Which VPN to pick?

[noormcs5]

Choosing Virtual Private Network (VPN) is just only use to change your Internet Protocol (IP) and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or server just to open or browse some of the website or platform that is not acceptable on your country, also you can use the Http Injector, OpenVPN (Ovpn) or the SSH Elite if you want to browse some of the VPN but some of this requires some configuration that you will get through the groups related on that VPN most of the time they are giving server in the country of SG, PH, US, KR or CH.

If we don't use any vpn but instead use the TOR browser, will it serve the same purpose ? For example i want to open a site which is restricted in my country. So instead of using vpn, i open the site in TOR browser ? Will that be the same as using a VPN ?

[o_e_l_e_o]

Nobody like VPN (slow connection) except for hiding IP or privacy purpose.

Good VPNs aren't slow. Maybe if you are using some free VPN (which you shouldn't be, since they almost unanimously collect and sell your data), but if you are using a reputable paid VPN, you shouldn't see your speed drop by more than a couple of percent.

If we don't use any vpn but instead use the TOR browser, will it serve the same purpose ?

Generally speaking no, Tor and VPNs do not serve the same purpose, although they can achieve similar outcomes in some situations.

For example i want to open a site which is restricted in my country. So instead of using vpn, i open the site in TOR browser ? Will that be the same as using a VPN ?

Depends where your Tor exit node is located, as it might also be in a banned country. You can get round this by swapping to a new circuit for the site in question.

[alani123]

If you're into Linux, you could rent a VPS with unlimited traffic (for example one provider) and then also rent some IPs from some ISP to run your own VPN with an open source service. This way you don't have to trust a third party company. Of course that takes much more work, so I wouldn't recommend it because the learning curve if you're new is steep.

So there's also value in using a service some times. For such uses, I would always recommend IVPN. I think they're the most transparent and privacy friendly VPN. So if the purpose is privacy and security, they're the best or at least one of the best among service.

[CryptocurencyKing]

The choice on VPN is going to be confusing because, we are only going to speak out of the once that worked for us and discredit the once we haven't tested but then on my part, I'll say you go with it if your research tells you it's good.
Though, I use VPN proxy master.

[o_e_l_e_o]

quote author=CryptocurencyKing link=topic=5225792.msg54781949#msg54781949 date=1594579323]
Though, I use VPN proxy master.[/quote]
VPN Proxy Master have a privacy policy which is 50% plagiarized, and 50% in non-understandable broken English. Have a look here for more details: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/vpn-proxy-master. They are definitely one to avoid.

If I am wrong about my guessing then you could try Cyberghost.

CyberGhost are another one to avoid. See my previous post in this thread here for reasons why: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5225792.msg53955119#msg53955119

The choice on VPN is going to be confusing because, we are only going to speak out of the once that worked for us and discredit the once we haven't tested

I've never recommended a specific VPN, because different people need and use VPNs for different reasons, and there is not a single best "one size fits all" VPN for all requirements. All I do is point out which ones have terrible privacy policies, have poor nietrack records, have been bought out by compas with poor history on privacy or shady ethics, and so forth.

If you are serious about choosing a good VPN, then here are the places you should start reading:
https://thatoneprivacysite.net/choosing-the-best-vpn-for-you/
https://www.privacytools.io/providers/vpn/

[bob123]

I've never recommended a specific VPN, because different people need and use VPNs for different reasons, and there is not a single best "one size fits all" VPN for all requirements.

Most people don't really need a VPN.
They believe a VPN increases their privacy and security, which is plain wrong.

Depending on the country you live in, a VPN provider might be more trustworthy than your ISP. But this definitely does not apply to the western world.
Anyone using a VPN to protect his privacy, is doing something wrong.

The majority of people asking questions about VPNs actually shouldn't use one because there are better alternatives available which do not completely invade their privacy.

[Assface16678]

I'm not a real fan with the use of the NordVPN instead I'm using an HTTP injector and OpenVPN because they have a slow internet connection sometimes and at the same time some of the countries are prohibited and you need to pay them just to get the country that you want to use.

But the problem on using those I gave is you need a configuration to find out which country and those needs to have a password and user name only a few groups are offering those ones who creates the configuration but still it took almost a month before this expires and this is an absolutely free so it is good for me too.

