VPN
 

wots the best VPN site paid or free ive tried a few but all seem to have speed issues.

Re: VPN
 

Have a read of this:

http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-se...dition-140315/

I signed up for the first one yesterday and it works a treat. I haven't done any speedtests yet to see what my top speed is yet but I did some downloading yesterday evening and got ~5MB/sec. Not bad for £2/month.

Edit, just done a quick test on the UK server I am connected to and it has come back as 56/12

Re: VPN
 

I am fortunate to own a server in OVH Roubaix's datacenter, with access to a very 'fat' internet backbone, so I just configured my own VPN. I know it's not a solution for everyone, but if you have access to this kind of thing, its a far better solution than a paid vpn.

Re: VPN
 

Avast antivirus keeps popping-up a message asking me if I want to set up a VPN.

Re: VPN
 

true, but there was a special offer on on the way I have got (I would have had it anyway) which comes at £26 for the year and equates to just over £2/month. If it was something I needed to use to all the time for serious stuff I might like at other solutions but atm it just to access a few sites for a few mins everyday.

I wouldn't trust Avast for one, especially if it is free.

Re: VPN
 

If you have a Ripe IP block it comes up with your address details when you whois it, so don't rely on it for privacy.

Re: VPN
 

I got a VPN from PIA after it got good write up in the TF VPN round up about security and also from my boss that been using PIA for a while now.

Have to say I been very pleased with it and the two closest nodes that allow portforwarding .nl and .fr I can usually max out my DL through the VPN so speeds are good.

Their price for a year is really good as well so I can warmly recommend them. They also allow a trial think its 7 days to allow you to test it out before you buy.

Air VPN also good and afaik they will allow you to trial it they are a wee bit more pricey too.

Re: VPN
 

OVH are a pretty crap carrier to choose for hosting VPNs mainly because they limit UDP traffic to 50Mbps with a hard drop rule

---------- Post added at 07:37 ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 ----------

Except you can enter any fake details you want when registering it.

Re: VPN
 

Can someone summarise the benefits of paying out for a VPN? If you are just using the internet for browsing, streaming YT, NetFlix, iPlayer, etc. is it cost effective given you may be slowed way down from your headline VM speed plus is it compex to setup given all the devices you may have in the household?

What are the pros and cons?

Re: VPN
 

Or you could get much faster speed than via VM by bypassing congested routes or overloaded servers in VM's network

Re: VPN
 

That would be nice. How do we do that?

Re: VPN
 

You need to actually have congested routes on VM's network to go around first. If the problems are local to you or there are none and you're getting the performance you pay for you won't go quicker using a VPN.

Re: VPN
 

Or broken Youtube CDN servers.

Re: VPN
 

Easy to setup, just install the software to your devices

Pros, unlock any blocked website, hide your IP, unlock content not available in your country by changing location.

Cons, possible slower speeds.

I use Hotspot Shield Elite, costs £2.99 a month and provides upto 5 devices to be protected on one account. Currently use this on my Mac and iPhone with no problems. It offers you to connect to the following countries UK, USA, Japan, Australia, Canada and Germany. So far I've found it great for the UK and USA sites. I am on 152mbps broadband with VM but you won't get that behind a VPN as previous comments state from others, you get around 60mbps thats fine for me at least other devices on the network won't slow down. No download data limits. Its available on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. They offer a free trial for elite too.

Re: VPN
 

Other cons: Sites that track users by IP will be annoyed, and some do not allow people from using shared (i.e. VPN) addresses.

Re: VPN
 

The whole point of a VPN is users don't want to be tracked and stay protected, any sites that don't work just turn the VPN off temporally. All data coming through the VPN is encrypted hence slower speeds but stops your ISP from seeing what your downloading although some VPNs log activity.

Re: VPN
 

It's the bandwidth at the VPN provider that causes the slowdown rather than that it's encrypted.

Basic encryption isn't especially resource heavy now.

