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Ask Slashdot: Finding a Trustworthy VPN Service?
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?"
Get a cheap colocated server in the US and then run OpenVPN or whatever flavor of VPN you prefer.
Get a UK based VPS service and terminate your VPN there.
Is this thing legal? I can imagine the local MPAA-lookalike not being happy that someone gets their streaming service from abroad.
And, if it's legal... as an European, how can I sign up for that?
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
I've been using WiTopia a little over a year and had no problems with it.
BoingBoing recently posted a link to TunnelBear, which has several positive reputable reviews.
You can use basic VPS service (I use vps.net myself for my site hosting and works fine), set up a Linux distro you like and use Putty on your machine to tunnel over. And there you go: Secure VPN.
This combination doesn`t exist: ETIs that know about humanity and want to see us dead. Otherwise we wouldn't exist.
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!
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).
Actually, The Pirate Bay has its own VPN service, which costs 5 eur a month. Though I don't, personally, use it (yet), I think that if I was to trust someone for VPN service, it sure as hell would be TPB. It's called IPredator (.se)
Why go through all that trouble just to watch crappy, advertising-riddled American TV? You're in Europe! I don't understand why anyone would *want* to watch US TV unless they had no other choice (meaning, they live in the US).
...and on top of that, there's also Lovefilm from amazon. Which country are you based on?
Well, keep in mind just about any of them would give your data over if the authorities came knocking, but I know HotSpot Shield doesn't store user IP info (just don't use their free service - puts a big ad on every page you visit). So in other words, even if the authorities came to their door and offered them a billion dollars for your IP, they wouldn't be able to give it because they don't have it. But they have said they would start storing IPs if a law were passed saying they had to.
Okay, for one thing, I'm trying to figure out why you're worried about "safe". Your intent is to watch Netflix and Hulu with the VPN service? What are you worried about? Yes, I know...both take credit cards...but they do so over SSL.
Your biggest problem will be throughput, and potentially latency. A VPN does not help with network performance, and neither does adding more hops to the route that the traffic will have to follow...especially when the server with be US-based and you'll be on the other side of the pond in Europe. So whatever service you do look at, make sure that they will be able to keep the data flowing at the bandwidth rates you need, and without causing problems from latency. And remember...latency and bandwidth are kind of related, but not the same thing. You can have high latency on a huge pipe, and low latency on a skinny one.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
I've been using BlackVPN.com for 2 years and it's €5.00 a month or €13.00 for 3 months for a single server (i.e. tied to a specific geographic location) but they offer several different packages ingluding "global" for €9.50 a month.
Just a word to the wise: they don't like P2P traffic on the US server -- actually I think it's disabled altogether, as I couldn't even update WoW through that. ;-)
RT.
I followed the route of cheap VPS/Amazon/Rackspace Cloud and I found out the hard way that my android ICS tablet did not work with L2TP/IPSEC PSK vpns. You didn't mention if you were using Linux, Android, IOS or Win 7. PPTP/GRE VPNs worked great however, as did port forwarding SSH. You could also use a squid proxy on those setups, but that just makes it more complicated.
I've been using StrongVPN (OpenVPN) on a Buffalo G300NH loaded with DD-WRT and haven't had any issues. Works great from Belgium for Netflix, Pandora and web browsing. I chose the router solution so that the Roku, iPhone, and Wii can always be on the VPN and the laptops/desktops can be switched back and forth. I have another wireless router that provides local Internet.
Streaming works great here, too. The kids are always watching something on Netflix. I'll sit outside by the fire with a cigar for a couple of hours and Pandora streams the entire time. Depends on your location in Europe and ISP, of course...
-John
I have used Private tunnel to connect to Hulu and similar services. It is offered by OpenVPN Technologies, the company behind OpenVPN, is quite fast compared to other offerings and the pricing is based on data usage as opposed to monthly plans, so it works out cheaper if you just want to use it occasionally to watch a few shows.
