VPN Recommendations?

[sllewk]

Hi, I suppose this is an 'England only' enquiry really, but I have been wondering and thinking about a VPN for my iMac, MacBook Air and possibly my iPhone 8 (sounds like a large order to me). Can anyone please recommend a good VPN that I can use here in England? The market place is quite loaded with them and I find it very difficult to remember good points from example one when reading example two and three. In a word the mind BOGGLES! Oh the joys of getting old, and I am beginning to feel my age these days. I mainly use Yahoo piggy backing on Safari. but do have Firefox and Google Chrome as well. I thank you in anticipation.

Very best regards from Keith in Derby England.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

There are a lot of sketchy VPN providers and many of the "popular" ones fall under that category. Very few have had independent 3rd party audits to verify their claims as to how they handle privacy. I personally use Private Internet Access in part because they are the only one I know of that has been taken to court for logs and they couldn't produce them because they really don't keep them. But they aren't the only game in town and I may switch to someone like ProtonVPN, which is run by a company well known for their stances on privacy and they walk the walk. Here's an article on Wirecutter that may be helpful in making a decision:

The Best VPN Service

A virtual private network (VPN) is a useful way to improve security or privacy in certain situations, but it’s difficult to find one that’s trustworthy.

www.nytimes.com

 

[krs]

I signed up with NordVPN a few years ago.

But I don't use VPN for privacy, I just use it on occasion- rarely actually - to look at websites that block me because of location.
I had a few commercial sites in Europe that blocked access and when I finally managed to get to the site using VPN and called them about it, their reasoning was that they don't ship their product outside of the EU and thus the block.
That someone might purchase something from their site and have it shipped to a recipient in the EU never occurred to them.
Ebay had that same type of restriction years ago, took it off and then put it back on sporadically.

 

[MacInWin]

@krs, that is basically why I use VPN, too. I have a lot of friends in UK, visit there often, like to send stuff to them occasionally from local businesses that block overseas visitors. Given I use PayPal to pay and some of the use it, too, it works reasonably well.

 

[IWT]

So have we helped Keith in Derby decide on the best VPN for him?

Does he need one at all? Etc.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

I'm not sure he actually needs one, unless he wants to take advantage of some of the things mentioned about sites in other countries. But for "normal" operations, I don't think a VPN is required at this point. Maybe we could make a better recommendation if Keith told us why he thinks he might need one?

 

[Rod]

I agree with the above 100%. Personally I use ExpressVPN because it was rated the best years back when I subscribed. I believe it still comes out close to the top in polls but I can say that for me it has been perfect. Great 24/7 live chat support, although I have not needed it for a year or more, no logging (they say), regular updates, multiple devices (up to 4 I think) on the same account, very easy setup and update procedure and a simple, easy to understand UI and preference menu. It is a bit pricey but for 4 devices its pretty good value.

 

[sllewk]

Hello to everyone, after due consideration I have come to the same conclusion as was suggested - "Do I really need one?"
The now obvious answer is "No, I do not". Thanks to all who put me on the right track, it just seemed like a good idea at the time!!!

Very best regards from Keith in Derby England.

 

[IWT]

Hey Keith,

If the time stamp is accurate, you sure are an early riser. I am too, by habit, but not that early. Good for you!

And you're right, you don't really need a VPN - just adds another layer of complication

Ian

 

[Rod]

Keith, I have several reasons for using a VPN myself, combined it makes good sense for us but this is a pretty good article on the topic FYI. https://www.howtogeek.com/133680/htg-explains-what-is-a-vpn/

 

[Cr00zng]

Most of us don't really care much about the 14 eyes surveillance, nor can we avoid them for the most part.

On the other hand, VPN services can block malware, trackers, ads and can help in accessing GeoIP restricted sites. Just keep in mind that not all VPN services are created equal.

Other than accessing GeoIP restricted sites, you can do the same without VPN. Tor Browser is good option, if you'd want to be anonymous on the web. If Tor Browser isn't your cup of tea, Firefox with add ons is a good option. To prevent your ISP logging all of your DNS queries, use DNSCrypt.

It's an uphill battle, that most people aren't interested in. Even if you are, none of these are fool proof. Tracking, ad companies and hackers have the financial resources and time to be one step ahead of you. It's a cesspool out there...

 

[krs]

On the other hand, VPN services can can help in accessing GeoIP restricted sites.

Another use I just had for VPN along those lines just a few days ago wasn't that I was blocked from accessing a commercial site in the US (my IP being Canadian), but that the merchant had set up the website to automatically reroute me to their Canadian on-line store with Canadian pricing and Canadian delivery and there was no way around that....except VPN.

