Do you use a VPN ? Do they really help ?

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, KannikaP said:

How do you know they are protecting you?

Good question, I suppose by the fact I have not been hacked, held to ransom, phished, had a computer virus or any other of the seeming multitude of hazards on the internet. That statement is true ever since I jettisoned Microsoft in favor of Linux, about 12 years ago.

It might also be because I don't click on a link from anywhere but a trusted source, or open an email from an address I don't know.

[baipaibkk]

Mullvad VPN is the only anonymous. no adress for pay needed.
i'm used this for 3 years already. not have geoblocking on my tv streams. only for 5 EUR per month.
Privacy need in Thailand. All traffice is logged here

[Logosone]

4 minutes ago, baipaibkk said:

Privacy need in Thailand. All traffice is logged here

It's logged everywhere. Every ISP logs your traffic. Whichever country you're in.

[Lacessit]

29 minutes ago, rumak said:

 

Mrs. R  just started the lawnmower.    I thought it was a drone bomb sent by a foreign government.

Privacy ?    haha    we are all public property at this time in history

The trick is to feed the inquisitors with too much information by varying names and addresses slightly. Meantime, keeping the important stuff hidden. Their computers get confused.

There's a couple of Australian agencies who are quite clueless about me.

 

[crazykopite]

I have express VPN it’s not the cheapest but I can’t complain as I have had no issues the good thing is you can cover up to 5 separate items or better still install it in your router and everything is covered I can live stream or watch BBC I Player  before I was paying for myiptv which I had for some 7 years but over the last 12 months I found the customer service attitude to be terrible as well as far to many issues so much so I kicked it into the long grass  when my 6 month renewal came up I now live stream for free my express vpn costs me £75 per year whereas myiptv was 12,000 baht a year that’s a hell of a difference 

[Logosone]

1 minute ago, crazykopite said:

I have express VPN it’s not the cheapest but I can’t complain as I have had no issues the good thing is you can cover up to 5 separate items or better still install it in your router and everything is covered I can live stream or watch BBC I Player  before I was paying for myiptv which I had for some 7 years but over the last 12 months I found the customer service attitude to be terrible as well as far to many issues so much so I kicked it into the long grass  when my 6 month renewal came up I now live stream for free my express vpn costs me £75 per year whereas myiptv was 12,000 baht a year that’s a hell of a difference 

 

Yah, I also like that you can install Express VPN on mobile, tablet, laptop. Works well. Happy with the customer service as well.

[IvorBiggun2]

3 minutes ago, crazykopite said:

I have express VPN it’s not the cheapest but I can’t complain 

 

Unless you get a free VPN you'll never know the difference.  One's free the other costs. End of. Sorry to be so blunt.

[orchidfan]

1 hour ago, G Rex said:

I have a Kayo subscription - needed an Australian mobile phone number for set up - so used a number from my work - you needs to be able to get registration code from this phone. $25 per month. Can watch any game I want - live or delayed.  Also has plenty of other sport to watch. I log in with one of the Australian numbers on Bullet VPN - they have 6 ( Kayo 1 to Kayo 6) . Sometimes all of these will connect, other times you need to try a few first , as Kayo sometimes detects VPN , so will not connect.

The transmission is a bit laggy at times - but - as a Collingwood supporter I am not too fussed about the footy ATM!

Ok. Thanks for your Info. 

I don't have a Oz mobile number so that's a no goer.

AFL subscription is $39 a month and only month by month, can stop anytime. Perfect reception which I can mirror to my Samsung  if s Green smart TV.

Am originally from the West so follow Eagles and Dockers, but enjoy watching most AFL games unless they're a bloodbath. 

(Something to do during these isolation times of boredom !)

Might wait until the final rounds to sign up again. 

Thanks for your reply. 

[Catoni]

3 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Not to me. I trialed several VPN candidates before using them. I purposely used a P2P book club download as bait. Sure enough, several VPN candidates gave away my IP address and I got takedown letters from my ISP.

Expressvpn functioned as advertised and 8 years on its still the best. I've used it in numerous countries and have it installed as an image on my home router, thus all my traffic goes through a VPN. I have the app on my phone and turn it on when I go out in the wild.

 

If you want to make such statements it's best to support them.

Your post provides nothing of any value beyond petulant cynicism.

 

OP: PM me if you want detailed information from a long-time user.

