Surf Shark VPN

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

On 11/17/2022 at 12:01 PM, The Fugitive said:

Are there USA banks that will allow you to have an address abroad and will send renewed/replacement debit/credit cards to Thailand? 

I opened an account with Chase just over four years ago when I was visiting the US. I do not have an address or phone number in the US and Chase was fine using my Thai address and phone number. I had to show them my passport and a bank statement with my Thai address. I think an SSA letter with my Thai address would have been ok in lieu of a bank statement.

 

Chase sent a box of checks and a debit card by courier to me here in Bangkok. I had an unauthorized transaction on my account once and requested a new debit card. Chase sent the replacement by courier to me here. I use the Chase app on my phone with my Thai SIM card and log on to their website using my computer without VPN.

[recom273]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

The former is like my current solution but it's a bit of a burden.

 

I have a PC box set up in his house.

 

I power it on from Thailand logging on to his network. 

 

Then I use TeamViewer to use that US computer to login to my Financials.

 

I was hoping that a VPN might potentially replace that.

You could replace that computer with a raspberry pi running OpenVPN, leave it plugged it into his router, then log into the created VPN rather than use teamviewer.  
 

https://youtu.be/rtUl7BfCNMY

 

I don’t know how much a pi is these days, $50-$99 - that would be a one off payment instead of a monthly payment.

[Jingthing]

This was already answered by a user but I just confirmed with Surfshark that even with obfuscated servers banks and others can still see your LOCATION. Drats!

[fdsa]

1 hour ago, recom273 said:

You could replace that computer with a raspberry pi running OpenVPN, leave it plugged it into his router, then log into the created VPN rather than use teamviewer.  
 

https://youtu.be/rtUl7BfCNMY

 

I don’t know how much a pi is these days, $50-$99 - that would be a one off payment instead of a monthly payment.

 good idea but they will need a dedicated IP address or else an intermediate VPN would be required.

 

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

The former is like my current solution but it's a bit of a burden.

 

I have a PC box set up in his house.

 

I power it on from Thailand logging on to his network. 

 

Then I use TeamViewer to use that US computer to login to my Financials.

 

I was hoping that a VPN might potentially replace that.

If they have a dedicated IP address then you could setup a VPN server on their computer or router instead of using Teamviewer.

 

  

39 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

This was already answered by a user but I just confirmed with Surfshark that even with obfuscated servers banks and others can still see your LOCATION. Drats!

There is like a million of methods to determine your location regardless of your IP address, the most basic are: browser timezone and operating system languages. If a website sees that your timezone is Asia/Bangkok and browser supported languages are EN, TH then your American IP most likely is fake.

 

[The Fugitive]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

This was already answered by a user but I just confirmed with Surfshark that even with obfuscated servers banks and others can still see your LOCATION. Drats!

At least they didn't lie. But it seems worse than we thought. Not only can they tell you're using a VPN but can tunnel their way back through it to see where you really are.

[fdsa]

14 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Not only can they tell you're using a VPN but can tunnel their way back through it to see where you really are.

nope, only law enforcements (and some hackers) can discover the real IP behind the VPNs, while the general public such as banks use public methods such as I've described above.

And if you use "bank apps" on your smartphone instead of the online banking then you are your own worst enemy.

[The Fugitive]

23 minutes ago, fdsa said:

if you use "bank apps" on your smartphone instead of the online banking then you are your own worst enemy.

No web based access for the neo banks I've recently joined. Mobile app only. Makes you think.

[Jingthing]

If banks know don't entertainment geo restricted streamers know too?

[DezLez]

On 11/17/2022 at 2:49 PM, topt said:

I think because Swiss based they have to comply to requests.

If they are Swiss based they DO NOT have to comply!

Edited November 18, 2022 by DezLez

[The Fugitive]

12 hours ago, fdsa said:

nope, only law enforcements (and some hackers) can discover the real IP behind the VPNs, while the general public such as banks use public methods such as I've described above.

When Surf Shark admitted that banks can tell your location, are they referring to Country only, not town and street?

[topt]

11 hours ago, DezLez said:

If they are Swiss based they DO NOT have to comply!

