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I quite like Mullvad. I haven't needed to use them much (mostly when my ISP has wonky routing and I need something semi-urgent), but their service is pretty goo

I quite like Mullvad. I haven't needed to use them much (mostly when my ISP has wonky routing and I need something semi-urgent), but their service is pretty good, their website feels like it's designed for the more "techy users". Their billing is the least sketchiest of VPN providers, with no ticking clocks, no upsell and other nonsense. I also like they provide a Wireguard file and a way to filter it, so it's super easy to get started.

enlyth 4y ago
I share a VPN subscription with my father, I use it for torrenting so my ISP can't snoop on me, and he uses it to bypass geo blocking to watch UK shows (things like BritBox, Netflix, BBC etc.) in another country. Unfortunately, there is no way to legally pay for most of these services and watch them from abroad. I tried to get us to use Mullvad, as it was perfect for me, but for him it was constant problems with the services he used, whereas the sketchier providers like NordVPN and ExpressVPN always worked without issues.
- highhedgehog 4y ago
  does it work to bypass geoblocking of Netflix? i cannot access the us catalog from Italy for instance
- RealStickman_ 4y ago
  Problems with services are to be expected when using Mullvad. Their IPs are all recognised as originating from datacenters. You might be lucky, but often not. Sketchier VPN providers use "home ips" and rotate them regularly in order to defeat Netflix or other services blocking them.
  - seanw444 4y ago
    Why are the sketchy VPN providers capable of that, but not Mullvad?
    - tempest_ 4y ago
      Sketchier providers often use dubious methods to acquire their exit nodes. Often they pay someone to include their code in a "free" software or browser extension (or malware) that allows them to route traffic through the host. Oxylabs is one of the larger examples whose record is somewhat dubious.
      - dirheist 4y ago
        IIRC the mylobot botnet is responsible for providing the vast majority of residential (home) IP addresses for residential VPN providers (who are then sold to expressvpn/nordvpn). The whole business is incredibly shady and nefarious and nordvpn/expressvpn must know from whom they contract their residential vpn services from. BHProxies is the largest residential proxy provider on the internet and almost all of their proxies are acquired through the botnet above. https://www.bitsight.com/blog/mylobot-investigating-proxy-botnet https://www.bitsight.com/blog/mylobot-investigating-proxy-bo...
        tempest_ 4y ago
        Cool, I did not know about this one.
        myself248 4y ago
        Whaaaaaaaaaat. This needs to be on the front page of.... something.
        seanw444 4y ago
        Seconded. I refer to them as shady because I have no way of knowing what they do with your data. I didn't even consider that they'd have a whole botnet market going on too. This definitely needs to be more public.
        jamesfinlayson 4y ago
        Agreed - I assumed they had some way of getting IP addresses that don't come from an AWS/Azure/Google/whatever datacentre block but I just assumed they bought residential blocks from ISPs or something like that.
- mistrial9 4y ago
  how are people supposed to react to this ? Those are two reasons why legal providers make life so difficult for innocent people. The response will be to enable more intrusive record keeping and more very-low bandwidth for me, because of you.
- JadeNB 4y ago
  > … he uses it to bypass geo blocking to watch UK shows (things like BritBox, Netflix, BBC etc.) in another country. Unfortunately, there is no way to legally pay for most of these services and watch them from abroad. Not that it's your point, but, at least in the US, you can pay for BritBox on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront?contentType=subscription&contentId=britbox https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront?contentType=subsc... .
- domh 4y ago
  It annoys me that the only way to access iPlayer from abroad is via a VPN. Surely opening it up and allowing international customers to pay some form of license fee could be a nice little revenue stream for the BBC? I'm guessing the reason is just "licensing issues" but if they're making the programmes then what's the problem? I'm sure there's an international market for watching the world class output from the BBC.
  - kelipso 4y ago
    With the cultural capital that BBC had especially 7 to 10 years ago, I'm pretty sure they would have been at league with Netflix and the like if they had opened it up. Dr Who was huge back then in the US, and you had Sherlock and a few other shows. I think people were just pirating it (?) but lots of people I knew were huge fans.
    - jwagenet 4y ago
      Dr. Who was on Netflix for a long time, except maybe whatever recent season, and more recently HBO Max
    - domh 4y ago
      There was something called Kangaroo [1] which was a partnership between BBC, ITV and C4 but it got blocked by the competition commission. Now it's run under Britbox I think! [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_(video_on_demand) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_(video_on_demand)
    - mft_ 4y ago
      Absolutely. Given a) they started experimenting with iPlayer pretty early in the streaming came, and b) they have a huge and valuable back catalogue, it's always amazed me that they didn't open up pay-per-view and subscription options for an ex-UK audience. I've always suspected there's a good reason why not behind the scenes - maybe because a successful PPV operation would lend huge weight to people in the UK seeking to abolish the license fee?
  - kbf 4y ago
- gesman 4y ago
  >> I use it for torrenting so my ISP can't snoop on me Would installing WireGuard server on a router directly solve this (like Gl-Inet travel routers)?
- freetime2 4y ago
  This is good to know. I have been considering giving Mullvad a try, but getting around geo restrictions is my primary reason for using NordVPN.
rurp 4y ago
I want to second this and add that they make it very easy to make non-recurring payments. So many modern software companies do everything they can to hook you into an endless subscription, but Mullvad is refreshing in this regard. I only use a VPN once in a while and when I need one I just throw Mullvad a few bucks for one month plan, which they make as seamless as possible.

