5 ms·

I’ve been a Mullvad user for a while now and it’s a really great service. Good speeds, good apps for mobile and desktop, and the flexibility to use wireguard yo

I’ve been a Mullvad user for a while now and it’s a really great service. Good speeds, good apps for mobile and desktop, and the flexibility to use wireguard yourself if needed. I stopped using privateinternetaccess when their ownership stuff became really sketchy. I’d highly recommend Mullvad to anyone else looking for a good VPN provider. Side note, Mozilla VPN uses Mullvad’s network under the hood.

shapefrog 5y ago
I googled to see if they are one of the vpn's that avertise agressively, apparently if I am not using <insert vpn> I am going to have cybercriminals litterally reach from under my desk and inappropriately touch me. They seem to be one that doesnt have an affiliate programme, so they go to the top of my trust ranking.
- hoppyhoppy2 5y ago
  They're also NYT Wirecutter's top pick, in large part because of their strong stance on privacy, publicly-available 3rd-party security audit and ability to pay anonymously. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-vpn-service/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-vpn-service/
  - basch 5y ago
    and privacyguides.org (formerly privacytools.io) https://www.privacyguides.org/providers/vpn/ https://www.privacyguides.org/providers/vpn/
- y4mi 5y ago
  You can even pay for their service by mailing physical cash to their office! I've been on a subscription for ages now. Haven't really cared about that amount of anonymity so I'm just using a Paypal for payment though
  - rchaud 5y ago
    Protonmail/ProtonVPN allows cash payments by snail mail as well.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- reaperducer 5y ago
  apparently if I am not using <insert vpn> I am going to have cybercriminals litterally reach from under my desk and inappropriately touch me. Reminds me of the old "ZOMG! Your computer is broadcasting an IP address!! Send us money to save your live!!11!eleventy!1" ads.
duxup 5y ago
>Mozilla VPN uses Mullvad’s network Yeah I finally decided to leave PIA and at the time Mozilla started their offering. I figured I'd go through Mozilla to provide them some support while switching to a service I have some faith in.
drcongo 5y ago
I switched to Mullvad recently after a comment on HN in this thread [0], very happy with the switch. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28165130 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28165130
- Ms-J 5y ago
  In that thread I learned a lot about Mullvad, thanks. Saw a few comments that made me wonder though.
nvarsj 5y ago
I really like Mullvad, but I personally found the speeds to be pretty poor. It's been a while since I used it, but I remember not even being able to hit 100mbps download at times. On the other hand, in my experience, competitors can max out a gigabit connection.
- walterbell 5y ago
  Could you share some of those competitors? I've tried a few VPNs which have not been especially fast, e.g. https://ovpn.com https://ovpn.com. Would like to find one that supports IPsec, which is supported natively by several operating systems.
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    FoxyProxy supports IPSec and OpenVPN.
  - nvarsj 5y ago
    PIA (yeah, I know they are owned by a dodgy company now, and I sound like a shill by suggesting them) does really well. No problem maxing a gigabit connection, and their peering is even better than my ISP a lot of the time - I get lower latency when playing games on US servers when using their network. I reluctantly signed back up after having speed issues w/ Mullvad.
- rgrmrts 5y ago
  What ISP do you use if you don’t mind me asking? I’m on Verizon FIOS and I’m convinced they throttle certain traffic. I pay for 940mbps and generally get around 800 wired or 5-600 on wireless, but have noticed my speeds (on VPN) drop to 2-300. I do this dance with them every couple of months, get on the phone with support and just keep saying “ok yup did that still not seeing the correct speeds” and after a while they’ll sometimes say “let us try something on our end” after which speeds recover and stay good for a while til they start (allegedly) throttling again. EDIT: I’ve gotten around 90% of my non-VPN speed through Mullvad FWIW
- photon-torpedo 5y ago
y-c-o-m-b 5y ago
I also switched from privateinternetaccess to Mullvad (I think about 3 years ago?). I've had a few issues with Mullvad's speed in the past, but the last couple of years has been smooth service. My only complaint - and please note I havent check recently if this is still the case - is there's no discount for yearly subscriptions. I usually buy 12 months at a time and I wish they'd shave a few bucks off that, but honestly it's a very affordable service to begin with.
tyjen 5y ago
Exact situation for myself. I was a PIA customer until Kape Technologies acquired PIA, prompting me to switch to Mullvad. After reading the post's title, I recoiled a little and said, "Oh no, not again," but, thankfully I was surprised by the content of the statement. I'm happy to see Mullvad is not compromising the quality of their service for a payout and continuing to demonstrate their value system that lead me to become a loyal customer.
- mst 5y ago
  I felt a bit like that about PIA but at this point I'm just glad they're not owned by Andrew Lee anymore.
nirvdrum 5y ago
I've recently switched from PIA to Mullvad for similar reasons. I do wish Mullvad had a plan with a larger device limit. With PIA, I could cover my household with a single plan. Mullvad's five device limit is insufficient. Maintaining multiple accounts is just tedious. Aside from that, I've been pretty happy with the switch.