They DO with Swiss law - however my memory was of an incident to do with their email and not directly the VPN service -

https://www.wired.com/story/protonmail-amends-policy-after-giving-up-activists-data/

[topt]

Very extensive recent review of Proton VPN if anybody is interested by who I believe to be a respected tech writer - 

https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn/reviews/protonvpn/

 

Lot of links in the article to other related articles

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, The Fugitive said:

When Surf Shark admitted that banks can tell your location, are they referring to Country only, not town and street?

I didn’t ask. But I made it clear I wanted to be seen as being in the US.

[bunnydrops]

I have Wellsfargo and use surfshark. I have no problem connecting with them without VPN, but if I use the VPN they make me do the two step security. I can still logon. For me it is just easier to turn VPN off to logon to the site. I maybe that I had done the two step on my Thai connection years ago but I spend 6 months there and 6 months here every year and at neither location have I needed to to the two step again.

Edited November 19, 2022 by bunnydrops
addition

[The Fugitive]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I didn’t ask. But I made it clear I wanted to be seen as being in the US.

As 'fdsa' informs, we need to do other things in addition to using a VPN such as change time zone setting on PC to where you wish to appear to be and ensure language settings are US only. 

[bunnydrops]

2 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

As 'fdsa' informs, we need to do other things in addition to using a VPN such as change time zone setting on PC to where you wish to appear to be and ensure language settings are US only. 

It depends on the site. I have played cat and mouse with Amazon Prime for a while. I watch movies. I could go for a while on one US VPN server, and then they would catch me and I would change to another server and that would work for a while. Then nothing would work. At the last I found that if I used a browser that I only used for Amazon Prime and a US VPN server, it worked every time. I quit Prime this year so I don't know for sure if it is still an option.

[The Fugitive]

4 minutes ago, bunnydrops said:

It depends on the site. I have played cat and mouse with Amazon Prime for a while. I watch movies. I could go for a while on one US VPN server, and then they would catch me and I would change to another server and that would work for a while. Then nothing would work. At the last I found that if I used a browser that I only used for Amazon Prime and a US VPN server, it worked every time. I quit Prime this year so I don't know for sure if it is still an option.

Very helpful info, thank you.

[fdsa]

3 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

When Surf Shark admitted that banks can tell your location, are they referring to Country only, not town and street?

It depends on the techniques they apply to determine your location. It could vary from just a Country to the very town+street.

 

1 hour ago, The Fugitive said:

As 'fdsa' informs, we need to do other things in addition to using a VPN such as change time zone setting on PC to where you wish to appear to be and ensure language settings are US only. 

these are just a very basic countermeasures and they will not prevent an extensive aggressive fingerprinting by the interested parties.

A much better way is to setup a virtual machine to use exclusively with the bank website, connect the virtual OS to the VPN adapter from the host OS, and forbid getting ANY information from the host operating system (the host OS shares the location/language/timezone/etc with the virtual OS by default).

 

[Jingthing]

Interesting. 

So let's say a user uses a VPN with obfuscation, sets their device in Thailand to a US zone, English only, would that generally work unless your target decided to specifically investigate you?

[proton]

Can't get BBC iplayer to work on surfshark after one prgrame, but then as it's multicultural diverse over load now not that bothered

[The Fugitive]

6 minutes ago, proton said:

Can't get BBC iplayer to work on surfshark after one prgrame, but then as it's multicultural diverse over load now not that bothered

Wow! Disappointing if it were to continue. Generally they suggest disconnecting, waiting a little while and then reconnecting. Clearing cookies etc. No doubt you will find all the help you need on their website. If still not resolved, perhaps send then an email. They usually answer very quickly.

[fdsa]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

let's say a user uses a VPN with obfuscation

The owner of the IP address is much more important than any encryption or obfuscation. The most basic and simple transparent proxy with IP address that belongs to the home or mobile ISP will hide your ass better than a highly encrypted and heavily obfuscated VPN protocol with IP address that belongs to "Hide My Ass VPN Co. Ltd."

