What VPN do you prefer? \ stacker news ~tech

pull down to refresh

624 sats \ 21 comments \ @nullama 10 Aug 2023 tech

From the vast amount of options out there, I think Mullvad is probably one of the best at a reasonable price.

One of the cool things about it is that you can pay it with Bitcoin, and your account is simply a generated number on the app. No information from you is required to use the service.

view all related items

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @frostdragon 13 Aug 2023

What’s your motivation behind using a VPN?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @nullama OP 13 Aug 2023

There are many positive things about it.

First, all your connections are encrypted, which means you can for example use a WiFi at a hotel, restaurant, etc, without having others snooping on your connections.

This also applies at home for extra peace of mind, I don't want anyone to be able to get my banking details, etc.

There are of course other benefits, but that's enough for me to use a VPN.

1000 sats \ 0 replies \ @frostdragon 13 Aug 2023

So, not many people realize this - but your connections are private by default without a VPN. When you visit a website, all of your traffic is encrypted via HTTPS, and if it’s not, you get a warning from your browser, letting you know it’s HTTP instead of HTTPS, and anyone on the same network can view your browsing. These days, that’s super rare.

So if you’re on public Wi-Fi at a coffee shop, no one is going to be able to get your banking details, or anything else like that.

What’s visible to the network and anyone on it is the DOMAIN that you’re visiting, and nothing else. So, an “attacker” might be able to see that you’re going to bankofamerica.com, but they could also do that by looking over your shoulder.

When I say the domain is the only thing visible, I mean the domain, and not the full URL. That means if you’re watching YouTube, the spy in the network will see that you’re visiting YouTube, not the specific videos you’re watching. The spy is just going to have to pick a seat behind you to see that.

Now - if you’re doing something so sensitive that you need the domain to be hidden, fair enough, but you should realize that info is going to the VPN company… So if the goal is to hide it from everyone, you’re not quite accomplishing that.

VPN’s are useful when companies set up an API or web application, but don’t want to put it on the public internet. VPN’s can be an extra layer of protection - you’re only allowed to access X if you’re on the VPN.

Trying to use it to hide your data that’s already hidden doesn’t make a lot of sense.

215 sats \ 1 reply \ @arcanox 10 Aug 2023

Mullvad ftw

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @hathshayward 10 Aug 2023

Seconded.

110 sats \ 0 replies \ @stackernews_9inky 10 Aug 2023

There is only one, Mullvad.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 11 Aug 2023

I feel like each answer should come with an explanation as to why. For the VPN n00bs like myself, it would be nice to understand why one is preferred over another

121 sats \ 1 reply \ @nullama OP 11 Aug 2023

Sure, some reasons for Mullvad:

If you go to their website, you'll see that your adblock blocked 0 items. Try getting the same result basically anywhere else, specially at other VPN websites.
They don't require any details to create an account, your account is a number, similar to how you Bitcoin works.
They are based in Sweden
Their price is 5 euro a month with 10% discount if paid in Bitcoin. They don't run any scammy sales, or spam about their service.
If you want to stop using them, you simply stop paying. Try cancelling some of the other VPNs, you'll have to click multiples times somewhere, and they will be trying everything they can to keep you inside. In fact, Mullvad recently stopped their subscription model as they want to store even less data about you: "We are removing the option to create new subscriptions"

And that doesn't even cover the tech part, which is one of the best in the market.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 13 Aug 2023

Additionally, their price is always 5€/month. No upselling.

I hate how I have to figure out if I will use a service long-term and if the 1 year subscription thus might make sense. Not with mullvad.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @PoolcleanerSteve 10 Aug 2023

IVPN pro has much the same sign up process. For me the choice was for 7 devices and the dns filtering included. Can pay with LN
Over on the watchman privacy pod you can find an interview with the owner of IVPN