very few, if any who would not hand over logs if requested. Whether that is a problem or not depends on the traffic, to someone like J.A. it would be vital of course.

Your ISP will also be aware that you are connected to a VPN.

 

[Pilgrim22]

So are the VPN providers. There are very few, if any who would not hand over logs if requested. Whether that is a problem or not depends on the traffic, to someone like J.A. it would be vital of course.

Your ISP will also be aware that you are connected to a VPN.

The majority of Vpn providers keep no logs so there is nothing to hand over.
A Vpn provider based in the UK may be required to maintain logs but they are almost all based abroad.
I've no idea who or what J. A. is.
Why would it make any difference the you ips knows you use a vpn?

 

[cheb]

I use ExpressVPN. They claim to keep no logs. JA being Julian Assange possibly.

I've no problems with my ISP but the BBC website doesn't behave properly sometimes, times out in less than a second, won't load properly, ignores page requests and similar. These things rarely happen if I turn of the VPN so my diagnosis is that the BBC don't like VPNs, hard darts to them.

Several other sites like to check it's not a bot signing in and demand a recaptcha be completed before finishing the login process.

 

[cheb]

I use ExpressVPN, they claim to keep no logs. JA being Julian Assange possibly.

I've no problems with my ISP but the BBC website doesn't behave properly sometimes, times out in less than a second, won't load properly, ignores page requests and similar. These things rarely happen if I turn of the VPN so my diagnosis is that the BBC don't like VPNs, hard darts to them.

Several other sites like to check it's not a bot signing in and demand a recaptcha be completed before finishing the login process.

 

[mtt.tr]

Seems strange that you would pay to put your privacy into an entity based abroad and decide that is more secure than a standard ISP, personally think that is misguided.


I completely understand companies using them but they are paying big money to well known and regulated providers.

As an individual nobody malware/spyware from a bad download or phishing is the real threat, a VPN won't protect from this

 

[skotl]

SurfShark for me - "just works"

Like so many competitors, though, its pricing seems to be in fantasy land so hunt around for a deal. List price is £10 a month, currently on for £2 a month but I got it for £30 for 3 years. This wacky pricing model isn't unique to SurfShark though...

 

[ukracer]

SurfShark for me - "just works"

Like so many competitors, though, its pricing seems to be in fantasy land so hunt around for a deal. List price is £10 a month, currently on for £2 a month but I got it for £30 for 3 years. This wacky pricing model isn't unique to SurfShark though...

58 quid for 2 years is the cheapest I can see.

 

[ajlelectronics]

The majority of Vpn providers keep no logs so there is nothing to hand over.

Ah, blissful ignorance. Any server in "Five Eyes" territory will be logging and passing the logs when requested, even if they claim not to. From the article in Computer Active, it seems that there are not many anywhere, who are honest about their record keeping, especially at the free / low cost end of the market.

A Vpn provider based in the UK may be required to maintain logs but they are almost all based abroad.

Look up "Five Eyes".

I've no idea who or what J. A. is.

Someone to whom these things matter, Julian Assange.

Why would it make any difference the you ips knows you use a vpn?

To most of us it probably doesn't. However if you (like JA) need to be anonymous, you are telling your ISP which VPN to demand the logs of your activity from.

For normal domestic use, none of this really matters, but to many political groups and individuals they definitely do. TOR is another option for those people but apparently the Ruskis are trying to make it unuseable with DOS attacks, although according to Computer Active, it is quite slow to begin with because it relies on domestic equipment for the three relays.

 

[armalites]

I had never had VPN before but recently signed to Nord, got a 28 month deal for about £60-70 I think.

I have nothing to compare it with but it works fine and we have the app on our Firestick which has already allowed us to watch stuff that we were not able to watch before and that was the primary reason for buying.

Even though I work in IT I had not really thought too much about how the system works until a colleague gave me access to his NAS drive via Plex. The access was so slow nothing was watchable I then remembered Nord VPN was connected. We were using a French server and as soon as I disconnected Plex worked perfectly. I am assuming it was slow because the data was being routed from the UK to France and back.

 

[mtt.tr]

I had never had VPN before but recently signed to Nord, got a 28 month deal for about £60-70 I think.

I have nothing to compare it with but it works fine and we have the app on our Firestick which has already allowed us to watch stuff that we were not able to watch before and that was the primary reason for buying.

Even though I work in IT I had not really thought too much about how the system works until a colleague gave me access to his NAS drive via Plex. The access was so slow nothing was watchable I then remembered Nord VPN was connected. We were using a French server and as soon as I disconnected Plex worked perfectly. I am assuming it was slow because the data was being routed from the UK to France and back.

Essentially your requests go to the VPN
The VPN repackets the request which hides the ip and send it on
The receiver sends it back to the VPN
The VPN sends it back to you.


What's not removed is all the packet data which means that you are still trackable via the breadcrumbs , the VPN ofcourse sees everything.


If I was a rouge agent I'd set up loads of Vpns advertise aggressively about why you need one, this way I don't have to work to source data, you give it to me and pay for it.

It happened with encryption the CIA set up companies selling encryption then stole information.


But yeah Vpns make you safer

 

[J1nx]

Both.
I can use it to ' appear' to be in the UK when I am overseas, giving me access to I player etc.
I also use it when I need to connect to WiFi in a hotel, airport, coffee shop etc as these connections are rarely secure.
Also your Internet service provider is obliged to record all you activity that passes through their servers. This will give you a secure tunnel through their servers to the Vpn server.

Can you not just create your own VPN for these purposes?

 

[Screwdriver]

Private Internet Access (P.I.A.) £44 for 28 months.

There is some additional privacy but for me it's torrenting or P2P filesharing which your ISP might not like and they can throttle your internet or remove access to certain websites.

Accidentally left a bunch of downloads in a bittorrent window and the next day got a stinky email from Sony! (Might have been from BT who had been contacted by Sony but this was ages ago and I think that torrent service was later busted).