Are the free VPN's any good?

[giddyup]

I have been trying the free VPN's offered by Firefox and Opera, but have no idea as to whether they are doing the job. I do find that it seems to slow down searches considerably though.

[Caps]

I use the Opera Mobile from a SD card at work and use the VPN, I carried out a VPN check and it showed me in Sweden when I was in Iraq.  I dont know what there logging policy would be though 

https://www.iplocation.net/

[jacko45k]

What do you mean by 'doing the job'......? What do you need of the VPN? It will likely slow searches down as you are adding extra 'distance'...

Try logging onto the UK's Daily Mail.

Edited February 9, 2018 by jacko45k

[Peterw42]

Depends what "the job" is, great for going to blocked websites, or appearing in another country etc. But they are more like a proxy server not a VPN. You only have a proxy IP address, torrent downloads, online games etc are still using and showing your actual IP address.

The opera browser seems to have got worse lately, before you could choose a specific country like Singapore, UK etc, now you can only choose a region, Asia etc, and even then it seem to always give you a Swedish IP address.

 

You often have to turn it off when searching as prices etc come up for where you appear to be, booking.com or lazada give you prices in Swedish kroner, find my local store gives you the Uzbekistan shop.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Peterw42

[Laza 45]

Pay a bit and get a good one..  https://www.ipvanish.com/offer/?a_aid=ipvint&data1=google&data2=ppc&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=sem&adid=246918755440&addisttype=g&kw=ipvanish&matchtype=e&gclid=Cj0KCQiAh_DTBRCTARIsABlT9MZvUOW1oFv78wvrPhv8xeqwhAX2rsDaL-KOEL8HUWiXLnecdg_wMKUaApwGEALw_wcB 

[ZL1DD]

Not an expert but I have had good service from Nord VPN. Very good value if you take 2 year subscription.

[marquis22]

Opera works well but you cannot choose the location of the IP address, unfortunately, as I want to get one from Australia.

Some of the free ones are selling on their lists of users.

[Andrew Dwyer]

I use CyberGhost 6, seems to work well , i can choose a server ( handy for BBC iplayer etc ).

I use the free version, makes you wait one minute but there is a paid version US$ 85 for 2 years which promises no waiting and higher speeds but my free version is fine for me.

[Laza 45]

10 minutes ago, marquis22 said:

Opera works well but you cannot choose the location of the IP address, unfortunately, as I want to get one from Australia.

Some of the free ones are selling on their lists of users.

..that is why I use iPVanish.. can be in Sydney or Melb..

[Peterw42]

9 minutes ago, marquis22 said:

Opera works well but you cannot choose the location of the IP address, unfortunately, as I want to get one from Australia.

Some of the free ones are selling on their lists of users.

I have been waiting for them to add an Australian location but it doesn't look like it will happen given that you now choose a region rather than a country.

[Bangkok Barry]

36 minutes ago, ZL1DD said:

Not an expert but I have had good service from Nord VPN. Very good value if you take 2 year subscription.

I agree. Unfortunately I bought a 1-year before I saw the 2-year offer 

[quandow]

I've been using StrongVPN for a few years. Have no complaints.

[SOTIRIOS]

...I heard from an 'expert'....

 

...unless you are paying top dollar and have read the contract....

 

...your surfing information will be handed over immediately if asked for.....

[Skeptic7]

Used to use "Hide me" Free VPN and it was quite good, but was limited to 2GB of data per month. This was a few years ago, so not sure what it offers now. Ultimately, decided it was prudent to get a full service VPN with unlimited data and devices. Decided on PIA...Private Internet Access. It's $40/yr and is excellent. Almost always ranked in the Top 5 and a Best Buy. Other excellent choices available too. Wouldn't be without one. 

[Jingjock]

I use zenmate and found it to be very good and its free. Go to google chrome and google zenmate download, follow the online screen. You have a choice of three countries, USA, Rumania or Holland. Good luck

[ArnonK]

9 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I use CyberGhost 6, seems to work well , i can choose a server ( handy for BBC iplayer etc ).

I use the free version, makes you wait one minute but there is a paid version US$ 85 for 2 years which promises no waiting and higher speeds but my free version is fine for me.

3

CyberGhost is one of the best VPN Providers, and quite cheap as well.

 

Even if using their free service, you still could choose from a list of servers (not all) worldwide at full speed. The only limit is that you'll need to restart the 'free' service after 3h again (and again, and again,.....). If you just use that service for to download from (in your country not allowed!) servers, that would be much good enough. 

 

While using a paid service with CyberGhost, you could run that service of up to 3 machines on your LAN at the same time.

 

At the end of the day, its all about what kind of service you need and you're looking for free or paid!