   

You’re using one of the top two in my opinion. Expressvpn is excellent. ????????
        I use NordVPN ….also excellent.  After much research…..I firmly believe they are the top two . 

There are a few others that are good. And also many that are simply not worth bothering with. 

[Poet]

3 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Not to me. I trialed several VPN candidates before using them. I purposely used a P2P book club download as bait. Sure enough, several VPN candidates gave away my IP address and I got takedown letters from my ISP.

Expressvpn functioned as advertised and 8 years on its still the best. I've used it in numerous countries and have it installed as an image on my home router, thus all my traffic goes through a VPN. I have the app on my phone and turn it on when I go out in the wild.

 

If you want to make such statements it's best to support them.

Your post provides nothing of any value beyond petulant cynicism.

So, you are stealing books. That, or any other form of online theft, is a good reason to use a VPN.

The vast majority of people are not engaging in online theft and, so, their needs are different from yours.

That is why I say that VPNs are being "aggressively marketed", because they are ceaselessly pushing them to people who don't actually need them.
 

3 hours ago, RocketDog said:

OP: PM me if you want detailed information from a long-time user.

Translation: OP, I'm hoping to get you to use my affiliate link.
 

[jack71]

12 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

have lived here for 8 years and never found a situation were I have needed a VPN.

you clearly dont have a need to look at x rated sites?

[jack71]

12 hours ago, rumak said:

Express VPN  seems to be a favorite.

dont do it. so many annoying messages all the time. cant even log out of my laptop without first closing the vpn. its the only app that does this. many other annoying features

[jack71]

12 hours ago, Poet said:

Aggressively marketed nonsense.

you dont look at porno sites? vpns are gods gift here in the LOS

[jack71]

10 hours ago, guzzi850m2 said:

I am not too happy with my NordVPN, c

im not happy with nord either. constantly asking me to upgrade ver and log back in etc. pain in the ass messages all the time

[Poet]

Just now, jack71 said:

you dont look at porno sites? vpns are gods gift here in the LOS

Good point, but most Thai get around that restriction by visiting the mobile subdomains of those sites - the government filters are ridiculously specific, they don't simply block the entire domain.

A girl showed me that trick a while back, perhaps it has changed since then.

[jack71]

8 hours ago, rumak said:

free?    actually,  I am the paranoid type...... so even paying for a VPN  with a credit card has me shying away.     

I will look back at the posts as one or two members listed some free VPN's.

Thanks for all the feedback  ..............

duh. if your the paranoid type then the last thing you should use is a free vpn. Pay for a good one. they are not all the same....

[rumak]

Just now, jack71 said:

duh. if your the paranoid type then the last thing you should use is a free vpn. Pay for a good one. they are not all the same....

i have posted that i am trying the expressvpn .   if i like it i will purchase

[Poet]

26 minutes ago, jack71 said:

im not happy with nord either. constantly asking me to upgrade ver and log back in etc. pain in the ass messages all the time

Anyone can easily route around geo restrictions without having to pay a VPN subscription or deal with all that nonsense.

Go to Hetzner and rent the cheapest cloud server for €0.004 per hour or €2.49 per month.

Grab your cloud server's IP address and make a proxy connection to that - you just have to google once to find out the command, it will be something like "ssh -N -D 9090 [email protected]" (the X's being your cloud server's IP address). Then paste in the root password.
 
Then take a browser you don't use very often (I use Firefox for this) and change its settings so that it will only connect to the Web when you have this sort of proxy connection going. Again, you only have to google how to do this once.

You do not need to install anything on the cloud server, just keep the IP address and root password handy.

Bingo, you have just created your own VPN:
 

• It will be far faster than commercial VPNs (because you are not sharing resources and bandwidth with thousands of other users on the same node)
   
• You get an IP number that is not already associated with a particular VPN service and is, therefore, less likely to be blocked by video services.
   
• Unlike most of the VPN services, no one is tracking what you do.
   
• You only pay for what you use - in the case of Hetzner, using it for an average of two hours per day would cost you 24 cents per month.

Alternatively, you can keep the connection running all month for €2.49. It really boils down to how much time you devote to masturbation each day.

Hetzner gives you a German IP address, but you can use any VPS service - such as Digital Ocean, Vultr, Linode etc - to get an IP in almost any country. You are just renting a tiny server, on an hourly basis, to run one of your browsers through. Very easy, very cheap.