Edited November 19, 2022 by fdsa

[recom273]

On 11/19/2022 at 1:55 PM, proton said:

Can't get BBC iplayer to work on surfshark after one prgrame, but then as it's multicultural diverse over load now not that bothered

There is nothing wrong with using surfshark to access iplayer - If you want some help, then post some info, how are you using it? what device? Some settings? .. I have no issues using surfshark + surfshark VPN app on my fireTV stick - its cheap and easy.

 

Only when I look at the video streams on my computer and comparing them to other servers do I notice surfsharks weaknesses, but it should work.

[proton]

4 hours ago, recom273 said:

There is nothing wrong with using surfshark to access iplayer - If you want some help, then post some info, how are you using it? what device? Some settings? .. I have no issues using surfshark + surfshark VPN app on my fireTV stick - its cheap and easy.

 

Only when I look at the video streams on my computer and comparing them to other servers do I notice surfsharks weaknesses, but it should work.

Tried Lon and Manchester locations, works for a short time then not, google and brave browsers. Maybe change the clock to UK time? 

[recom273]

42 minutes ago, proton said:

Tried Lon and Manchester locations, works for a short time then not, google and brave browsers. Maybe change the clock to UK time? 

No need to change time - you are using a computer?

 

So, you are using their app to connect? 

 

Install Firefox (although brave probably has this function) - go to settings / preferences and set to “erase cookies on close” (I forget the actual term) - close the app. (This is why I use Firefox exclusively for TV, then I don’t lose all my cookies with saved logins)

 

Open your browser and log in to iplayer. 
 

Let me know if it doesn’t work. 

 

[proton]

MacbookAir, will have a go at that thanks

[proton]

29 minutes ago, recom273 said:

No need to change time - you are using a computer?

 

So, you are using their app to connect? 

 

Install Firefox (although brave probably has this function) - go to settings / preferences and set to “erase cookies on close” (I forget the actual term) - close the app. (This is why I use Firefox exclusively for TV, then I don’t lose all my cookies with saved logins)

 

Open your browser and log in to iplayer. 
 

Let me know if it doesn’t work. 

 

Did that in Firefox, like before worked at first then trying to select something else got the d=same error message

 

Error: 410 Gone

Your client has made a request for a BBC domain that is no longer hosted on Akamai, but the request was sent to an Akamai IP address. This suggests your client is using a very out-of-date DNS response, or one that has been altered. If you're using VPN software or similar, try disabling it and / or contact your VPN provider's technical support.

 

 

[recom273]

3 hours ago, proton said:

MacbookAir, will have a go at that thanks

Ok - presumed you were using a windows machine or a android box.

 

I too have a Mac, so can replicate - I just downloaded their app from the App Store, even tho the assistant app said I had an overseas ip, at first it wasn’t masking my IP at all and I was getting a geolock from iplayer. 
 

I went to settings, VPN > Protocol - I changed it from UDP to TCP, I couldn’t even access the site. Back to UDP, reconnecting to the VPN, opening and closing Firefox > I got the same error as you. 
 

I turned on clearweb toggle in VPN preferences and set it to wireguard, rebooted the computer and it connected first attempt. I think I was using the Glasgow server.

 

I started watching, no problems - then after a while the player started jumping between streams, 720 > SD > low res ..

 

When I connect with my Amazon fireTV, there is never a problem, but I can see it jumping between streams.

 

It will work, but it’s a ballache on a Mac - I don’t think I would bother. 
PIA is a little more expensive, but has a dedicated video streaming server and just works on the mac, no need to reboot. The worst thing I need to do is close Firefox and sometimes change protocol back and forth. 

Edited November 21, 2022 by recom273

[Tofer]

Thanks for all your advice and recommendations.

 

I finally plumped for Surfshark, as it had your good reviews and an incredible offer for black Friday, 26 months at 1.69stg/m plus a further offer on sign up of 12 additional months at 1.72stg/m. I've now got a subscription of 38 months for 65stg, and I got 25stg refund from my cancelled 6 months remaining on my old OpenVPN account.

 

It was extremely easy to sign up, download install and set up, and I've viewed BBC news live the last 2 days with a good fast connection.