EDIT: Would be interesting to find out how many people use VPNs for generic privacy versus using them to get around geo-location restrictions versus using them to leech copyright content without the copyright police sending threat-o-grams.

Re: VPN
 

Protected from what? Your VPN provider will know everything you're doing, the service/website you are using will know everything you're doing, and your ISP will know you're trying to hide what you're doing.

Regardless, turning off VPN every time you want to visit certain websites is hardly a practical solution, particularly given the security implications (who these days only ever opens one web page and tab at a time?)

---------- Post added at 16:17 ---------- Previous post was at 16:16 ----------

Indeed. And many modern (<5 years old) CPUs have encryption offload built-in that can easily handle over 10 gigabits per second.

Re: VPN
 

The only reason I use a VPN is to get around geo-location lockouts, such as those which courts of ordered. I'm not concerned with privacy, as I don't download warez/movies/tv shows/music.

There IS valid and legal content on some of the torrent trackers, believe it or not.

Speed isn't a huge issue for me either, as the files I access are usually quite small.

Re: VPN
 

I am all 3

Re: VPN
 

Since when did courts order geo-location lockouts?

Re: VPN
 

I was referring to the court ordered blockades on tpb and other such sites mostly.

Re: VPN
 

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if a VPN can help is accessing the US content for NetFlix and Amazon Prime? We have both accounts and it seems that there is more/newer content in the US :)

I use the Chrome Hola extension to access NetFlix from a PC. This can be (sometimes) (chrome) cast to the TV if the wind is in the right direction.

What do people think of Hola and is a VPN better? I am thinking here of setting VPN up on my Asus N66U router and use selective routing for nominated services - something like this. Looks very complicated and possible fragile :( so I guess if a VPN provider is the best out-of-country content provider then it would need installing and activating

Re: VPN
 

it looks hardcore but it isn't. Anything after # doesn't matter because it is just a text descriptor for your reference and the router ignores it. As for everything else, it goes in the format of

ip address, subnet mask, destination

You are basically saying I want anything which falls within this specific ip range to go over the vpn


I understand what you mean but geo-location blocks and restrictions put in place based on geographical location and nothing else. Perfect examples would be that you can only access bbc iplayer if you are within the UK and stuff like Showtime if you are in the US. Every country in the world apart from England hasn't blocked their population from accessing BBC, it is the BBC who have restricted it to UK access.

Re: VPN
 

been thinking about this for "forums" etc.

Re: VPN
 

you should have a look at the one I signed up to, it is only £26 for the whole year, everything is encrypted and there are server locations in multiple countries. I love it.

Re: VPN
 

how much is your speed reduced by?

why is it reduced?

Re: VPN
 

It's reduced because the server has to retrieve the data, encrypt it and then send it to you, then you need to receive and decrypt it.

Depending on the size of the Connection feeding the server, how many other users there are and how good the transit is will affect the speed.

Re: VPN
 

I get a consistent 50mbits.

Re: VPN
 

I can easily get over 10Mb/s over my VPN connection, if I hadn't throttled my speed I would be able to get a bit more.

With a fast enough CPU you don't really take much hit in speed as long as the vpn node you are using isn't maxing out its bandwidth and not to far away like in another country, the speed above is me using a node in .nl

Re: VPN
 

How secure is using a service like Blockless DNS service. Wife wants to look at what's on US netlix.

Re: VPN
 

I don't think the traffic is encrypted but if you only want to use US Netflix then it doesn't need to be. There is a one week free trial so give it a go.

Re: VPN
 

Cheers Mate. Will give it a try.

Re: VPN
 

Looks like it only changes the DNS response so you hit the US netflix cluster, does nothing to hide your IP so if they wanted to Netflix could still easily tell you are in the UK.

I suspect at some-point they will be forced by the content providers to crack down on it.

Re: VPN
 

Recently signed up with Ghostpath seems ok, some speed drop.

Cheap as chips as $30 for a year was a Black Friday deal but I signed up just before XMAS and fortunately my next years renewal is also showing up as $30.