I've never recommended a specific VPN, because different people need and use VPNs for different reasons, and there is not a single best "one size fits all" VPN for all requirements.

Most people don't really need a VPN.
They believe a VPN increases their privacy and security, which is plain wrong.

Depending on the country you live in, a VPN provider might be more trustworthy than your ISP. But this definitely does not apply to the western world.
Anyone using a VPN to protect his privacy, is doing something wrong.

The majority of people asking questions about VPNs actually shouldn't use one because there are better alternatives available which do not completely invade their privacy.

If you want to browse into the world of internet anonymously it is good to use a VPN but still one of the problem js the server or the ISP who gives to you.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Depending on the country you live in, a VPN provider might be more trustworthy than your ISP. But this definitely does not apply to the western world.

I agree that Tor is often a better choice than VPNs (and have said as much in multiple other posts), but I disagree with this. I would argue that this statement definitely applies to the Western World.

Most of the Western World practices mass surveillance of their citizens, especially 5/9/14-eyes countries. This includes ISPs logging your internet activities and browsing history against your real name and address. Their privacy policies allow them to record everything they possibly can about you and share that with anyone at all that they want to, including government surveillance programs and three letter agencies.

I would much sooner trust a VPN provider located in a privacy respecting nation such as NordVPN in Panama or ProtonVPN in Switzerland than I would any American ISP.

[AakZaki]

When talking about VPN issues that must be chosen, of course you should consider some of the services provided by the VPN provider, such as:
Trusted VPN Provider: Trustworthy audited privacy policies independently design the system to avoid storing users' personal data.
Compatible with all devices that you use: so it will be easier for you to use the VPN service on all devices you have.
A variety of features that you need that will make you comfortable using the VPN service.
Both are available in various locations: so you can choose the location of the closest server so that the connection is faster.
and the last is customer support that must be online 24 hours: so that if there is an error or other problems can immediately report and respond quickly

[lolibums]

https://thatoneprivacysite.net/#detailed-vpn-comparison

This spreadsheet is really useful for VPN comparison. It's incredibly details and will help you narrow down your choices based on what factors you consider the most important in a VPN.

[noormcs5]

There are some free VPN and many have the premier or paid versions. If we use the free ones, will we be compromising on our privacy ?

What's the benefit of paid versions except it offers more locations to connect and few other features ?

[o_e_l_e_o]

There are some free VPN and many have the premier or paid versions. If we use the free ones, will we be compromising on our privacy ?

What's the benefit of paid versions except it offers more locations to connect and few other features ?

Free VPNs are generally a no-go.

VPN providers have to make their money somewhere, otherwise they would go broke and stop operating. It costs money to pay for servers, pay for bandwidth, host their website, develop their app, and so on. As the old saying goes, if you are getting something for free, then you are the product. With free VPNs, your data is their product. They log everything you do, build a profile of your activities, which they can sell to ad agencies, marketing companies, data aggregators, political entities, and so on. Using a free VPN will make your privacy worse, not better.

Paid VPNs generally offer more locations, more bandwidth, better speeds, more devices at a time, as well as a lot of technical features such as choosing UDP or TCP, choosing ports, choosing encryption methods, etc. which you generally don't get with free VPNs. The good paid VPNs (but definitely not all paid VPNs) also don't log your data and don't sell it to third parties.

The only free VPN I would ever even consider using would be ProtonVPN, since their free service is subsidized by their paid services. Having said that, if you only need a VPN for a short period, LoyceV told me about Mullvad, which allows you to pay for days or even hours rather than a monthly or annual subscription.

[LoyceV]

Having said that, if you only need a VPN for a short period, LoyceV told me about Mullvad, which allows you to pay for days or even hours rather than a monthly or annual subscription.

That still works And until they accept LN (Lightning Network Bitcoin), I'm ashamed to admit I usually pay them in BCH, because they accept it with zero confirmations (unlike BTC), so it only takes about a minute to activate.

[OpeningVN]

I rarely use VPN on a PC, most of the time I use it on my phone and the app I use is Turbo VPN (I use the mod version), it has a lot of options with so many countries, most they all work fine. I rate it 8/10.
With PC version, I recommen you use: ChrisPC Free VPN Connection

[lovesmayfamilis]

Free VPNs are generally a no-go.

