Do you use a VPN ? Do they really help ?

[rumak]

Express VPN  seems to be a favorite.   Any users and comments ?

[Poet]

Aggressively marketed nonsense.

[Peterw42]

I have lived here for 8 years and never found a situation were I have needed a VPN. Unless you need to access some geo blocked content from back home I cant see the need. In the rare instance where I need to get around some geo-blocking etc, I just use Opera browser which has a basic peer to peer VPN built in.

It appears to be one of those things, most people are not really sure why, but they feel they need a VPN.

As for which one is the best, it would probably come down to the country/content you are trying to access.

[tonray]

Never needed one...only encountered a handful of sites in USA that block international addresses for security....not worth it for me..but some people may find they need to hide their address for whatever reason

[KannikaP]

7 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

I have lived here for 8 years and never found a situation were I have needed a VPN. Unless you need to access some geo blocked content from back home I cant see the need. In the rare instance where I need to get around some geo-blocking etc, I just use Opera browser which has a basic peer to peer VPN built in.

It appears to be one of those things, I'm not really sure why, but I need a VPN.

As for which one is the best, it would probably come down to the country/content you are trying to access.

I tried Opera, but it did not have UK as a location, so no BBC iPlayer or UK TV. Express costs me $6 a month and always works.

[worgeordie]

I have used a VPN for years ,at the moment I use Browsec  ,as I found it

very easy to use , the only reason I use a VPN is to gain access to streaming

services in Oz UK or USA ,  maybe it keeps me safe when i visit other sites.

I find for the cheap yearly fees it's well worth it for me.  

They also have a free version, that includes the UK, 

regards Worgeordie

[justmaybe]

Pre pandemic I found Express VPN a very useful tool for China, especially where GMail was involved. ... didn't use it in Thailand but it surely would have served its purpose and have kept it on my laptop in the States..

[bamboozled]

Makes the connection much slower, I have found, annoyingly so.

[canthai55]

Must have for browsing the Dark Web

[IvorBiggun2]

3 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Must have for browsing the Dark Web

 

I'm currently using 'Hotspot Shield', very good and it's free. Before that I used 'Browsec'. Also free and very good.

[fangless]

You have not said what you want the VPN for!  Is it streaming, torrentng, bank log-in or what?

[Rampant Rabbit]

I use  tunnel bear, cheap and reliable enough.

[Rampant Rabbit]

21 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Must have for browsing the Dark Web

Can't you  just dim the lights, what is  this winterweb thing anyway?

[covidiot]

5 minutes ago, fangless said:

You have not said what you want the VPN for!  Is it streaming, torrentng, bank log-in or what?

not sure about streaming or torrenting.

 

but let's say it's for online banking.

if you look at the top left corner of thai visa web site, you will notice a small "lock" icon. that means the web site is encrypted. most likely, your online banking site will also be encrypted. so if a site is encrypted, everything you are doing on that site is not viewable to others.

so no vpn is needed for an encrypted site. 

at least that's my understanding. 

 

 

[IvorBiggun2]

9 minutes ago, fangless said:

You have not said what you want the VPN for!  Is it streaming, torrentng, bank log-in or what?

 

'Privacy' 

[CharlieH]

I use it for watching UK tv, thats about it.

[G Rex]

I use VPN to stream AFL games (Aussie Rules Football) from an Australian provider.  Express was no good to me - the provider could detect VPN , so was blocked.  Bullet VPN works well. They change their IP addresses regularly to thwart the blockers (from Kayo website). I think it is a bit of a cat & mouse game.

 

[rumak]

25 minutes ago, fangless said:

You have not said what you want the VPN for!  Is it streaming, torrentng, bank log-in or what?

 

The movies that i used to get through Kodi  are all "no stream available"  now.

tried the suggested fix but no luck.     

the next "fix"  wanted me to get a VPN 

[MRToMRT]

I use expressVPN. Not needed for 99% of things but can stream ITV, player and Channel 4. Also I will occasionally have a website that fails to download or has loading issues (caused by the government server cache here in Thailand) or is banned by the gov, and then I just switch to Singapore or elsewhere to load it straightaway. Keep in mind though the further away you go from Thailand (i.e. geographically speaking) when you choose the server, the slower the connection get.

One thing I have not been able to figure is express has a Thailand server, not sure what that does or if it blocks prying eyes but its fast.

[guzzi850m2]

I use VPN all the time.

 

I do some trading (shares), on-line banking, download stuff like TV series/movies.

 

I like to keep a very low profile.

 

I am not too happy with my NordVPN, can't always get it going when I start my PC in the morning but when it running it's quite good.

[cyril sneer]

did a free trial for a week, did find any benefits from having it so cancelled

[recom273]

25 minutes ago, covidiot said:

not sure about streaming or torrenting.

 

but let's say it's for online banking.

if you look at the top left corner of thai visa web site, you will notice a small "lock" icon. that means the web site is encrypted. most likely, your online banking site will also be encrypted. so if a site is encrypted, everything you are doing on that site is not viewable to others.

so no vpn is needed for an encrypted site. 

at least that's my understanding. 

 

 

Lots of banks block access to access outside the home country. It’s not really end to end encryption, although that gives security, your packets can’t be intercepted. Correct.
 

I don’t have an answer to wether or not they are worth it, trying to view geoblocked video content never seems to work for me. 

[Pilotman]

I use Express VPN. I need it for access to UK and US Netflix, HBO, and for online teaching when I do it. IT also allows access to UK lottery. I would not do without it. 

[tlcwaterfall]

5 minutes ago, rumak said:

 

The movies that i used to get through Kodi  are all "no stream available"  now.

tried the suggested fix but no luck.     

the next "fix"  wanted me to get a VPN 

Watch movies and tv shows on Kodi everyday. Have several addons that do the job nicely and I use real debrid also.

Links work every single time. 

[norfolkandchance]

NordVPN for me. Never had a problem with UK Telly. Cheap as well.

[CharlieH]

4 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I use Express VPN. I need it for access to UK and US Netflix, HBO, and for online teaching when I do it. IT also allows access to UK lottery. I would not do without it. 

Hope you dont play it, imagine winning and being unable to claim, arrgghh nightmare.

[bunnydrops]

I don't use it for banks in the US. They see the change in the IP address and make me go though their security check. I use it for movie streaming. I played cat and mouse with Amazon Prime for a while but they always seem to catch me after a week or two. Also some news sites won't let you see some video content if you are out of the country.  Same with some government sites. I use Surfshark, very fast on US servers

[Pilotman]

4 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Hope you dont play it, imagine winning and being unable to claim, arrgghh nightmare.

I have one ticket on direct debit  and when I win the money goes straight into my UK account.  So far it has worked,  but I've never won more than 100 pounds.  If it was 1 million, that might be problematic. 

[bunnydrops]

3 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I have one ticket on direct debit  and when I win the money goes straight into my UK account.  So far it has worked,  but I've never won more than 100 pounds.  If it was 1 million, that might be problematic. 

Buy the most expensive seat on the next flight out:)

[Pilotman]

1 minute ago, bunnydrops said:

Buy the most expensive seat on the next flight out:)

if its over 1 million, it will be  private jet to some obscure airfield in the North of the UK for me.