Re: VPN
 

cool. I got my vpn connection on special offer for £26 in December as well. My subscription for a previous one had expired and I wasn't going to renew it but all of a sudden a tonne of blocks dropped down and I wasn't able to access some sites which I use everyday. I spent some time looking at various vpn providers and the one I went with is supposed to be one of the best so it is a bonus that it was cheap as well. There are multiple servers I can connect to in multiple countries and they don't keep any logs of anything.

Re: VPN
 

I think I have/had an account with them, same as others here got an offer at some point.

Used to use it when on open wi-fi hotspots (E.g hotel, coffee shop.etc)

Re: VPN
 

I can highly recommend https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/buy-vpn/

If you go for a full year it's only $39.95 half a year is $35.95 they do monthly as well also let you do a free trial for 7 days I think so you can test it out before you buy it.

They have several nodes in lots of countries so you can use an US one to get an US IP to get your Netflix US.

Re: VPN
 

WOW! Cheap as chips on Black Friday and the renewal is also cheap as chips!

Is that on Black Friday too?

Re: VPN
 

I use StrongVPN, I get 53 down and 3 up (I am on the 50MB package).

I am not sure what is the top speed of this, but so far it max out my connection ;)

Re: VPN
 

http://www.mostsecurevpn.com

I found this. Any other recommendations for a good VPN

Re: VPN
 

Have a look at this: http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-se...dition-140315/

I got PIA from that review also trialled AirVPN which was good but more expensive.

Re: VPN
 

Cheers Jumping. PIA looks the one.

Re: VPN
 

I been using it for months and got some work colleagues that are also happy with their services.

I would highly recommend you to trial it first though just to see if its ok for you etc.

Re: VPN
 

For those of you who solely want a vpn to gain access to Netflix in the states should know that they are starting to crack down on anyone who uses a vpn or other tools to bypass geolocation restrictions.

http://torrentfreak.com/netflix-crac...orrentfreak%29

Re: VPN
 

me too, it works a treat and it is nice to have the peace of mind if the various methods of anonymity they provide.

Re: VPN
 

+1

Re: VPN
 

If I were in that position I would keep a couple of VPN addressees up my sleeve.

Re: VPN
 

It's easier for them to block than for you to subscribe to yet another service.

Re: VPN
 

From the linked torrentfreak report

"TorGuard told us that if Netflix continues with a strict ban policy, they will provide an easy solution to bypass the blocks"

Re: VPN
 

Of course they will. Isn't like they're trying to sell something to people so why would they lie about their product?

Netflix can block anything TorGuard can legally put out there sadly.

Re: VPN
 

Can does not mean will. It would cost a fortune to police every single VPN and proxy out there.

Re: VPN
 

It could be done largely automatically with a minion to review and click the button.

Any time multiple connections are coming from different Netflix IDs on the same IP can raise eyebrows. Those connections coming from a datacentre ups the confidence level some more and the odds of a false positive can be reduced as residential IP pools are easy enough to find.

Using trials or even brief subscriptions to the VPNs to obtain endpoints is another possibility.

None of this requires massive technical skill or expensive and for a company of Netflix's size a full time compliance minion verifying the reports the security team generate shouldn't be a big deal.

It hasn't been done because Netflix haven't felt the need to get serious about it, much as the BBC haven't gotten serious on people using VPNs to view iPlayer. If the people they purchase rights from lean on them enough they'll get it sorted.

EDIT: Think about it this way - block the 'big' boys and people jump ship. Suddenly a new bunch of IP addresses start connecting en masse with lots of different Netflix IDs and appear in the reports. Repeat with the new outlier. Keep on going.

Re: VPN
 

If only it were that simple.

I'm not sure this happens as much as you think it does. A lot of the existing bypasses don't even use a VPN but simply fiddle with the DNS. So for a start, you have to be careful you know which IP's originate from which countries - something that isn't always accurate, but sure that's doable.