As a bonus, you can also use the same €2.49 server for other stuff, such as running a website or torrenting or Plex or whatever.

 

[IvorBiggun2]

11 minutes ago, rumak said:

i have posted that i am trying the expressvpn .   if i like it i will purchase

 

Will you compare it to a free VPN to see if you get value for money?

[Golden Triangle]

4 hours ago, Greenhill said:

I use Express VPN but it does NOT give me access to BBC iplayer as, somehow, the 'wonderful' BBC can smell a VPN is being used!!!!    If you do have access to iplayer, please let me know the 'trick'.

I have access to BBC iplayer as previously stated I use windscribe. ????

[topt]

9 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

I have access to BBC iplayer as previously stated I use windscribe. ????

Sorry if you mentioned this in earlier post but do you use the free offer or subscribe?

How do you find the speed as with my limited usage the speed of the free version can leave something to be desired.....

[Golden Triangle]

26 minutes ago, Poet said:

Anyone can easily route around geo restrictions without having to pay a VPN subscription or deal with all that nonsense.

Go to Hetzner and rent the cheapest cloud server for €0.004 per hour or €2.49 per month.

Grab your cloud server's IP address and make a proxy connection to that - you just have to google once to find out the command, it will be something like "ssh -N -D 9090 [email protected]" (the X's being your cloud server's IP address). Then paste in the root password.
 
Then take a browser you don't use very often (I use Firefox for this) and change its settings so that it will only connect to the Web when you have this sort of proxy connection going. Again, you only have to google how to do this once.

You do not need to install anything on the cloud server, just keep the IP address and root password handy.

Bingo, you have just created your own VPN:
 

• It will be far faster than commercial VPNs (because you are not sharing resources and bandwidth with thousands of other users on the same node)
   
• You get an IP number that is not already associated with a particular VPN service and is, therefore, less likely to be blocked by video services.
   
• Unlike most of the VPN services, no one is tracking what you do.
   
• You only pay for what you use - in the case of Hetzner, using it for an average of two hours per day would cost you 24 cents per month.

Alternatively, you can keep the connection running all month for €2.49. It really boils down to how much time you devote to masturbation each day.

Hetzner gives you a German IP address, but you can use any VPS service - such as Digital Ocean, Vultr, Linode etc - to get an IP in almost any country. You are just renting a tiny server, on an hourly basis, to run one of your browsers through. Very easy, very cheap.

As a bonus, you can also use the same €2.49 server for other stuff, such as running a website or torrenting or Plex or whatever.

 

Not everyone is a smartypants like you, and to be honest that sounds like a whole lot of work just to watch a 30 minute or one hour programme, I'll stick with my VPN thanks, no fussing around changing browsers and all that entails, I can't understand why people are loath to spend US$52 or just over $4 a month, some people are laughable.

[JackGats]

11 hours ago, MRToMRT said:

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.

I was told this Thailand server was in fact physically in Singapore. If you choose the "smart location" it directs you to the one in Singapore anyway.

 

[Golden Triangle]

8 minutes ago, topt said:

Sorry if you mentioned this in earlier post but do you use the free offer or subscribe?

How do you find the speed as with my limited usage the speed of the free version can leave something to be desired.....

I use the paid version, unless it has changed recently it should work out at about $4 a month, I am unaware of any speed problems, the only thing not going through my VPN is my internet router, that's because it belongs to the internet provider, I could ask them to sort it but it's not a problem, one of the mods  here told me many moons ago my IP address was in London, England, works for me ????

[Poet]

19 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

Not everyone is a smartypants like you

Do the steps I listed really require anyone to be smart?
 

19 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

to be honest that sounds like a whole lot of work just to watch a 30 minute or one hour programme

How is paying for a cloud server and changing some settings in a browser more work than entering a subscription contract with some company, installing their software, and dealing with their upsells and other marketing nonsense?

It is also apparent, from the posts here, that most people have to try several different services before they find a good one. That, too, requires time and effort.

 

19 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

I can't understand why people are loath to spend US$52 or just over $4 a month, some people are laughable.

I don't think anyone complaining here about the various VPNs they have tried has cited the cost as a problem.

They are annoyed by the technical problems, being blocked by some services because the IP is associated with a VPN service, and, of course, the marketing nonsense.

Personally, I don't understand why I should pay to share resources with as many thousands of users as they can cram onto a server when, for less money, I can have exclusive use of my own.

