technology Who here uses VPNs?

[Kaneki 1,073]

A virtual private network (VPN) is sort of like a tunnel that redirects your internet traffic through a remote server, securely through encryption. There are many uses for this, including getting around censorship, protecting yourself on public WiFi, and general privacy concerns. So, I want to know, do you use a VPN and if so, which one?

I happen to use a company called Private Internet Access (https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/). They're very well known by now, rather cheap and have servers in multiple countries. Plus, they disguise their IP addresses under shell companies that look like cable/DSL ISPs so you can get around companies that block VPNs (like Netflix).

[Mercury 459]

I use PIA too, but they're not always unblocked by Netflix/Amazon. It kinda sucks when they do because it always happens in like, in the middle of a series  

[sciencewill98 157]

I use X-VPN. It's free and you can tell, but works for what I want, which is getting round annoying school filtering.

[Nightfall Gloam 18,293]

I don't currently use a VPN, however I do plan on using it some time in the future, have seen ads on TV (not that I watch it regularly, but that irrelevant) for this service called "NordVPN"... Though, I am a bit curious and have some questions:

• What are the main benefits to using VPN?
• What is the best VPN service?
• How much does the average VPN cost?
• Will it affect the performance of IM services like Discord and Wire, or streaming services like Spotify?

[SparklingSwirls 21,531]

No, I don't really have the need to use a VPN. If I want to watch region-restricted content I just use a proxy and that's good enough for me.

[Here No Longer 5,286]

I wish I had one, to be honest. That would actually be pretty nice.

[Kaneki 1,073]

5 hours ago, Nightfallicious Gloam said:

I don't currently use a VPN, however I do plan on using it some time in the future, have seen ads on TV (not that I watch it regularly, but that irrelevant) for this service called "NordVPN"... Though, I am a bit curious and have some questions:

• What are the main benefits to using VPN?
• What is the best VPN service?
• How much does the average VPN cost?
• Will it affect the performance of IM services like Discord and Wire, or streaming services like Spotify?

 

1. Main benefits include the things I had said in the OP. It's not a perfect way of protection, as your VPN can still leak out data via your DNS servers, but some VPN providers like PIA have features to prevent this.

2. I would say Private Internet Access. They have a network of 3000+ servers (see https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/network/) in 27 countries, and have a lower monthly cost compared to many major VPN providers. There is an occasional speed hiccup every now and then, but it usually fixes itself.

3. Usually, a lot of the good VPNs (anything non-free) will be $10-15/month, but will give you a lower price if you sign up pre-paid (like, 6 months, 1 year or 2 years in advance). PIA is $7/month, with lower prices at higher terms.

4. It most likely won't, as most of the VPN providers have a 1Gbps uplink or more to each server. Usually more though.

[Celli 4,349]

I don't use one, but I have a close friend who does, because he's paranoid and doesn't want people tracking his IP address.

[Lightwing 12,979]

I just use them if I'm given absolutely no option and a website *cough* crunchyroll *cough* blocks my country for no reason at all. I just recently had to install one to see an anime just because it would not even let me see anything at all, yo.

[碇 シンジン 27,439]

Started using them while back feeling pretty good about them atm