If the primary purpose of the VPN is just location spoofing who cares if its safe? Go with the cheapest option, don't give them a direct credit card payment (ie PayPal, a temporary card number, or a one time card) and use the one that works. If you need to do something 'secure' over that VPN double down and use SSL.
The evil hackers in Slobenia aren't interested in your Netflix queue.
Furthermore, if its location spoofing for US-services the VPN has to terminate in the US. We have laws and a mostly functional society over here. Thats a huge protection.
I've been using purevpn for a couple of years, mostly to the UK although they also have servers in the US. They're cheap and reasonably reliable. You could just buy a one-month trial subscription ($6) and see how they work out for you.
I use http://www.vpnmakers.com/ - cheap, reliable, works great for streaming content, plenty of speed. Month-to-month billing as well, pay only when you need it ($4.85 per month).
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
I'd just use a virtual private server in the US and OpenVPN. The server i use is from datarealm.com and is $5 US a month for 100GB of traffic. If you think you need more than that, larger packages that are also fairly cheap. Seems to be really nice support whenever i have needed it.
Not OP, but it seems rather obvious that he's concerned about his prospective VPN/VPS "neighbors"..
People do use these services for various shady activities, and if a guy is using e.g. a legit Netflix account /w his real name and such, he'd probably prefer not to have the hardware seized and examined by the cops (thus becoming a suspect / accessory) because someone else on the service was using it for illegal purposes.
So in other words, even if the authorities came to their door and offered them a billion dollars for your IP, they wouldn't be able to give it because they don't have it.
But they would have your payment information...
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
You want to pay money, so you can use services that the providers of which deem you unworthy to have, just because you currently reside in europe...
Why would you want to continue supporting companies that discriminate against you like that?
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
I use Private Internet Access. They are the sponsors of Freenode.net. https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/
I use AlwaysVPN and I would recommend it. They charge by GB rather than by month. If you're an occasional user that works out cheaper than most, as the bandwidth you buy from AlwaysVPN never expires.
For location spoofing, I've heard about tunnelbear by boingboing members, but I haven't used it.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
I use BTGuard; I might be a noob because I haven't done much research on the company but I always get about 1MB ps dl from their netherland's server (i live in PA, USA).. .they also have servers in the US, France, and Germany I think??
it's 9.95 a month, and it does allow you to just pay once if you'd like so you don't get stuck with bothering about ending the subscription come end of the month.
I've had reasonably good experiences with vpntunnel.se so far using BBC iPlayer from Germany and torrent downloads (there's a plague of speculative invoicing currently in Germany so if you download from TPB et al you need a VPN). It's 5 Euro/month or less if you sign up for longer, you can pay by paypal and a few other methods.
They have had some reliability issues in the past though so I'd only sign up for a month and try it.
Pre-canned Evolution Links for all those Slashdot holy wars.
The reason you can't use Netflix and Hulu is that the copyright holders have insisted that your money is no good. If they knew some of the money they were receiving was coming from you, they would be furious and look for any way possible to force you to take it back. They're already pissed off enough that Americans are still paying them, and they're constantly working on ways to make us stop.
Bittorrent avoids the problem. Why keep fighting to pay someone who doesn't want your business, when even greater interoperability (anything can play a avi/mp4/mkv file), higher bitrate, better uptime/reliability, and lower bills? They don't want anyone as customers, but especially you.
Either switch to piracy, or come to terms with the fact that you will be playing a constant game of cat-and-mouse and escalating arms races in order to do business with someone who is playing the same game with the goal of avoiding doing business. This is Hollywood we're talking about, who practically invented the idea of accounting tricks to avoid profits. Now that everyone sees through the fraudulent accounting, the endgame is to make the lack of revenue real and if you fight them by paying, you are picking a fight with the very best, most highly experienced, brilliant losers. I don't care how bad-ass you think you are, with your tricks to make a suicidal industry have revenue against its will, but you are likely out-matched. Get realistic.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
We have a niece in Australia who is using HideMyAss.com with Netflix and Hulu and she says it works great. Her boyfriend is German and he tested it at home before meeting her Down Under. They have proxy servers all over the place, so this doesn't just work for content on U.S. servers.