I wanted to buy something for my son who lives in Boston, pay the US dollar price an also take advantage of free shipping within the US. But the way the websitewas set up, that wasnot possible without VPN or wait till the next day and try to do the order by phone.

 

[chscag]

I wanted to buy something for my son who lives in Boston, pay the US dollar price an also take advantage of free shipping within the US. But the way the websitewas set up, that wasnot possible without VPN or wait till the next day and try to do the order by phone.

Ridiculous, isn't it? We have run into this before with members who have family living on both sides of the Canadian - US border. It is easier though if you phone the order and get a customer service rep who understands what you're trying to do.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Most of us don't really care much about the 14 eyes surveillance, nor can we avoid them for the most part.

On the other hand, VPN services can block malware, trackers, ads and can help in accessing GeoIP restricted sites. Just keep in mind that not all VPN services are created equal.

Using a VPN is highly recommended if you travel and need to connect to a hotspot. Unsecured hotspots are a real security vulnerability and there is potential for a malicious one to be harvesting your login credentials for websites. Some time back, there was an issue with the free hotspot that AT&T provided. It wasn't secure and had a simple name that anyone could mimic. I actually saw this once... the AT&T hotspot was available to me at work one day, and I knew full blasted well AT&T didn't have a hotspot there. If I hadn't disabled the ability to auto-connect to their hotspots, I would have been on "someone's" hotspot masquerading as AT&T's for whatever reason they had to do so.

 

[Cr00zng]

I don't remember, if I ever used hotspots and they are not as frequent nowadays. With the wide spread use of personal hotspot with the smarphones, I don't know why anyone would use one.

As a consultant, I used to travel pretty much all over the US and always carried a wireless broadband router with me. It has been really useful in hotels, where their networks aren't known for secure internal networks. Up to this days, I still do when traveling with my wife and we are staying in a hotel.

The only thing changed is the broadband router and instead of 3DES, it is AES 128-bits encryption for the wireless with PSK. Principally, it is the same protection from the hotel network and its guests.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...Can anyone please recommend a good VPN ...

The mother of all VPN review sites is here:

10 Best VPN Services (2021): Trust, Features + Speed [Top Picks]

A VPN expert compares & ranks the best VPN services on the market in 2021. Compare the top VPNs and find yours now.

thatoneprivacysite.net

10 Best VPN Services (2021): Trust, Features + Speed [Top Picks]

A VPN expert compares & ranks the best VPN services on the market in 2021. Compare the top VPNs and find yours now.

thatoneprivacysite.net

Rates several aspects of Privacy, Technology and Business.
This information can be found in multiple places on the website,
including the FAQs page, VPN Formulas pages, and on the downloadable
spreadsheet/link to the original google doc where you can see and look
through formulas to independently verify them.

Formulas:

10 Best VPN Services (2021): Trust, Features + Speed [Top Picks]

A VPN expert compares & ranks the best VPN services on the market in 2021. Compare the top VPNs and find yours now.

thatoneprivacysite.net

FAQs:

10 Best VPN Services (2021): Trust, Features + Speed [Top Picks]

A VPN expert compares & ranks the best VPN services on the market in 2021. Compare the top VPNs and find yours now.

thatoneprivacysite.net

Here’s a fascinating Ars Technica article about the value of VPNs, the perils of using a commercial VPN, and instructions on how to roll your own…

How to build your own VPN if you’re (rightfully) wary of commercial options

While not perfect, either, cloud hosting providers have a better customer data record.

arstechnica.com

 

[badshoehabit]

I use a freebie, SetupVPN, to access F1 races via VIP Stand which circumvents Sky. Works better on Chrome than Firefox, don't know why.

 

[Cr00zng]

The mother of all VPN review sites is here:

It seems that the review had not been updated over a year....

Here’s a fascinating Ars Technica article about the value of VPNs, the perils of using a commercial VPN, and instructions on how to roll your own…

Yes, you can roll your own VPN, but aside from the difficulty and cost of doing so...

You'd need a VPS server and a static IP address from the hosting company; getting one requires name, address, CC #, etc. Your ISP would not know the sites you visited, other than the static IP address. On the other hand all of your internet traffic would be identified by the static IP. This may, or may not be desirable...

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Yes, you can roll your own VPN, but aside from the difficulty and cost of doing so...

You'd need ...

Not necessarily.

DIY VPN in 10 mins:

How to setup your own private, secure, free* VPN on the Amazon AWS Cloud in 10 minutes by Web Development

www.webdigi.co.uk

 

[chscag]

10 minutes? I don't think so. Just reading thru those steps will take more than 10 minutes.

Besides, it seems to me that you need to be somewhat technically knowledgable to set up a free VPN from those instructions.

Just my opinion.