[watcharacters]

On 2/8/2018 at 4:03 PM, Caps said:

I use the Opera Mobile from a SD card at work and use the VPN, I carried out a VPN check and it showed me in Sweden when I was in Iraq.  I dont know what there logging policy would be though 

https://www.iplocation.net/

 

 

 

How would anyone really know what a VPN's actual logging policy is?      They can claim anything but is  it  in fact true?

Edited February 9, 2018 by watcharacters

[Skeptic7]

1 hour ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

 

How would anyone really know what a VPN's actual logging policy is?      They can claim anything but is  it  in fact true?

An excellent question indeed. One that everyone should ask oneself about...well...pretty much everything. Brings god beliefs and religions to mind! 

 

I have faith that mine does NOT do any logging... 555

 

[ArnonK]

1 hour ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

 

How would anyone really know what a VPN's actual logging policy is?      They can claim anything but is  it  in fact true?

2

 

We never would know for 100%!

 

What we could do is to trace what "way" a connection would go, and could check all of the related 'under-way touched' IP's are owned by who?! That would be quite a bit of work. Useful or not? Who knows?! Who like to know a bit, could just do that job and use the command tracert to the destination address.

 

[Caps]

18 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

 

How would anyone really know what a VPN's actual logging policy is?      They can claim anything but is  it  in fact true?

I agree that you can't, you can only read what they write (which is what I was saying), not what they actully do.  They will probably be two totally different things 

[Chongalulu]

bestvpn.com has reviews and offers (Express vpn comes out top) and specifically mention bbciplayer.

[suzannegoh]

Opera works well but you cannot choose the location of the IP address, unfortunately, as I want to get one from Australia.
Some of the free ones are selling on their lists of users.

Opera gives you a choice of Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States. PIA has Melbourne and Sydney servers on their list, and is fast, but it's not free.

[marquis22]

21 hours ago, suzannegoh said:

 

Opera gives you a choice of Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States. PIA has Melbourne and Sydney servers on their list, and is fast, but it's not free.

 

1

I subscribed to TotalVPN and they have a Sydney server listed but it is totally useless when I try to log onto it. Trying to figure out which VPN is totally useful is an expensive mind game.

[giddyup]

My other question is, do I really need one?

[marquis22]

3 minutes ago, giddyup said:

My other question is, do I really need one?

You can also ask do you really need another hole in the head too?

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, marquis22 said:

You can also ask do you really need another hole in the head too?

 

1 minute ago, marquis22 said:

You can also ask do you really need another hole in the head too?

The answer to that is, no I don't, so I guess you are saying I don't need a VPN?

[marquis22]

2 minutes ago, giddyup said:

 

The answer to that is, no I don't, so I guess you are saying I don't need a VPN?

Yes sorry to be flippant, but you only need one if you know why you need one.

I need one as I cannot access some Australian websites as they only broadcast within Australia.

When I log on they know my IP address is in Thailand so I am barred.

Using a VPN from an Australian server lets me get around that problem.

There are other reasons too, but they involve wanting to hide where you really are in the world, but you can work that out for yourself.

[giddyup]

Just now, marquis22 said:

Yes sorry to be flippant, but you only need one if you know why you need one.

I need one as I cannot access some Australian websites as they only broadcast within Australia.

When I log on they know my IP address is in Thailand so I am barred.

Using a VPN from an Australian server lets me get around that problem.

There are other reasons too, but they involve wanting to hide where you really are in the world, but you can work that out for yourself.

Thanks, that's an explanation I can understand.

[suzannegoh]

I subscribed to TotalVPN and they have a Sydney server listed but it is totally useless when I try to log onto it. Trying to figure out which VPN is totally useful is an expensive mind game.

 

Just out of curiosity, I tried speed testing to Sydney from a restaurant in Chiang Mai both with and without being connected to PIA's VPN server in Sydney. Without a VPN I get 5.51 Mbps down and 12.05 up. Connected to PIA's VPN server in Sydney I get 10.03 Mbps down and 11.27 up. So based upon speedtest.net results, PIA's VPN actually speeds up connections to Australia (from Chiang Mai, on an Android tablet).

 

From that same restaurant I am getting 25 Mbps down and 11.0 Mbps up to/from Bangkok with no VPN. I think that the ISP is CAT.

 

 

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

My other question is, do I really need one?

I need to access a couple of uk sites ( bbc iPlayer for one) and this can only be done in the uk ( theoretically ), a vpn sorts this for me.
Also when I’m in the uk ( I go back frequently) it’s illegal to download torrents there, vpn sorts this again.
In Thailand you might have difficulty accessing some sites, once again a vpn sorts this.

It really depends on your needs.