HMA is under US$7/month if you do a yearly contract. A lot easier/cheaper than setting up/maintaining your own.
I like Tunnelr. Tunnelr offers two services: SSH tunneling and OpenVPN tunneling. I like tunnelr because they use the most secure operating system on the planet, the infamous OpenBSD, as their infrastructure. Their rates are reasonable and throughput is good.
I recently set up my own VPN network and wanted a generic solution with access to a number of countries, mainly the US, Canada and the UK. I wanted something that would work naturally with all the devices on my home network, including the Wii, Playstation, etc. The problem with a regular VPN services is that they only give you one country at a time, plus you will probably tunnel more traffic than you want. Your ISP is usually the best route for traffic that doesn't have to originate inside a specific country.
So I've got a number of VPS instances in different countries, all running OpenBSD. These routers are connected with IPsec tunnels. That's not really necessary (ip encapsulation would work just fine) but gets me around national packet sniffing (Australia, I'm looking at you). Then I use OpenBGPD to dynamically announce routes between the routers. Finding out the routes for a provider is easy: just lookup the whois information for an IP number and you get the corresponding CIDR. Add that route to BGP and it's visible across the network in seconds. You also need to forward the appropriate DNS traffic, to get around the load balancing based on originating IP used by some CDNs.
This solution may seem too complicated and overkill, but it works incredibly well. You could of course achieve the same thing by having multiple VPN connections from a single router and add a bunch of static routes. But where's the fun in that?
As an added bonus, it's trivial to set up redundant gateways to the US and load balance traffic between them. This is a natural feature of BGP: if a router goes down, the BGP connection dies and traffic is routed through another path. Since OpenBSD is very light, I only pay for the smallest VPS instances, usually 128MB ram and a tiny bit of cpu for a few $/month per instance.
I've been using HMA! for at least half a year now and I've got very few complaints. Both the Linux and the Windows client work pretty well and the connection is (assuming you choose a proper server location) good enough to stream Netflix pretty decently. I was satisfied enough to buy half a year of the service as a gift for my friend and she has also been satisfied with it, from what I hear. At times the connection doesn't seem to be good enough to comfortably stream HD video but that's somewhat compensated by the fact that there are servers all around the world, so you can also stream UK only content, etc.
So yeah. I'll give the service four stars out of five.
I have been using the VPN service from Witopia for nearly a year now. Found it to be bullet-proof, easy to configure, bounds through 31 countries and has PPTP, IPSEC, and L2TP. Support is fantastic, with Wiki support and user forums. Have recommended to clients, family and friends. Been a solid robust performer.
Two VPNs based in Sweden with strong reputations for defending users and not logging:
https://www.anonine.com/en
https://www.vpntunnel.se/en/
Sweden has best-in-class privacy and media protections. For instance, it's illegal to pressure a journalist to reveal sources, which is the inverse of many countries, where it is illegal to conceal a source.
As noted above, running your own, or setting one up for others is an ideal solution, although most of the groups I advise want and deserve a simple pay-and-play solution.
If anyone wants to build a WordPress plugin that turns any WordPress install into a discrete VPN provider, I would super appreciate it. It's been talked about, but I haven't seen anything in the field.
These, of course, won't help you watch Hulu, but I suspect this thread will stick around in Pagerank and serve users with needs other than the original poster.
I have used http://www.hideipvpn.com/ every so often, and they've been fine for my uses. They're about $6/month, more for extra stuff I don't need. I have watched BBC/Channel 4 video streams over it in the US and they have been ok, so I imagine that Netflix would work in Europe.
located in sweden. easy to use. works with linux , mac, win, android and iphone. I have not had problems with the service on win : http://mullvad.net/en/
Witopia good.