Next, you're assuming that VPN's don't have a swathe of IP's to route. I know a few that have plenty to put their customers on. Even if they don't, that's short term at best as Netflix fully supports IPv6 and it would be trivial to tunnel traffic through that, even to clients that don't support it. Good luck filtering that by volume.

How do you know it's coming from a datacentre? An IP doesn't give you any indication of where it's physically located and is not an identifier of anything other than a machine. This has gone through courts multiple times in multiple countries and they generally come to the same conclusions - IPs do not identify people.

This much is true, Netflix doesn't care, but they're feeling pressure from the media companies who are stuck in the dark ages.

Again, see above. It wouldn't make business sense for a VPN to lose all those customers without doing something about it - and there's plenty they could do.

Like I said before, it's possible, but it's just not feasible.

Re: VPN
 

I agree with Ignition. It is that simple.

It's a lot easier than you think. All IP addresses are allocated to specific countries and specific entities in that country by global, then regional regulatory authorities. Nobody can simply pick an IP out of the air and use it.

Again, all IPs must be officially registered with the relevant regulatory body. Allocations are usually done in blocks, and information on who owns what block is freely available from the regulators. Once you find an offending body it's trivial to list every IP that company is allowed to use and ban them all.

An IP address also identifies the company that owns it.

I disagree. If they were lazy they could just whitelist the major US ISPs and block everything else.

Re: VPN
 

And yet, every single IP database out there has errors and omissions in it.

Yet they couldn't even do that with the pirate bay?

Which is not necessarily the company that's using it.

And block thousands and thousands of legitimate customers. Plus that would sort of go against the whole net-neutrality thing.

Re: VPN
 

There is only one official database.

They could and did - The Pirate Bay itself was blocked pretty easily. Numerous proxies sprung up which were run in different countries by different people, which poses a different sort of target than one VPN provider, and to be fair, dozens of those have been blocked now too.

It's the only company legally allowed to use it, bar delegation and sub-assignment which require the owner information to be updated.

They've already said they're perfectly happy blocking "legitimate" users sharing the same VPN. And Netflix aren't exactly glowing beacons of net neutrality, seeing as they have several premium payment arrangements with various ISPs so that their content can get delivered faster.

Re: VPN
 

Looks like they've changed their mind on that one.


But Netflix says there’s nothing new about its strategy, and maintains that it’s OK for subscribers to use virtual private networks (VPNs) as long as they can be verified as accessing the service within the country they’re authorized for.

(scource http://variety.com/2015/digital/news...rs-1201392527/)

Re: VPN
 

That's not really changed their mind - they're being forced by content providers to block VPNs that are "created for the primary intent of bypassing geo-restrictions". If a legitimate user is using a VPN the media companies have determined to be "created for the primary intent of bypassing geo-restrictions" then they're gonna* get blocked.

*Probably.

Re: VPN
 

Easy enough - a swift cross-reference of billing address against the Netflix localisation the subscriber is trying to use.

Re: VPN
 

This is what I've always wondered. It would be trivial for them to figure out where the subscriber was located based on any number of factors related to billing, yet they don't seem to care.

Hopefully the movie studios will be ignorant of that for a while yet.

Re: VPN
 

They clearly do care:

Re: VPN
 

Then how come it's so trivial for anyone with any netflix account to view content from other regions?

Re: VPN
 

Clearly, they're not very good at what they're trying.

Re: VPN
 

Or they just don't care.

Re: VPN
 

I quote again:

Re: VPN
 

Yeah, what they say and what they do are very different things. It's not in Netflix's interest to **** off the content providers.

Re: VPN
 

Not really in their interest to bleep off their customers either. Sadly, they are really just an intermediary, with media companies holding the lions share of the dictating power. Stuck between a rock and a hard place are where Netflix are.

Re: VPN
 

Indeed, which is why they'll publicly say they're doing everything they can.

Re: VPN
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30726631

Do we believe them.

Re: VPN
 

"For example, items of hardware such as DVD players were designed only to be compatible with media designated to the same geographical region."

