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Ask Slashdot: Finding a Trustworthy VPN Service?

Posted by timothy on from the mowing-the-astroturf dept.

New submitter Cheeze ball writes "I've recently moved to Europe and I'd like to setup a VPN so I can get Hulu, Netflix, and a few other services. I've found plenty of sites offering cheap VPN services, but they all seem just a tad too shady. Searching for any reviews on them only brings up pages of positive reviews on sites whose only content is said review. Does anyone have any suggestions on reliable reasonably safe VPN?"

6 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Run your own by hodet · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just run a cheap VPS and tunnel through SSH. its like $10 a month. You can get VPS in any country you need to originate from.

  2. Astrill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I live in China and use Astrill (www.astrill.com). It's cheap and stable. I run Netflix, stream from NBC, and occasionally Skype with it. Streaming video like Netflix is smooth, but the quality isn't super high. So far my only real complaint is that they have a client software that sits on your desktop. Good luck!

  3. Re:Run your own by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yep. I'd get a free tier amazon ec2 machine and set up openvpn there. 15GB traffic is free and since you pay both in and out, it's 7.5GB/month vpn traffic. Good for a few movies, but after than you'll pay regular amazon traffic rates.

  4. Unblock Us by titten · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been using http://unblock-us.com/ for a few months (not affiliated in any way), and I like their approach. You change the DNS servers in your router, and it directs the traffic for you. That way, you can use Netflix et.al from devices that don't support VPN clients (like your smart TV/XBOX/AppleTV etc).

    1. Re:Unblock Us by fearofcarpet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A friendly warning from experience: I have lived in Europe for about as long as Hulu has existed and have found them to be incredibly aggressive at blocking free and pay-for proxies/VPNs. I tried all sorts different services and eventually each was blocked by Hulu, usually within 3-6 months. None of the others, mind you--Netflix, and and all the networks and studios continue to work. (And most use some sort of region-checking URL as a gateway, meaning you can direct just that one connection through the proxy, and then stream at full-speed.) I certainly hope unblock-us continues to evade Hulu (and I like the DNS approach), but if you use Hulu a lot, I would start looking for Plan B now, just to be safe.

      --
      Actually, I wrote my thesis on life experience.
  5. Re:Is it legal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Questionable but... here's a reverse case of it, which won in (a US, I think) court.