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I’ve come to the realization I really should be using a VPN, for so many reasons. I really know nothing much them - any recommendations?

by d13 5y ago

bambataa 5y ago
I’ve been using Proton VPN with no major issues. Would be interesting to know what others here think of them.
rococode 5y ago
Mullvad seems to be the most popular recommendation on HN nowadays. A couple recent threads: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28551960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28551960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29903695 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29903695 I've been using them for a while, very happy with it so far. Stable connection and high speeds - good enough that I often forget I have it on - and a nice selection of locations. They even accept cash! Each account is just an ID so you can mail your account number and some money to them and payment will be processed. Mozilla VPN also uses Mullvad's servers behind the scenes.
osivertsson 5y ago
At this point one must assume that all traffic is monitored and stored, maybe it is or maybe it is not, but assume so. At least all metadata is stored for some time. Using a VPN moves the point where this occurs and may obfuscate some things, but also realize that many VPNs are probably in some form associated with nation-states and therefore makes their job easier.
- toyg 5y ago
  It depends on what your threat model is. For example, my VPN is based in Thailand. For various legal reasons, it's very unlikely anything obtained by a nation-state actor in Thailand will be used for trivial stuff like, say, enforcing copyright legislation against individual consumers. Defense lawyers / barristers would have a field day. If you are planning terrorist acts, on the other hand...
austhrow743 5y ago
Depending on your reasons, a seedbox that comes with built in vpn capabilities out of the box could be an option. I pay €5/month to ultracc for a server I can torrent with. It just happens to come with a vpn installed as a bonus. Mullvad is the same cost for just a vpn. I'm sure it's better in many ways that people will list below but for the purposes of getting around government internet blocks where you're not then expecting g men to kick in your door for getting around them, openvpn installed on whatever random server works fine.
ketanip 5y ago
Open VPN on Digital Ocean Marketplace: https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/openvpn-access-server https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/openvpn-access-ser... Vultr ( Cheapest $2.5/Month): https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/openvpn https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/openvpn Linode: https://www.linode.com/marketplace/apps/linode/openvpn/ https://www.linode.com/marketplace/apps/linode/openvpn/ Hetzern, or any other cheap VPS provider as your are not storing any data on it anyways so even it dies or corrupts it shouldn't be a problem. Open VPN has a clients for every major platform: https://openvpn.net/vpn-client/ https://openvpn.net/vpn-client/ Make sure do your research about Open VPN and VPS before using any of it.

I’ve come to the realization I really should be using a VPN, for so many reasons. I really know nothing much them - any recommendations?

by d13 5y ago

I’ve come to the realization I really should be using a VPN, for so many reasons. I really know nothing much them - any recommendations?

bambataa 5y ago

I’ve been using Proton VPN with no major issues. Would be interesting to know what others here think of them.

rococode 5y ago

Mullvad seems to be the most popular recommendation on HN nowadays. A couple recent threads: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28551960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28551960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29903695 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29903695 I've been using them for a while, very happy with it so far. Stable connection and high speeds - good enough that I often forget I have it on - and a nice selection of locations. They even accept cash! Each account is just an ID so you can mail your account number and some money to them and payment will be processed. Mozilla VPN also uses Mullvad's servers behind the scenes.

osivertsson 5y ago

At this point one must assume that all traffic is monitored and stored, maybe it is or maybe it is not, but assume so. At least all metadata is stored for some time. Using a VPN moves the point where this occurs and may obfuscate some things, but also realize that many VPNs are probably in some form associated with nation-states and therefore makes their job easier.

toyg 5y ago
It depends on what your threat model is. For example, my VPN is based in Thailand. For various legal reasons, it's very unlikely anything obtained by a nation-state actor in Thailand will be used for trivial stuff like, say, enforcing copyright legislation against individual consumers. Defense lawyers / barristers would have a field day. If you are planning terrorist acts, on the other hand...

austhrow743 5y ago

Depending on your reasons, a seedbox that comes with built in vpn capabilities out of the box could be an option. I pay €5/month to ultracc for a server I can torrent with. It just happens to come with a vpn installed as a bonus. Mullvad is the same cost for just a vpn. I'm sure it's better in many ways that people will list below but for the purposes of getting around government internet blocks where you're not then expecting g men to kick in your door for getting around them, openvpn installed on whatever random server works fine.

ketanip 5y ago

Open VPN on Digital Ocean Marketplace: https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/openvpn-access-server https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/openvpn-access-ser... Vultr ( Cheapest $2.5/Month): https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/openvpn https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/openvpn Linode: https://www.linode.com/marketplace/apps/linode/openvpn/ https://www.linode.com/marketplace/apps/linode/openvpn/ Hetzern, or any other cheap VPS provider as your are not storing any data on it anyways so even it dies or corrupts it shouldn't be a problem. Open VPN has a clients for every major platform: https://openvpn.net/vpn-client/ https://openvpn.net/vpn-client/ Make sure do your research about Open VPN and VPS before using any of it.