What VPN provider do you use?

Lounge
21

^^ this…

I don’t trust them so I don’t use them.

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22

well said! it’s all about trust

23

Trust…Indeed…Do you trust your ISP?

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24

nope, don’t trust them one bit

25

So why are you online?

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26

Same here, don’t trust them either.
What can we do?

  • Move DNS traffic away from the ISP, yes, I know you then need to trust the DNS provider. But I have options for DNS providers, not so many for ISPs.
  • Encrypt your DNS traffic, DNScrypt, so the ISP doesn’t get to see your DNS traffic as it passes by
  • Well, definitely standard today, only use https.

Anything else one can think off?

28

So…
Looking at recommendations here and elsewhere there are two that stands out to me:
Mullvad and Proton VPN.

I am… intrigued by both. Any experiences with either for a comparison?

29

Nevermind, settled on Mullvad for a month. Best reviews from a privacy standpoint, fast servers plus cheap. So, easiest way is to test for a month.

30

I was just going to extol Mullvad’s virtues…Works great for me on desktop, laptop, and phone…And for the low price certainly worth giving a try…

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31

I’ve been a happy PIA user for several years on all my linux distro’s.

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32

I’d been running PIA for quite a while, just concerned about their being acquired recently. I’ve not experienced anything bad so my concern may be unfounded but thought I would look around. I agree with Beardedgook72, looks like Mullvad and ProtonVPN are the top runners. I’m also giving Mullvad a try. So far I am liking what it. BTW I installed the Wireguard package so I am trying that rather than the OpenVPN connection.

33

I just wanted to give another vote to the Mullvad camp. Also, it seems as if Mozilla has even sided with Mullvad for the VPN service they will be offering through a reseller partnership. I don’t know why, but the fact that they have chosen them makes me feel better that I have been using them for the last 15 or so months. Furthermore, they provide almost all of their code on the company’s github repo and the client software is updated at least monthly.

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34

Not well up on it but I have been using Nordvpn for some time now. It is cheap and their response is excellent. I don’t know how good or safe it is and I would like to hear any views on it. Easy enough to set up using nordlynx wireguard on kde.

35

I use mullvad and I am extremely satisfied.

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36

trying Surfshark. have seen them rate well on several review sites

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37

VPN and anonymity is needed big time at the present scary time and indeed Linux to get away asap from Windows, Google, Facebook etc. This great technology is being used maliciously by unscrupulous forces.

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38

I’d ask the question of why you’re using a VPN.

VPNs don’t do a ton in regards to anonymity, they move the trust from ISP to VPN provider and there is no way to truly know if your VPN provider isn’t logging, etc.

Even worse is if you use TOR over VPN you’re creating a paper trail + a single entry/exit node for yourself. VPNs only purpose is to add a little masking vs your ISP or tunnel to your home network.

If you really want anonymity use TOR, DNS over HTTPS, and DNS over TLS and Dont use Google products. That’s your best bets not a VPN

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39

I don’t know if it’s such a good idea (DoH), entrusting certain sensitive data to a single
provider :thinking: Surely, a highly debatable thing.

40

hence you should read up on your provider of choice.
Remember DNS over HTTPS is no more anonymous than a VPN. If you don’t trust your VPN provider to not log, why on earth would you trust your DNS provider?

Discussions like this always end up about trust. The funny thing is that the people who claim you never can trust anybody yet manages to be just as traceable as everyone else.

“Don’t trust your ISP! get a VPN!”
“Don’t trust your VPN! use DNS over HTTPS!”
“Don’t trust your DNS provider!”
“Use Tor!”

…Then buys gas with credit card IRL…

I use Mullvad. I trust Mullvad. They don’t even have a regular account system. Nothing is logged, at all. Not even a name or username or password. It is the VPN service that has absolute best score for privacy.
What it doesn’t have is a lot of servers, so it is very hard to pretend to be in a different country, yet alone on a different continent. It is in other words worthless for Disney Plus. :wink:
But that’s not what it is optimized for.

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41

I’d say mullvad is probably the best VPN option if you want to use one. Its unfortunate it doesn’t have many servers.

You’re right though its always a discussion of trust, realistically you can’t trust any of them you just have to decide what security/anonymity measures work best for your use case and to you is trustworthy.

My experience has been that VPNs don’t provide enough of a benefit vs their downtime, speed reduction, etc. But that’s just my opinion.