shapefrog 5y ago

I googled to see if they are one of the vpn's that avertise agressively, apparently if I am not using <insert vpn> I am going to have cybercriminals litterally reach from under my desk and inappropriately touch me. They seem to be one that doesnt have an affiliate programme, so they go to the top of my trust ranking.

hoppyhoppy2 5y ago
They're also NYT Wirecutter's top pick, in large part because of their strong stance on privacy, publicly-available 3rd-party security audit and ability to pay anonymously. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-vpn-service/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-vpn-service/
- basch 5y ago
  and privacyguides.org (formerly privacytools.io) https://www.privacyguides.org/providers/vpn/ https://www.privacyguides.org/providers/vpn/
y4mi 5y ago
You can even pay for their service by mailing physical cash to their office! I've been on a subscription for ages now. Haven't really cared about that amount of anonymity so I'm just using a Paypal for payment though
- rchaud 5y ago
  Protonmail/ProtonVPN allows cash payments by snail mail as well.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
reaperducer 5y ago
apparently if I am not using <insert vpn> I am going to have cybercriminals litterally reach from under my desk and inappropriately touch me. Reminds me of the old "ZOMG! Your computer is broadcasting an IP address!! Send us money to save your live!!11!eleventy!1" ads.

duxup 5y ago

>Mozilla VPN uses Mullvad’s network Yeah I finally decided to leave PIA and at the time Mozilla started their offering. I figured I'd go through Mozilla to provide them some support while switching to a service I have some faith in.

drcongo 5y ago

I switched to Mullvad recently after a comment on HN in this thread [0], very happy with the switch. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28165130 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28165130

Ms-J 5y ago
In that thread I learned a lot about Mullvad, thanks. Saw a few comments that made me wonder though.

nvarsj 5y ago

I really like Mullvad, but I personally found the speeds to be pretty poor. It's been a while since I used it, but I remember not even being able to hit 100mbps download at times. On the other hand, in my experience, competitors can max out a gigabit connection.

walterbell 5y ago
Could you share some of those competitors? I've tried a few VPNs which have not been especially fast, e.g. https://ovpn.com https://ovpn.com. Would like to find one that supports IPsec, which is supported natively by several operating systems.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  FoxyProxy supports IPSec and OpenVPN.
- nvarsj 5y ago
  PIA (yeah, I know they are owned by a dodgy company now, and I sound like a shill by suggesting them) does really well. No problem maxing a gigabit connection, and their peering is even better than my ISP a lot of the time - I get lower latency when playing games on US servers when using their network. I reluctantly signed back up after having speed issues w/ Mullvad.
rgrmrts 5y ago
What ISP do you use if you don’t mind me asking? I’m on Verizon FIOS and I’m convinced they throttle certain traffic. I pay for 940mbps and generally get around 800 wired or 5-600 on wireless, but have noticed my speeds (on VPN) drop to 2-300. I do this dance with them every couple of months, get on the phone with support and just keep saying “ok yup did that still not seeing the correct speeds” and after a while they’ll sometimes say “let us try something on our end” after which speeds recover and stay good for a while til they start (allegedly) throttling again. EDIT: I’ve gotten around 90% of my non-VPN speed through Mullvad FWIW
photon-torpedo 5y ago

y-c-o-m-b 5y ago

I also switched from privateinternetaccess to Mullvad (I think about 3 years ago?). I've had a few issues with Mullvad's speed in the past, but the last couple of years has been smooth service. My only complaint - and please note I havent check recently if this is still the case - is there's no discount for yearly subscriptions. I usually buy 12 months at a time and I wish they'd shave a few bucks off that, but honestly it's a very affordable service to begin with.

tyjen 5y ago

Exact situation for myself. I was a PIA customer until Kape Technologies acquired PIA, prompting me to switch to Mullvad. After reading the post's title, I recoiled a little and said, "Oh no, not again," but, thankfully I was surprised by the content of the statement. I'm happy to see Mullvad is not compromising the quality of their service for a payout and continuing to demonstrate their value system that lead me to become a loyal customer.

mst 5y ago
I felt a bit like that about PIA but at this point I'm just glad they're not owned by Andrew Lee anymore.

nirvdrum 5y ago

I've recently switched from PIA to Mullvad for similar reasons. I do wish Mullvad had a plan with a larger device limit. With PIA, I could cover my household with a single plan. Mullvad's five device limit is insufficient. Maintaining multiple accounts is just tedious. Aside from that, I've been pretty happy with the switch.