I also don't see why I should allow someone else to track my activity and sell my details to other companies, something they ALL do because that is where the real money is, not the $52 you pay them. It makes me laugh when some people are so careful to avoid, say, Facebook but don't understand that Facebook is always the first in the queue to buy their VPN records.
 

[Golden Triangle]

6 minutes ago, Poet said:

Do the steps I listed really require anyone to be smart?
 

How is paying for a cloud server and changing some settings in a browser more work than entering a subscription contract with some company, installing their software, and dealing with their upsells and other marketing nonsense?

It is also apparent, from the posts here, that most people have to try several different services before they find a good one. That, too, requires time and effort.

 

I don't think anyone complaining here about the various VPNs they have tried has cited the cost as a problem.

They are annoyed by the technical problems, being blocked by some services because the IP is associated with a VPN service, and, of course, the marketing nonsense.

Personally, I don't understand why I should pay to share resources with as many thousands of users as they can cram onto a server when, for less money, I can have exclusive use of my own.

I also don't see why I should allow someone else to track my activity and sell my details to other companies, something the ALL do because that is where the real money is, not the $52 you pay them.

 

I still have the reminder on my phone to message you in October ????

[Poet]

Just now, Golden Triangle said:

I still have the reminder on my phone to message you in October ????

Cool. I presume we had some sort of bet about crypto or the pandemic ????

[Golden Triangle]

4 minutes ago, Poet said:

Cool. I presume we had some sort of bet about crypto or the pandemic ????

Tourist numbers ????

[recom273]

1 hour ago, Poet said:

Anyone can easily route around geo restrictions without having to pay a VPN subscription or deal with all that nonsense.

Go to Hetzner and rent the cheapest cloud server for €0.004 per hour or €2.49 per month.

Grab your cloud server's IP address and make a proxy connection to that - you just have to google once to find out the command, it will be something like "ssh -N -D 9090 [email protected]" (the X's being your cloud server's IP address). Then paste in the root password.
 
Then take a browser you don't use very often (I use Firefox for this) and change its settings so that it will only connect to the Web when you have this sort of proxy connection going. Again, you only have to google how to do this once.

You do not need to install anything on the cloud server, just keep the IP address and root password handy.

Bingo, you have just created your own VPN:
 

• It will be far faster than commercial VPNs (because you are not sharing resources and bandwidth with thousands of other users on the same node)
   
• You get an IP number that is not already associated with a particular VPN service and is, therefore, less likely to be blocked by video services.
   
• Unlike most of the VPN services, no one is tracking what you do.
   
• You only pay for what you use - in the case of Hetzner, using it for an average of two hours per day would cost you 24 cents per month.

Alternatively, you can keep the connection running all month for €2.49. It really boils down to how much time you devote to masturbation each day.

Hetzner gives you a German IP address, but you can use any VPS service - such as Digital Ocean, Vultr, Linode etc - to get an IP in almost any country. You are just renting a tiny server, on an hourly basis, to run one of your browsers through. Very easy, very cheap.

As a bonus, you can also use the same €2.49 server for other stuff, such as running a website or torrenting or Plex or whatever.

 

Yes, you are completely correct, don’t Herzner give you an option to install OpenVPN? 

 

I have a couple of OVH servers which are about 300B a month, great if you want French (or Dutch?) TV I think. Just a matter of downloading the OVPN config and loading your openwrt router or a client, I use viscosity. 
 

Do you have a suggestion for UK server?
 

[Poet]

1 hour ago, recom273 said:

Yes, you are completely correct, don’t Herzner give you an option to install OpenVPN? 

I think so but, if not, it takes only a single line to install it.

I have experimented with OpenVPN in the past, but found it to be not particularly open. IIRC, severe limitations on the number of devices you can use before having to pay them.

The beauty of simply using the server as a proxy is that you don't need to install anything. You spin up a server and login. That's all.

I suspect that a lot of people messing around with OpenVPN don't know that this is possible.

For more advanced uses, such as connecting from OpenWRT, OpenVPN may be necessary.

 

1 hour ago, recom273 said:

Do you have a suggestion for UK server?

Digital Ocean, Linode, and Vultr all have London datacenters. There are hundreds of providers with hourly billing who have a presence in dozens of countries.

Hetzner and OVH are unusual in being relatively limited in that way, each with a presence in just two countries.