Which product is the best for VPN?

[phenomlab]

@JAC I think the real defining property for an individual choice of VPN really depends on your need. Some users need it solely for streaming, whilst others really on it for privacy.

Based on this, there’s no real silver bullet in terms of a software product which is perfectly matched to the specific set of requirements. Nord is without question the most powerful product of them all, but, as you’ve pointed out - and I can attest based on my own experiences - is that the product is nuanced. Or has multiple complexities which when placed together provide a very powerful feature set not found in others, yet it’s clear vulnerability to simple issues like disconnects or random account log out means the overall experience is heavily impacted.

However, Nord has a proven and attestable no logs policy validated by external audit, and operates in Panama - a country with no mandatory privacy law, making it a clear choice in terms of privacy, and more importantly, your browsing history is not being sold to third parties as it would be with “free” offerings.

[JAC]

@phenomlab said in Which product is the best for VPN?:

@JAC I think the real defining property for an individual choice of VPN really depends on your need. Some users need it solely for streaming, whilst others really on it for privacy.

Based on this, there’s no real silver bullet in terms of a software product which is perfectly matched to the specific set of requirements. Nord is without question the most powerful product of them all, but, as you’ve pointed out - and I can attest based on my own experiences - is that the product is nuanced. Or has multiple complexities which when placed together provide a very powerful feature set not found in others, yet it’s clear vulnerability to simple issues like disconnects or random account log out means the overall experience is heavily impacted.

However, Nord has a proven and attestable no logs policy validated by external audit, and operates in Panama - a country with no mandatory privacy law, making it a clear choice in terms of privacy, and more importantly, your browsing history is not being sold to third parties as it would be with “free” offerings.

Absolutely, I agree with all of this.
You’re right it completely depends on the users needs and what they are really looking for in a VPN.

I’ve logged out and uninstalled Proton on all devices for now, I will contact them for a refund later.

I just find Surfshark/ Express VPN (when subbed) a step above in terms of speed. The android app is probably the best I’ve used, but as I mainly use it for Privacy and streaming, if I can get better speeds elsewhere with a company that is established then that’s the way for me to go right now. That’s not saying I won’t use Proton again, I’ll probably be back but it’ll take a few years to get up to the level of Nord etc.

Of course you really want to find the best upcoming VPN and run with it, and I did have great hopes for it until I did a lot of speed tests which showed it had some catching up to do with the others unfortunately.

[JAC]

So now I’m testing both Surfshark & Nord.

I may as well use what I have.

So far Surfshark is doing what it previously has done for some time, the kill switch works but every now and again you need to turn off the WiFi and back on again for it to reconnect. This surely is a bug.

Nord seems to be working well so far, I’d say there must have been a reason why I stopped using Nord as being logged out is a fairly new issue for me, so it can’t be that but could have possibly been the 5 connections at one time limit…🤯 , but so far so good. The real test will be testing via Nvidia Shield & Firestick tomorrow night, see how everything plays streaming wise.

Interested to hear how you rate Nord then Mark compared against any other VPN you’ve tried seeing as it’s your go to?

[phenomlab]

@JAC said in Which product is the best for VPN?:

Interested to hear how you rate Nord then Mark compared against any other VPN you’ve tried seeing as it’s your go to?

I’ve tried most of the VPN’s out there, and none of them come even close to what Nord has to offer. The cheaper ones have obvious drawbacks such as either selling your data to a third party, or being so slow that it’s virtually unusable.

Nord has the distinct advantage in the sense that it has the most servers available to connect to, offers double VPN, plus the ability to use a VPN and still be connected to the TOR network.

There are also very well written additional features such as secure file sharing between VPN endpoints - for example, I can send a file from my desktop pc to my mobile phone through that same secured channel, and it’s instant. They have even made this specific feature completely free, and open source, meaning that anyone can view the code and contribute to it.

On the flip side, Nord is expensive - as are some of the add-ons - for example, the password manager, which in my view is overpriced when you can use BitWarden on a paid plan for $10 per year. The final showpiece is the ability for Nord to scour the dark web looking for data about you that could have been leaked.

Their latest offering is a service that even removes this leaked data. Very cheap as it’s an introductory offer and I may get this to check it out.

[JAC]

@phenomlab said in Which product is the best for VPN?:

The final showpiece is the ability for Nord to scour the dark web looking for data about you that could have been leaked.

This is a good feature, it’s one that came in handy really when a forum was attacked.