I completely agree with you.
A good motivation not to use free VPNs should be the recent news about how easy it is to hack them and get user data.

Seven 'no log' VPN providers accused of leaking – yup, you guessed it – 1.2TB of user logs onto the internet

https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/17/ufo_vpn_database/

[o_e_l_e_o]

I'm ashamed to admit I usually pay them in BCH, because they accept it with zero confirmations (unlike BTC), so it only takes about a minute to activate.

Boo. Also, that makes no sense. Given that BCH's hash rate is only around 2% of bitcoin's hash rate, it takes significantly longer for a BCH transaction to be as secure or "final" as a BTC one. What is their rationale behind this?

-snip-

Please read the thread before replying. Free VPNs are terrible and should be completely avoided. You are making your privacy and security worse by using them

A good motivation not to use free VPNs should be the recent news about how easy it is to hack them and get user data.

Wow. Proof that even when free VPNs explicitly state they do not keep logs (see the below quote from UFO VPN's Privacy Policy), they are blatantly lying and are selling you out to third parties. As I said above, they have to make their money somewhere, or else they wouldn't exist.

UFO VPN does not collect, monitor, or log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network service, under any circumstances, on any platform.

[LoyceV]

I'm ashamed to admit I usually pay them in BCH, because they accept it with zero confirmations (unlike BTC), so it only takes about a minute to activate.

Boo. Also, that makes no sense. Given that BCH's hash rate is only around 2% of bitcoin's hash rate, it takes significantly longer for a BCH transaction to be as secure or "final" as a BTC one. What is their rationale behind this?

I don't know, but if I'd have to guess: BCH gets confirmed quite quickly with a low fee, while BTC can remain unconfirmed for a very long time. I don't think they worry much about a 51% attack, which is unlikely to happen because of paying $5 for a VPN.

[noormcs5]

There are some free VPN and many have the premier or paid versions. If we use the free ones, will we be compromising on our privacy ?

What's the benefit of paid versions except it offers more locations to connect and few other features ?

Free VPNs are generally a no-go.

VPN providers have to make their money somewhere, otherwise they would go broke and stop operating. It costs money to pay for servers, pay for bandwidth, host their website, develop their app, and so on. As the old saying goes, if you are getting something for free, then you are the product. With free VPNs, your data is their product. They log everything you do, build a profile of your activities, which they can sell to ad agencies, marketing companies, data aggregators, political entities, and so on. Using a free VPN will make your privacy worse, not better.

Paid VPNs generally offer more locations, more bandwidth, better speeds, more devices at a time, as well as a lot of technical features such as choosing UDP or TCP, choosing ports, choosing encryption methods, etc. which you generally don't get with free VPNs. The good paid VPNs (but definitely not all paid VPNs) also don't log your data and don't sell it to third parties.

The only free VPN I would ever even consider using would be ProtonVPN, since their free service is subsidized by their paid services. Having said that, if you only need a VPN for a short period, LoyceV told me about Mullvad, which allows you to pay for days or even hours rather than a monthly or annual subscription.

I never used a paid VPN that i always experience a slow speed when i connect with VPN. However I will try both ProtonVPN and Mullvad.
If we need to go for a paid VPN, which one is most cheap and yet effective ?

[Shimmiry]

I also used Nord VPN, and it is also alright for me to used Nord VPN because it is comfortable to use and has a good user-interface. But the problem in Nord VPN is it is slow because it has a lot of users, since a lot of famous people advertise and promote Nord VPN. So I also suggest used Proton VPN because it also great as Nord VPN.

[lovesmayfamilis]

I never used a paid VPN that i always experience a slow speed when i connect with VPN. However I will try both ProtonVPN and Mullvad.
If we need to go for a paid VPN, which one is most cheap and yet effective ?

You must determine for yourself what you want to get using VPN. If you really need anonymity, the security of your data, you do not need to start from the "cheap" price
Anything that is free or shareware will never work well. It's strange that in 2020 we still keep talking about it.
Take the time to study the issue competently. Maybe you should create your own VPN?
Of course, we always stick to the question, why do we need all this?
You need to understand that your data is not yours if you trust the service with the sign "Free"