VPN's

[Aza]

Just wondered if anyone knew of a good one to recommend.

Ive used online VPN's before, but often find they are a little buggy or slow, Ive recently got Mozilla VPN as I use Firefox (so it kind of made sense as its the same people?). It seems ok, little slower than normal but to be expected I suppose, and changing server helped a lot when I switched to Rap of Ireland.

But wondered (while im still in my return/refund period ) If there were a better way?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just wondered if anyone knew of a good one to recommend.

Ive used online VPN's before, but often find they are a little buggy or slow, Ive recently got Mozilla VPN as I use Firefox (so it kind of made sense as its the same people?). It seems ok, little slower than normal but to be expected I suppose, and changing server helped a lot when I switched to Rap of Ireland.

But wondered (while im still in my return/refund period ) If there were a better way?

I would say it's worth investing in a proper VPN if you want good speeds and zero tracking but they cost more.

I've used NordVPN for years and find extremely reliable. They're based in Panama so are under no jurisdiction from the 5 eyes like others are so don't have to keep logs (they purge logs every 24 hours).

Speeds are good. And plenty of server locations, plus onion layer if wanted.

With Nord though you basically need to pay in bulk 2 years or something to keep the cost down

 

[Aza]

How much do they charge?
MozillaVPN was $60... it seems pretty good on speed (although its a noticable difference from running without) but I know nothing about the world of VPN's I just trusted Mozilla because they make Firefox and have a better reputation with data (at least from what I know)

Used to have Tor... I never reinstalled it when I switched to desktop.

 

[SpyderTracks]

How much do they charge?
MozillaVPN was $60... it seems pretty good on speed (although its a noticable difference from running without) but I know nothing about the world of VPN's I just trusted Mozilla because they make Firefox and have a better reputation with data (at least from what I know)

I didn't know much about Mozilla's offering as it's fairly new isn't it?

But glancing through it does look pretty impressive, and I do like Mozilla's reputation anyway. But yeah, they don't track or log which is good, and they do VPN hopping as well which is a nice feature.

Does look worthwhile.

Nord varies on pricing and occasionally does deals.

Currently they're doing a 2 year offer for just under £60 although I believe that's before tax, but it's a good deal, works out around £2.50 a month

VPN costs: buy a VPN with card, crypto, PayPal

Buy a VPN in just 60 seconds — it’s that easy. Find out how much NordVPN costs, what features you’ll get, and which plan offers the best VPN price for you.

nordvpn.com

I usually pay around that every 2 years, always buy the bulk offer.

 

[Aza]

I didn't know much about Mozilla's offering as it's fairly new isn't it?

But glancing through it does look pretty impressive, and I do like Mozilla's reputation anyway. But yeah, they don't track or log which is good, and they do VPN hopping as well which is a nice feature.

Does look worthwhile.

Nord varies on pricing and occasionally does deals.

Currently they're doing a 2 year offer for just under £60 although I believe that's before tax, but it's a good deal, works out around £2.50 a month

VPN costs: buy a VPN with card, crypto, PayPal

Buy a VPN in just 60 seconds — it’s that easy. Find out how much NordVPN costs, what features you’ll get, and which plan offers the best VPN price for you.

nordvpn.com

I usually pay around that every 2 years, always buy the bulk offer.

Well it sounds like I havent made a bad choice then, I'll give it a go for few days see how it holds up, the $60 was for a year, so more than Nord.
Pretty simple to use as well.

I noticed single hop/multi hop in the settings, I dont think I do anything that needs to do that though?
I got it more to give access back to some blocked sites on Virgin Media and also allow me to sign up for stuff like HBO etc where it stops access in the UK.

 

[Aza]

Quick question... if it slows down normal web browsing/steaming a little...i'm assuming it will have a similar effect on things like gaming (stuff like WoW/Baulders Gate etc where it all uses an internet connection).

