I’m thinking about paying for a VPN, I currently don’t use one.
I’d like to use Mullvad but they don’t seem to have regional prices, while Proton does.
I wonder if Proton is still a reliable option, Proton is 60% cheaper in my country, probably because regional pricing (but I didn’t check if it’s really the case).
If anyone has any other suggestion I’d like to hear it.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
Definitely Mullvad, the whole point of VPN is to stay private and Proton does not accept crypto while Mullvad does.
If the VPN has your payment details then any privacy just goes out the window.
I like mullvad i use their dns filtering and their socks5 proxies however it does lack port forwarding so it sucks for torrenting.
I’d rather compare IVPN vs Mullvad.
I dont use the well known ones, seems to me that those would be the first to have backdoors since people pick them.
I have a vpn that is never mentioned anywhere. Perfect.
Does anyone here regard ivpn as a good vpn as well?
Mullvad. Excellent service, never had an issue. Used to use Proton, but their CEO sucks ass
I would recommend mullvad.
the ceo of proton did idicate support of the trump and the republican party and while they backtracked and apologized and all that, is it out that atleast some in the company think like that and i dont trust them anymore.
and trust is number 1 priority for vpn.
I used to have Mullvad and switched to Proton because I use pretty much their entire suite…
If you don’t need port forwarding, I think Mullvad is superior in everything. Such a great service, highly recommend it.
There’s Port Forwarding with Proton VPN too
Yes there’s port forwarding with proton, but not with mullvad they removed it.
Can port-forwarding be useful for self-hosting? I haven’t tried using it wih Proton before.
I’m not sure. I mainly use it for downloading linux isos.
Oooh, that’s sad I wanted to switch to Mullvad VPN in the future. For now I’m stuck with Proton since I use their entire setup. Well, mostly mail and VPN.
In the paid plan
Both options are good. I think for the most part it boils down to wanting a single product or suite of products.
While you certainly can get just one proton service, the idea of having an easy entry point into multiple privacy focused solutions is what they are going for.
The pro argument for that is cheaper overall, simpler to get into and mange, etc. The con argument is an eggs in one basket philosophy isn’t ideal because you can have a single point of failure. This is all subjective to your personal threat model.
What about AirVPN? I haven’t chosen any VPNs yet, mostly because I’m still not sure which to go with, but I never see anyone talk about Air, even though I once heard Proton or Air were the best choices.
Mullvad because it accepts cash payments.
FYI, Proton also accepts cash.
Mullvad is more private but Proton VPN still supports port forwarding.
Proton mail has an alias feature that I rather enjoy. Does anyone know an alternative service for that. I was looking to leave the proton ecosystem. Switching to mullvad is easy enough for vpn but im also looking at email etc.
OP asked about VPNs.
i too miss the alias service, and i dont really know an alternative aswell.
The issue is kinda, that any alias service is basically just forwarding your mails … so it is really hard to trust anyone with that
and a private domain is not really a solution, for privacy
and like tuta does offer 15 or 30 (but 30 is super expensive) permanent aliases… which is like nice but does fill up super quickly if used like how it is used for proton
https://addy.io/
Mullvad.
All you are to them is an account number. that’s it. no name, no email, nothing. you can even pay in cash. while mullvad’s GUI is still meh their CLI is top notch and very quick.
It’s kind of sad, that people still believe that VPN is a safe option. Sure, it ads a layer, but anyone who wants to know who you are, can find out by your fingerprints, your accounts, anything you put out there. So if you do anything but light surfing, then you are not anonymous with VPN.
VPN is worth it just to stop the letters from your ISP.
For some, maybe. I’ve never gotten a letter from any of my ISPs.
Facebook got my precise location just using my IP, I decided to create a fake account to use FB market place, they warned me about an “unknown login”, it’s the first time I’ve seen this, usually websites only know approximate location, but this time just by knowing my IP they hit exactly the small town where I live, instead of near towns which is the normal. I suspect they had my IP from other devices allowing location in the same network (same wifi), then they could safely associate that IP with my exact location even tho I didn’t enable any GPS any time.
What does that sentence even mean without context?
Safe against whom? I’m pretty convinced a VPN is safe against :
I’m pretty convinced might be safe against larger scale surveillance :
I’m pretty convinced might NOT be safe against professional individual surveillance :
So… no I don’t think anyone can make your VPN pointless. Clearly the random person sitting next to me in a cafe can not. Only few people with the technical expertise or power can do that. None of that matters though if you already volunteer your information elsewhere publicly on private platforms like Instagram or YouTube though.
You certainly are “pretty much”… :-)
So, what do you do, since you don’t trust your family? Seems pretty much suspect there… or pretty much paranoid.
You are not safe against any of those you mention. Don’t you know what VPN does, and does not?
You are pretty much NOT safe against large scale surveillance.
Thanks for backing me up, with the last thing you wrote. And then please go read up on what VPN actually does, and does not.
alright then, keep your secrets
I always keep my secrets. :-)
I have also linked to a couple of articles that touch on what I’m talking about…
You were given a list of scenarios above that list where vpns are useful. It seems you’re the one who don’t know what you’re talking about.
I was given a list where someone thought it would be useful… Now go read up on VPN, and you’ll see why that list was a “pretty much” wrong. ;-)
I think you are the one thst does not get what it does.
Under no circumstance does that mean it is not worth getting one. Particularly dependent on where one lives.
It certainly does - if you don’t know how to actually use it in a proper way, because then it becomes totally meaningless to even have VPN… No matter where you live. Please read up on what it does and does not!
https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/7-dangerous-vpn-myths-you-probably-believe
https://www.tomsguide.com/features/are-you-really-invisible-when-you-use-a-vpn
Yes locks on your door are pointless because if someone wants to break into your house they’re going to do it once way or another, especially if you leave the window open
This is a dumb take.
You are right, your take is really dumb. So why do you share it?
A dumb take is, to pay for something you might get nothing from. But hey, you do you… VPN-providers are happy for people like you.
You just described every form of insurance.
To you, maybe… I’m sorry to hear that your insurances isn’t working for you.
What I described might be taken as me describing an insurance, that you totally foil, without knowing it, because you didn’t read the policy, and you don’t know what it covers and doesn’t cover.
If everyone always got payouts for the insurance they pay into, the industry literally could not exist.
It’s the entire business model.
And which VPN provider is it you’re getting “nothing” from? There seems to be a budding market for VPN’s out there, lots of people are paying for them and continue to do so, why do you think that is? Because the whole world is stupid and it’s a pointless waste of money? Or because they are actually in fact getting some kind of use from them?
VPN’s have a myriad of uses, you’re focusing on some ambiguous nation-state attacker tracking you down for whatever reason. Meanwhile, quite a lot of users would just like to watch porn without having to submit ID. I’d say they’re getting plenty of use out of their VPN for that.
Do take the time to read the comments, so you get the context.
As I already said, if you don’t know how to keep your usage of the internet private, then you will not be private with a VPN either. VPN doesn’t keep you private. It will help you to attain a little more privacy, but only is you use it right.
Please don’t tell me what I am focusing on, when I haven’t even said it… Making straw man arguments is low. Lying is low…
I literally quoted you, so don’t try playing the “I never actually said that” card.
It’s ironic that you’re now complaining about context and strawmen when you yourself started it with the whole “anyone who wants to know who you are…” argument. This mysterious “anyone” is the ultimate strawman because they’re anonymous and all encompassing. Meanwhile, you have zero idea what anyone wants from their VPN’s so you’re making the broad, sweeping statements while lacking any context yourself.