Anyone using VPN?

[bluesofa]

Are there any TV members out there using a VPN, and is there an opinion of them and their performance?

I don't know who might offer the best deal?

Have you had to reconfigure your router, or are you accessing via windows VPN?
I don't know if buying a router that will support VPN directly would be worthwhile, as I'm on a tight budget.

I'm trying to find out what would be the best option, I want to get a better access speed internationally. My mail server is in the US, and sending a 1Mb email can take up to ten minutes.

I asked about changing from ADSL to fiber, but being outside the city, there only seems TOT (maybe), but they quoted 1,200 Baht/month, and I'm not sure what the international speed might be, trying to ignore what they claim domestically..

[Forkinhades]

You can get an 'international' connection from your ISP

Getting a VPN will not help at all, in fact it will probably make it slower.

[RichCor]

If your UPLOAD speed is slow, a VPN will not make SENDING DATA any faster. Usually the opposite occurs.

Who is your current ISP? What speed are you subscribed for?

[RichCor]

VPNs are used to create private 'tunnels' and geo-relocate your end-point IP address.

A few people have used VPNs or Proxies to force alternative International routes for their data packets ...you really need to know what you're doing to continuously and successfully accomplish this.

You'd probably be better off first experimenting with your connection

use Wired Ethernet, not WiFi (test to see if faster, if WiFi issues are playing a factor)

using a GMail Account for sending email.

Use dropbox (or similar service) to share files

...

[ukrules]

International speeds to some countries within Asia will be much faster than others and almost certainly faster than connecting directly to the US.

For example using a VPN to force the route of your data through a node in Singapore may offer you a much faster connection to the US.

Some of the VPN operators offer lots of node locations and you can pick and choose which one to use.

So it can speed things up but only if the bottleneck is on the route your traffic takes to the US, if the bottleneck is at your local ISP exchange then there is no hope.

[bluesofa]

If your UPLOAD speed is slow, a VPN will not make SENDING DATA any faster. Usually the opposite occurs.

Who is your current ISP? What speed are you subscribed for?

I'm with TOT, 7Mbs. Paying 740 Baht/month

A few weeks ago I used speedtest and got this:

BKK 7Mb down, 0.34 up.

USA 0.21Mbs down, 0.04 up

UK 1.5Mbs down, 0.06 up

I did it twice a few days apart in the early evening, with similar results.

After I called TOT three times about the slow international speed, they sent someone round. The guy phoned the ADSL control, got them to increase the ADSL speed to 10Mbs. It seemed hardly different (not surprising to my mind), and that was it.

I see Forkinhades said there was an "international" option with one ISP. Does that work in reality, and what sort of price? I'm worried it might be too expensive for me.

[chudless]

Using a VPN doesn't necessarily make it slower....that's a misleading statement.

I use Cyberghost which cost about 22 euros a year. You can select the country you want to be 'seen' as having an IP from for ease of access to country restricted serviced. For example I use mine to lay bets at online bookies and it works a charm. Also use it for accessing UK tv on ocassion.

[Andyfez]

I use Strong VPN.

You'll have to look at the website, but I think it's about $55 a year.

As previously said it doesn't help speed, although I don't really notice much difference.

But it does mean you can access blocked websites, and also pose as a 'local' when accessing TV and and other restricted services within US, UK, and Europe.

[mortenaa]

Its all about the your ISP. I use CAT Fiber, and I just did three different speed from Norway. They all delivered downloads over 10Mbps.

My connection is 35Mbps.

[RichCor]

If you are using a Windows PC, try downloading Hola! Better Internet Connection.

It's a browser-based PROXY extension that lets you select a route through another country (as your IP endpoint) on a domain-by-domain basis. Normally all traffic will travel normally unless you've selected a certain domain name to use another country as an exit point.

Sometimes I have issues getting ebay or amazon to render the page quickly accessing directly. Setting Singapore or USA will usually give me quick accurate access to the site.

As far as International Internet Gateway speed is concerned, most everyone has issues (depending on what Country they're accessing), and even more so at specific times. Way too many Facebook and YouTube users in this country.

[bluesofa]

Its all about the your ISP. I use CAT Fiber, and I just did three different speed from Norway. They all delivered downloads over 10Mbps.

My connection is 35Mbps.

I just looked at the CAT website, There are lots of acronyms (THIX, NIX, MPLS, etc), but no clear description of what they are. What plan do you subscribe to from CAT, and is it expensive?

[Patanawet]

Your speeds outside Thailand do seem extremely slow and, as others have said, a VPN probably will not improve that.