I can switch it on and off easily, i'm guessing its recommended to if gaming?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Quick question... if it slows down normal web browsing/steaming a little...i'm assuming it will have a similar effect on things like gaming (stuff like WoW/Baulders Gate etc where it all uses an internet connection).

I can switch it on and off easily, i'm guessing its recommended to if gaming?

Yeah, generally recommended to disable for gaming.

On decent VPNs and I include Mozilla in that, they'll usually have a feature called split tunnelling where you either only activate the VPN for certain programs and have it disabled for everything else, or vice versa.

So on mine, I have it activated full time, but split tunnelling setup to disable VPN for my Firefox browser as some sites don't play nice with vpns.

So you could split tunnell all your games and not have to worry about constantly enabling it and disabling it.

 

[polycrac]

I've heard good things about Nord, I'm on Windscribe at the moment - always seems to work well for me and you can use it on multiple devices.

 

[Aza]

So i've found the settings for the split tunneling you mentioned, the interface has it under App permissions, automatic settings is to remain active for all but you can turn that off and then choose which apps you want it to deactivate for, gives a huge list when you go into it including games, game clients, office programs and such.

Interestingly, also found Sweden/Stockholm seems to be -very- quick and also very stable, ran it through dublin for a bit and it cut out after a while, Toyko was slow by comparison, but Stockholm is pretty good! Almost the same as not having the VPN running at all.

Also found I can add other devices, up to 5, so I stuck it on my phone just out of curiousity (iphone/IOS).

Kinda annoying some sites wont let you on with it active though, even if routing through a UK server it just blocks VPNs so renewing the lottery ticket and some TV streaming stuff wont allow you in or stop working when you try to view content, but you can switch the VPN on/off with two mouse clicks so hardly taxing.

Actually quite liking how easy it is to use, would be nice if there was something that auto-selected your server based on best ping rate or something rather than having to test them out each, but it has a build in speed test option too so its not just complete guesswork.

 

[Aza]

I've heard good things about Nord, I'm on Windscribe at the moment - always seems to work well for me and you can use it on multiple devices.

How much did Windscribe cost you? Nord was better on price than Mozilla, $60 (so about £50?) for a year on Mozilla compared to £60 for two years on Nord.

 

[polycrac]

Windscribe was about the same, I must admit I didn't shop around much. I tried their free trial and it all did what it said on the tin, others seemed a similar price and I'd read some good reviews.

 

[Steveyg]

Any of the reputable VPN's are similar to be honest, there wouldn't be much in them. I've used Nord in the past and it was fine, Mozilla's seems interesting though and their a decent company with a good history on the ethical side of things

I'd say any of the leading VPN's would be much of the same to be honest

 

[Aza]

Well, thought i'd better stick the link for Mozilla just in case anyone else reads this and fancies a peek.
Im not regretting my choice, I know its been two days but having found a decent choice of server (out of quite a long list to be fair, lots of choice to work with) I dont think I can tell the difference in speed to when its switched off and it took just a few minutes to get to grips with the app menu on it.

Get Mozilla VPN — Mozilla (US)

Use Mozilla VPN for full-device protection for all apps. With servers in 33+ countries, you can connect to anywhere, from anywhere.

www.mozilla.org

30 day money back guarantee on it as well, so its a decent trial period and if I end up not liking it I can get a refund and switch.

 

[Aza]

...Well that was bizarre...
Site was working fine and then I pressed refreshed and it said my IP was banned? So had to disable the VPN.
Not sure whats happened there.

 

[AgentCooper]

...Well that was bizarre...
Site was working fine and then I pressed refreshed and it said my IP was banned? So had to disable the VPN.
Not sure whats happened there.

There are some IP addresses that we add to the spam filter when the bots get out of hand. You may have happened across one of those addresses.

 

[Aza]

There are some IP addresses that we add to the spam filter when the bots get out of hand. You may have happened across one of those addresses.

Very strange.... switched to a different server and then switched back and its working again, but previously I hadnt changed for hours.
I saved the IP just in case it happens again so I can compare them.... didnt know that was a potential footfall!