Need Help in Choosing a VPN

Olsentor

This post is deleted!

Vladimos

This post is deleted!

KOM

VPN ads are bogus. VPN reviews are bogus. VPN testimonials are bogus.

https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-section/

JeGr

Agreeing with KOM. I find it strange that with the mention of "need VPN" two posts pop up on the same day with newly created profiles including pics (to make it more believable?) immediatly pop up talking shop about NordVPN including some shady site with a glooming review.

For anyone else that wants a somewhat trusted source of VPN services, the link from KOM is a really good one (and one that is AFAIK neutral and unbiased).

johnpoz

@KOM said in Need Help in Choosing a VPN:

VPN ads are bogus. VPN reviews are bogus. VPN testimonials are bogus.

QFT
Yeah I banned both of those accounts and deleted their posts..

KOM

For what it's worth (and if anyone even cares), I narrowed it down to ProtonVPN and Mullvad, and went with Mullvad. Cheap, simple, Wireguard support, very flexible payment.

rogerbrann

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johnpoz

Another freaking spammer dropped in this thread recommending that nord WTF? Talk about a spam magnet subject.

KOM

I just finished evaluating Wireguard from Mullvad on Linux Mint 19.1.

Pros:

Simple config. Config generator page takes your acct number and desired endpoint and then spits out a Wireguard config file similar to OpenVPN config file generation that most ISPs use.
Fast connect. It connects in under a second.
No DNS leaks like you always get with NetworkManager & OpenVPN.

Cons:

Initial config requires command-line use. This is not usually a problem for most Linux users.
Enabling/disabling Wireguard connection also requires command-line as there is no GUI or desktop widget.

I didn't do any speed tests because those can be all over the place depending on several factors.

Supposedly, NetworkManager 1.16.0 (in Ubuntu 19.04) natively supports Wireguard without plugins, but even then you still need to use nmcli to manually import the config file from terminal.

I went from knowing literally nothing about Wireguard to having a functional connection with no leaking DNS in under 5 minutes.

Pretty nice so far.

dem

If you want to be your own VPN provider and you're comfortable at the command line check out AlgoVPN, a set of scripts that will set up a private VPN server at one of the major cloud providers and generate the client config files for you. An AlgoVPN supports IPsec and WireGuard.

With a few changes to your AlgoVPN you can even connect pfSense via IPsec, as I've documented here.

Note that Netflix and others tend to block access from many cloud provider networks so running your own AlgoVPN won't meet the needs of some folks in this thread.

johnpoz

^ doesn't have to be a major cloud provider though... Pretty much can be anywhere you can setup a vps..

Just have to be in line with their AUP... So quite often trying to hide your p2p shit from your isp via this method not going to fly..

JeGr

Almost got trigger-happy with @dem's post - sorry - but amazing, how many spam-bots seem to run amok with spamming NordVPN et al services. Weird.

@KOM If you have reliable data for Wireguard performance, it would be nice to know. We did a test with OVPN, IPSec and a quick one with some half-baked WireGuard package on OPNsense (just to have some values on FreeBSD at all) and were pretty baffled. Perhaps it was the version and/or FreeBSDs implementation but performance wise it wasn't impressive at all.

KOM

@JeGr If I get some time this weekend, I can try some speed tests raw vs OpenVPN / Wireguard with Mullvad.

JeGr

Thanks for that! Perhaps mention the hardware (on your side of course) you test with, too :)

dem

On Linux, WireGuard runs in the kernel, but on FreeBSD, iOS, and macOS it uses a separate program written in Go. This will certainly affect performance.

bjd223

I have used PIA for years w/o issue. AFAIK they have been tested in court and were unable to provide any details to the authorities about usage.

KOM

@JeGr My basic tests on my 150/15 connection showed:

Raw 133/12
OpenVPN 125/12
Wireguard 131/12

I have a Mikrotik hEX at home with some traffic-shaping enabled.

ajmaltms

@KOM mikrotik integrated with pfsense?

KOM

What? No, there is no such thing.

JeGr

Thanks @KOM that's interesting. We got it no higher than around ~220-320Mbps (depending on sending or receiving) while OVPN would hit ~450-500 depending on config and IPSec going up in spikes to as high as 575Mbps on hardware that is equivalent to the SG-5100 (eg. Atom 3558 SOC). Could be the implementation of course.