A VPN is to provide anonymity or to fool the internet into thinking you are in a different country.

If you want to try a VPN, try ZENMATE -- free for PCs. It certainly gives me enough speed to stream BBC iPlayer.

You can set it so that it looks as if you are in US, UK, Hong Kong and some others.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Patanawet

[pattayasnowman]

This is a great VPN service that I have used

http://novavpn.biz/

Has a free 3 day trial

[kennypowers]

I'm using Cyberghost, which is very affordable and works well for me in Thailand. If you want a premium option go for Hide My Ass, which has a choice of connecting from servers in 182 different countries.

[rodroy]

If your UPLOAD speed is slow, a VPN will not make SENDING DATA any faster. Usually the opposite occurs.

Who is your current ISP? What speed are you subscribed for?

I'm with TOT, 7Mbs. Paying 740 Baht/month

A few weeks ago I used speedtest and got this:

BKK 7Mb down, 0.34 up.

USA 0.21Mbs down, 0.04 up

UK 1.5Mbs down, 0.06 up

I did it twice a few days apart in the early evening, with similar results.

After I called TOT three times about the slow international speed, they sent someone round. The guy phoned the ADSL control, got them to increase the ADSL speed to 10Mbs. It seemed hardly different (not surprising to my mind), and that was it.

I see Forkinhades said there was an "international" option with one ISP. Does that work in reality, and what sort of price? I'm worried it might be too expensive for me.

Where in the US did you do your speedtest? Where was the speedtest server located?

There are huge differences in speedtest results even when servers are geographically close!

Check out the many different server options in and around San Jose and San Francisco and the will be large differences in speedtest results!

Dont assume speedtest is absolute!

Also if your ISP routes your traffic to the US via Europe it will be very slow and this happens!

Traceroute software IDs the routing and slow servers!

No matter who you use all international traffic will find its way through a TOT gateway!

Edited April 11, 2015 by rodroy

[Forkinhades]

International package is around 1200 baht in Pattaya. Only about 4 meg, but noticeable difference

[elviajero]

I use VyprVPN

https://www.goldenfrog.com/vyprvpn

$9.99 per month. I only use the basic service so I do get some speed drop out. But the speed is good enough for what I need.

[Jeffrey346]

I use Hola as well. I use the premium service for $5.00 a month with little to no speed issues. They also unblock the most popular websites.

[cmenow]

Like others have said, your speed problems are due to the crap infrastructue here, a VPN will not help. However, if you wish to view content (eg BBC iPlayer etc) that is restricted to its home country, then a VPN is ideal. If you are using Windows there is no need to change anything on your PC or Router, just install the VPN software and select which country you wish to be connected via and off you go. I use Private Internet Access, a US company (I think) and am very happy with them. Most Firms will give you the option of paying just for a month so that you can make sure that you are happy before commiting to a yearly and thus much cheaper package.

I did initilly try some of the free options around but they were no good for the long term.

[bigwhitewarrior]

I use Hola vpn (free) to download movies directly to my external hard drive not had many problems. It is easy to select which country to appear from. My wifi speed is between 15 to 20 mbps and upload about 5 mbps .daytime use. .nighttime it drops to 11 download and 3 upload. Still fast enough to browse watch t.v. etc etc.

[bluesofa]

If your UPLOAD speed is slow, a VPN will not make SENDING DATA any faster. Usually the opposite occurs.

Who is your current ISP? What speed are you subscribed for?

I'm with TOT, 7Mbs. Paying 740 Baht/month

A few weeks ago I used speedtest and got this:

BKK 7Mb down, 0.34 up.

USA 0.21Mbs down, 0.04 up

UK 1.5Mbs down, 0.06 up

I did it twice a few days apart in the early evening, with similar results.

After I called TOT three times about the slow international speed, they sent someone round. The guy phoned the ADSL control, got them to increase the ADSL speed to 10Mbs. It seemed hardly different (not surprising to my mind), and that was it.

I see Forkinhades said there was an "international" option with one ISP. Does that work in reality, and what sort of price? I'm worried it might be too expensive for me.

Where in the US did you do your speedtest? Where was the speedtest server located?

There are huge differences in speedtest results even when servers are geographically close!

Check out the many different server options in and around San Jose and San Francisco and the will be large differences in speedtest results!

Dont assume speedtest is absolute!

Also if your ISP routes your traffic to the US via Europe it will be very slow and this happens!

Traceroute software IDs the routing and slow servers!

No matter who you use all international traffic will find its way through a TOT gateway!

I consistantly used Mansfield, Passadena, that's closest to where my Webhost is located.