enlyth 4y ago

I share a VPN subscription with my father, I use it for torrenting so my ISP can't snoop on me, and he uses it to bypass geo blocking to watch UK shows (things like BritBox, Netflix, BBC etc.) in another country. Unfortunately, there is no way to legally pay for most of these services and watch them from abroad. I tried to get us to use Mullvad, as it was perfect for me, but for him it was constant problems with the services he used, whereas the sketchier providers like NordVPN and ExpressVPN always worked without issues.

highhedgehog 4y ago
does it work to bypass geoblocking of Netflix? i cannot access the us catalog from Italy for instance
RealStickman_ 4y ago
Problems with services are to be expected when using Mullvad. Their IPs are all recognised as originating from datacenters. You might be lucky, but often not. Sketchier VPN providers use "home ips" and rotate them regularly in order to defeat Netflix or other services blocking them.
- seanw444 4y ago
  Why are the sketchy VPN providers capable of that, but not Mullvad?
  - tempest_ 4y ago
    Sketchier providers often use dubious methods to acquire their exit nodes. Often they pay someone to include their code in a "free" software or browser extension (or malware) that allows them to route traffic through the host. Oxylabs is one of the larger examples whose record is somewhat dubious.
    - dirheist 4y ago
      IIRC the mylobot botnet is responsible for providing the vast majority of residential (home) IP addresses for residential VPN providers (who are then sold to expressvpn/nordvpn). The whole business is incredibly shady and nefarious and nordvpn/expressvpn must know from whom they contract their residential vpn services from. BHProxies is the largest residential proxy provider on the internet and almost all of their proxies are acquired through the botnet above. https://www.bitsight.com/blog/mylobot-investigating-proxy-botnet https://www.bitsight.com/blog/mylobot-investigating-proxy-bo...
      - tempest_ 4y ago
        Cool, I did not know about this one.
      - myself248 4y ago
        Whaaaaaaaaaat. This needs to be on the front page of.... something.
        seanw444 4y ago
        Seconded. I refer to them as shady because I have no way of knowing what they do with your data. I didn't even consider that they'd have a whole botnet market going on too. This definitely needs to be more public.
        jamesfinlayson 4y ago
        Agreed - I assumed they had some way of getting IP addresses that don't come from an AWS/Azure/Google/whatever datacentre block but I just assumed they bought residential blocks from ISPs or something like that.
mistrial9 4y ago
how are people supposed to react to this ? Those are two reasons why legal providers make life so difficult for innocent people. The response will be to enable more intrusive record keeping and more very-low bandwidth for me, because of you.
JadeNB 4y ago
> … he uses it to bypass geo blocking to watch UK shows (things like BritBox, Netflix, BBC etc.) in another country. Unfortunately, there is no way to legally pay for most of these services and watch them from abroad. Not that it's your point, but, at least in the US, you can pay for BritBox on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront?contentType=subscription&contentId=britbox https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront?contentType=subsc... .
domh 4y ago
It annoys me that the only way to access iPlayer from abroad is via a VPN. Surely opening it up and allowing international customers to pay some form of license fee could be a nice little revenue stream for the BBC? I'm guessing the reason is just "licensing issues" but if they're making the programmes then what's the problem? I'm sure there's an international market for watching the world class output from the BBC.
- kelipso 4y ago
  With the cultural capital that BBC had especially 7 to 10 years ago, I'm pretty sure they would have been at league with Netflix and the like if they had opened it up. Dr Who was huge back then in the US, and you had Sherlock and a few other shows. I think people were just pirating it (?) but lots of people I knew were huge fans.
  - jwagenet 4y ago
    Dr. Who was on Netflix for a long time, except maybe whatever recent season, and more recently HBO Max
  - domh 4y ago
    There was something called Kangaroo [1] which was a partnership between BBC, ITV and C4 but it got blocked by the competition commission. Now it's run under Britbox I think! [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_(video_on_demand) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_(video_on_demand)
  - mft_ 4y ago
    Absolutely. Given a) they started experimenting with iPlayer pretty early in the streaming came, and b) they have a huge and valuable back catalogue, it's always amazed me that they didn't open up pay-per-view and subscription options for an ex-UK audience. I've always suspected there's a good reason why not behind the scenes - maybe because a successful PPV operation would lend huge weight to people in the UK seeking to abolish the license fee?
- kbf 4y ago
gesman 4y ago
>> I use it for torrenting so my ISP can't snoop on me Would installing WireGuard server on a router directly solve this (like Gl-Inet travel routers)?
freetime2 4y ago
This is good to know. I have been considering giving Mullvad a try, but getting around geo restrictions is my primary reason for using NordVPN.

rurp 4y ago

I want to second this and add that they make it very easy to make non-recurring payments. So many modern software companies do everything they can to hook you into an endless subscription, but Mullvad is refreshing in this regard. I only use a VPN once in a while and when I need one I just throw Mullvad a few bucks for one month plan, which they make as seamless as possible.