I think realistically Nord & Surfshark are both up there for me. I have subs with them I’ve been testing them back and forth and overall Nord has been the best as you may expect, although Surfshark isn’t that far behind, maybe not so surprising either considering they are effectively under the same umbrella.

I’d say Nord does the basics well - Auto connect works well, it doesn’t fail to connect sometimes like Surfshark does.

I think this is more to do with the kill switch on Surfshark, as it will always connect once you have turned your WiFi off and on again.

You’re welcome to use my Surfshark to test Mark, I actually get faster speeds than Nord sometimes, that’s why they are don’t fall too short behind in the comparison reviews.

For example:

Image credit: cybernews.com

https://cybernews.com/best-vpn/nordvpn-vs-surfshark

[JAC]

Some useful links

https://surfshark.com/what-is-my-ip

https://ipleak.net/

https://ip.me/

https://nordvpn.com/ip-lookup/

https://www.expressvpn.com/what-is-my-ip

https://atlasvpn.com/what-is-my-ip

https://whatismyipaddress.com/

[JAC]

@JAC said in Which product is the best for VPN?:

You’re welcome to use my Surfshark to test Mark

Anytime pal

[JAC]

How’s your experience with Nord now? Still experiencing issues?

[phenomlab]

@JAC yes, funny you should mention that. For a while, it was bad. And I mean, bad…

Constant disconnects, crashes, etc. I seriously started looking at alternatives.

Then after what seemed like multiple updates, it’s now solid.

[JAC]

@phenomlab strangely enough I’ve had more trouble the past few months with Nord than I have in all of my time using it - random disconnects has been far the most annoying. Then the product ads and frequent notifications to boot.

It’s the same way that Surfshark (same company effectively) have gone, the VPN has taken a slight backseat for their other newer products I feel.

Glad to hear it’s working for you again though Mark.

[phenomlab]

@JAC In my experience, it can be somewhat flaky - I’ve had instances where the VPN disconnects for no apparent reason, and I can’t reconnect until I change the protocol.

[JAC]

@phenomlab agreed mate.

I’m back with Proton now.

[phenomlab]

@JAC is that for everything, or just the PC etc?

[phenomlab]

@JAC I had another issue with Nord again yesterday evening in the sense that it dropped connection and wouldn’t reconnect. I had to kill the app on my phone and relaunch it to get it working again!

Not a great experience.

[JAC]

@phenomlab not good mate, I won’t be extending when mine runs out unfortunately, it’s certainly changed for the worse.

I don’t have any complaints so far with Proton again, I think it’s going to be a slow process, it’s something I’m paying monthly for instead now so if major red flags crop up then I can exit swiftly .

[JAC]

@phenomlab everything yes pal.

Yet to try it on PC, will do this tomorrow and let you know how it gets on.

[phenomlab]

@JAC yes, I have to admit I’m having second thoughts also. I have a while to go before the next renewal but I don’t think I’m going to be extending unless things improve.

[crazycells]

@phenomlab said in Which product is the best for VPN?:

@JAC I had another issue with Nord again yesterday evening in the sense that it dropped connection and wouldn’t reconnect. I had to kill the app on my phone and relaunch it to get it working again!

Not a great experience.

If you do not need many different country locations at the same time… Instead of buying a VPN… Why do not you get a super cheap server, and then install Wireguard on it? And then use Wireguard apps (mobile or desktop) to use your server as your personal VPN? I believe it will be very secure, private and most importantly fast.

https://www.wireguard.com/

https://github.com/angristan/wireguard-install

[phenomlab]

@crazycells this is certainly worth looking at, and a great suggestion - thanks. For people like ourselves, it’s probably easy, but for those looking for something simple, it’s probably outside of their reach owing to setup and maintenance complexity.

However, I will certainly have a look at this for myself. It’s been on my list of investigations for some time but one of those things I never really got any time to look at. Perhaps now that will change!

[crazycells]

@phenomlab said in Which product is the best for VPN?:

@crazycells this is certainly worth looking at, and a great suggestion - thanks. For people like ourselves, it’s probably easy, but for those looking for something simple, it’s probably outside of their reach owing to setup and maintenance complexity.

However, I will certainly have a look at this for myself. It’s been on my list of investigations for some time but one of those things I never really got any time to look at. Perhaps now that will change!

I was also considering something like this for a while… and would be happy to listen your experience and of course get some help during set up

I think amazon EC2 servers can be used for free for 12 months… and then will probably be very cheap…

https://aws.amazon.com/free/

I think this should be enough, because it is for one person only anyways… what do you think?