[Card]

I think you will find that using a VPN in Thailand is illegal as they don't want you to hide any activities you do online.

[bluesofa]

I think you will find that using a VPN in Thailand is illegal as they don't want you to hide any activities you do online.

It is legal to use, as long as you are not using to circumvent any government blocks or monitoring, or for any illegal use.

See this pinned post: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/334588-proxies-vpn-and-other-information/

[wump]

Wouldn't a VPN speed op's US speed up? If he uses a UK server to open websites in the US he should get 1.5 Mbps (as he said himself) instead of the normal 0.21 Mpbs with his ISP.

Also, I think you guys are paying far too much for your service. 10 dollars a month? Really? I pay 18$ for 3 years (so 6$ a year) and it works just fine. Did 150 GB of traffic in each of the last few months with it.

@OP: Using VPN is really easy. You choose some provider, download their software and in there you choose the country that you want to be 'seen as'. No need to manually change any settings in windows or in your router. You can use everything the same way you did before, the response time (ping) might be slightly increased though (but usually NOT the speed).

[Vogele123]

Wouldn't a VPN speed op's US speed up? If he uses a UK server to open websites in the US he should get 1.5 Mbps (as he said himself) instead of the normal 0.21 Mpbs with his ISP.

Also, I think you guys are paying far too much for your service. 10 dollars a month? Really? I pay 18$ for 3 years (so 6$ a year) and it works just fine. Did 150 GB of traffic in each of the last few months with it.

@OP: Using VPN is really easy. You choose some provider, download their software and in there you choose the country that you want to be 'seen as'. No need to manually change any settings in windows or in your router. You can use everything the same way you did before, the response time (ping) might be slightly increased though (but usually NOT the speed).

THE BANDWIDTH LIMIT IS THE THAI CONNECTION TO THE CIVILISED WORLD!

It does not matter how fast the US or the UK or Europe can connect, it does not matter how fast the VPN can carry traffic, non of this is even relevant, the bottleneck IS Thailand's connection with the international gateway, (I might be wrong but I believe this I via the cables to the USA via the Pacific and via Singapore) It doesn't matter in the least if the US to UK connection is 1 million gigabytes per second if Thailand is using a 256KB Modem, the fastest you get is 256KB, then you have to start sharing with everyone else that uses the modem!

Edited April 11, 2015 by Vogele123

[Forkinhades]

Non sensical post removed.

[Forkinhades]

Keep on topic guys, thank you.

[wump]

Wouldn't a VPN speed op's US speed up? If he uses a UK server to open websites in the US he should get 1.5 Mbps (as he said himself) instead of the normal 0.21 Mpbs with his ISP.

Also, I think you guys are paying far too much for your service. 10 dollars a month? Really? I pay 18$ for 3 years (so 6$ a year) and it works just fine. Did 150 GB of traffic in each of the last few months with it.

@OP: Using VPN is really easy. You choose some provider, download their software and in there you choose the country that you want to be 'seen as'. No need to manually change any settings in windows or in your router. You can use everything the same way you did before, the response time (ping) might be slightly increased though (but usually NOT the speed).

THE BANDWIDTH LIMIT IS THE THAI CONNECTION TO THE CIVILISED WORLD!

It does not matter how fast the US or the UK or Europe can connect, it does not matter how fast the VPN can carry traffic, non of this is even relevant, the bottleneck IS Thailand's connection with the international gateway, (I might be wrong but I believe this I via the cables to the USA via the Pacific and via Singapore) It doesn't matter in the least if the US to UK connection is 1 million gigabytes per second if Thailand is using a 256KB Modem, the fastest you get is 256KB, then you have to start sharing with everyone else that uses the modem!

This doesn't make sense. His connection is not 256KB, he said he gets 1.5 Mbit to the UK but only 0.21 Mbit to the US. If he routes his US traffic through the UK, he should get 1.5 Mbit to the VPN server in the UK using his normal connection. The UK VPN server obviously could connect to the US with that same 1.5 Mbit and then send the data back to Thailand (via the UK server) using that same 1.5 Mbit UK-Thailand route.

Edited April 11, 2015 by wump

[mikecat]

A VPN wont usually increase uploads or downloads in fact they maybe a little slower. However, they are very useful for accessing sites like BBC Iplayer ect. I use Zenmate which is free and just sits in your browser. You can turn it on and off with one click and change your country ip with one click. As a vpn I am not sure how secure it is but it is good enough to get you in to all the sites like Iplayer etc and streams well.

[Burl Ives]

add Zenmate to your chrome browser and see if that does the trick...it's free!