My DVD player (new or old) has been region free for many years now. Easiest thing to circumvent.

Re: VPN
 

Hmm

---------- Post added at 17:47 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------

I think they're just trying to illustrate the point that "region locking" is a long-standing practice and not new to online distribution.

Re: VPN
 

I don't get it, if you are a tv production company and knock out something like 24, you are going to want everyone to see it and not just x million people in America. The fact that there is this issue with people trying to access the content is a testament to the demand for it and all Netflix need to do is negotiate the right price for it with the distributors and then pass that cost onto the customer. E.g. price going up from £11/month (I have no idea what it is) to £15/month for unlimited access to the entire library. There should be one global where everything is shared. All the actors, script writers, directors etc like you to believe they are making "art" so it should be able to be appreciated by everyone.

Re: VPN
 

The media industry rarely works in logical ways.

Furthermore, often a particular company only owns rights to a product in any given region, and a different company has exclusive rights in other countries.

Re: VPN
 

I know I have previously stated (twice) that I seemed to max out around 6MB/sec on my vpn, I am doing some chunky downloading atm and it is holding steady at 9.5MB/sec which I think is excellent for a Saturday evening so that equates to 80mbits for those who are still looking.

Re: VPN
 

http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...lock-vpn-users

Another Netflix comment !

Re: VPN
 

I can see why Netflix would want to tighten account security because you don't want multiple people/premises sharing the same account, but if additional people want to pay and subscribe through a vpn when they would otherwise be unable to do so then Netflix would be silly to throw away the money.

Re: VPN
 

I think netflix/the studios are missing a massive trick. Think of the people that are paying for VPNs and how much they're paying each month - the studios should be looking into expanding their licensing restrictions to allow those from other regions to access the for a higher fee.

Re: VPN
 

exactly, if people are willing to pay for vpns just so they can access the content, then they will be willing to pay a premium for access to a quality service.

Re: VPN
 

Again, the problem is often nothing to do with 'expanding' the rights, it's the fact they've already sold exclusive rights to somebody else. If you sign a multi-million dollar contract guaranteeing you will not sell the product to anyone else and then do so anyway, you're going to get sued pretty quick. Never mind the reputation hit...

Re: VPN
 

Absolutely, but that's not something that can't ever be fixed. When it comes to renewing deals and selling future rights, they should be keeping all this in mind. Exclusive streaming rights should come at a premium.

Re: VPN
 

Something that can't ever be fixed is the entire attitude of the media industry as a whole. It's far too incomprehensible for me to understand but it's proven time and time again to be based on retarded leadership and a severely distorted view of reality.

I wouldn't count on them doing anything sensible, ever. Just look at their "war on piracy"... Over a decade running and they haven't figured it out yet.

Re: VPN
 

That's just it though, eventually it'll reach a point whereby they can either stop being stupid or become irrelevant in today's digital age. Move with the times or die.

Re: VPN
 

And naive folk have been saying that since 2002:

http://www.zeropaid.com/cat/news/page/325/

Re: VPN
 

Hi folks, im thinking of joining Private Internet Access and have a couple of questions some of you may be able to help me with.

Ive been using the Tor Browser for a while now and was wondering is there any real need to keep using it with the VPN?

Also ive seen people saying they pay by anonymous means. Is there any reason not to use paypal as using a VPN is not illegal in itself and if they keep no logs of your activity whats the problem? Also out of interest would pre paid credit cards work?

Why cant life just be simple! :)

Re: VPN
 

there is no reason to pay by anonymous means at all. Do you pay for your shopping from Asda anonymously? So what if somebody can see you paid £20 to PIA. If they cant see what you did and when you did it then no harm done.

Re: VPN
 

I'd forget Tor Browser for now as their are many sites and forums that block Tor connections due to spam bot activity.

There are VPNs that accept paypal and there is no reason why they would't accept prepaid credit card payments. They don't know your card is a pre paid one.

Re: VPN
 

Bad analogy right there, im not trying to protect my privacy in any way when i go shopping.

The point to paying by anonymous means i would imagine is the fact that if the VPN do keep logs then they would not be able to link that information to you. For this to work of course you would have to make sure to always connect to your VPN over Tor / Proxy etc otherwise they could still link you by your IP address and paying anonymousy would have been a waste of time anyway.

Ive been doing some reading and would ask do you really trust your VPN provider when they tell you they dont keep logs?

https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/8383/ea...ops-find-logs/

http://www.zdnet.com/article/hide-my...-lulzsec-logs/


Private internet access state in their own terms of service that any activity which breaches or violates their terms and conditions may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities as deemed reasonably necessary.
They claim to keep no logs what so ever, so how can they disclose information which they do not have.

https://www.privateinternetaccess.co...ms-of-service/


Is using a VPN money will spent to protect ones privacy or would i just be paying for a false sence of security???

Re: VPN
 

something has got to be better than nothing. And whilst I am not a lawyer, you must be able to sue their asses off if when they make such grandiose statements about not keeping any records at all therefore they have nothing to handover if anyone asks, only for them to do the opposite.

Re: VPN
 

Or perhaps that's the point. From the legal point of view, they're complying fully with the authorities - handing over any information they have when required by law enforcement. From a customer point of view, they're still protecting your privacy - because they have nothing to hand over.

Re: VPN
 

they cant have the best of both worlds though. If they proclaim to not keep any records of anything and specifically not have anything to hand over to law enforcement, then they shouldn't be able to turn around and do it.

Re: VPN
 

I think you're missing the point.

The idea is when law enforcement asks them to hand over the data they hand over nothing and say "This is all we have". Technically, they've handed over everything they have - which is nothing.

Re: VPN
 

Ahh, that would be me :)

Re: VPN
 

If that is the case then all is good but the impression i was getting from previous posts was that providers were actually keeping records and handing them over

Re: VPN
 

Well, some providers are. There was a good article a while back on exactly what different providers track and exactly what they're capable of handing over if forced to. Not all 'anonymous' providers are equal.

Re: VPN
 

when choosing my new vpn provider before xmas I read this article first and took note of the following:

1) We absolutely do not log any traffic nor session data of any kind, period.
2) We operate out of the US which is one of the few, if only, countries without a mandatory data retention law.
3) We do not monitor any traffic, period
4) since we do not log or monitor anything, we’re unable to identify any users of our service


This is what I was referring to in a previous post when I said I would get very mardy if after all that they turned around and handed stuff over to the police et al.

Re: VPN
 

If they're in the US their hard drives and routers probably already have NSA rootkits in the firmware.

Re: VPN
 

I am glad the NSA are so concerned about me watching The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.

Re: VPN
 

Agreed, and Private internet access certainly looks the best of the bunch.

This is how i take it, i just wanted to get other opinions.


This might be old news to you guys but check out this link, it tells you about a security flaw FOR VPN users.
VPN users are facing a massive security flaw as websites can easily see their home IP-addresses through WebRTC. The vulnerability is limited to supporting browsers such as Firefox and Chrome, and appears to affect Windows users only. Luckily the security hole is relatively easy to fix.

https://torrentfreak.com/huge-securi...resses-150130/

Re: VPN
 

Its not a flaw, actually. It's by design.

WebRTC was designed to enable peer to peer transfers and voice communication over the web. Both of which would be impossible without access to the machines real IP. Therefore WebRTC has to make the machines real IP available.

Just because people make assumptions and don't follow what capabilities are provided for in design specs, doesn't make capabilities they didn't realise it had equal a flaw.

TorrentFreak reported it as a flaw, because it can affect the anonymity of VPN tunnels, which is true, it can affect the anonymity of VPN tunnels, but that doesn't make it a flaw. Its doing exactly what its meant to do.

I personally would class it as a vulnerability not a flaw. Its easily worked around too, the firefox addon 'NoScript' will block the WebRTC request.