Many servers around world.
Cheap.
Openvpn.
Witopia good.
People are suggesting things above that are a bit too expensive. You are going to be doing things that do not require much overhead, so go with the smallest, cheapest VPS you can find that is hosted by a reasonable hosting provider. As long as everything you are doing is legal, I suggest the following from personal experience: NQHost costs $6.95 per month.
Virpus costs $4 per month, or $36 per year.
The difference is that you can install NQHost instances yourself, but Virpus does the installation for you. You get root on your server in both cases.
I recommend Golden Frog's VyprVPN service. I get their basic service as part of my Giganews subscription. There are cheaper alternatives (their service as a standalone option starts at $15/month), but they now have 8 endpoints, 3 of which are in the US. I use them at home to access sites that limit access to people who aren't in the US as well as using the closest local service whenever I'm traveling and stuck with open wifi connections.
I'm currently trying out IPVanish - they have servers everywhere (including at least 6 locations in the US), and yes, it can be used with OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP (on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android). Besides US servers, they also have a ton more around the world.
It's fairly new so the utilization is really low (they were partnered with Easynews)
Works well enough for Hulu, I'd guess Netflix as well.
http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-providers-really-take-anonymity-seriously-111007/
Linode with OpenVPN + SQUID + SSH. Cheap and takes care of everything i need.
The Good:
- Having a smallish vps is cool. If you want to roll other services (icecast2 server to stream tunes between friends from your bandwidth-deprived home adsl link or even a cheap portfolio page from apache) you can, and it probably won't effect the main use of it.
- Custom, routed solutions are the least prone to being caught and blocked by Hulu/NetFlix and friends (If you're into that sort of thing. I'm not but once i tried Hulu and it just worked, for the sake of testing). (whatever)VPN + Iptables + ip_forward=1 will make that machine essentially you, without a way of detecting it's a vps or something else (unless they start logging vps'es ip ranges and blocking, maybe? too mission impossible for me!)
The Bad:
- Custom means manual set up. This is Slashdot anyway so it's not like people that hang around here are going to struggle with a bit of command line mumbo jumbo
- If it breaks you'll have to set it up all over again, unless you're careful and make backups or snapshots (do we even have this capability in cheapass vpses??? i dunno.)
Just my 2c
Thanks for the flood of responses. Hulu and Netflixs so my wife can watch her shows, I'd use it mostly for silly DRM based games, Steam purchases, and Anime torrents. So bandwidth could be an issue, I don't want to step on someones donated bandwidth, nor do I wish to be cut of by the service. As for the safe, it was a question of gross data security (I should have specified) more of specifics. I had found some reviews suggesting some services were sifting data over their devices for CC data and other financial data (i.e. Steam Purchase or direct download of software). The Torrent Freak article was a very helpful link should I decide to do that vs a hosting service and OpenVpn. Again, Thanks everyone.
You probably have family or friends in the US who would be willing to let you install a Mac mini or SheevaPlug or some other small, efficient computer on their home ethernet network, in exchange for a few dollars per month towards their broadband bill.
You can use port forwarding and dynamic DNS for connectivity through their router, and OpenVPN to bridge the network. Unlike commercial hosting companies there is no chance that their residential IP address will be blacklisted or that they will be shut down for selling "piracy" services to large numbers of people.
Geographical content restriction is stupid and impossible to enforce. I will *never* understand why content producers want to limit the potential audience for their work, and why sponsors are so willing to go along with it.
I've used Cryptocloud for many years with very good success. Not the cheapest option out there. But they have many options for connecting, numerous countries in which to connect to, and many different payment options. They take security/privacy seriously if that is a concern. They do no bandwidth throttling and no logs are kept on the VPN appliances. Well worth checking out.
The subject says it all.
Beware: I believe all are created equal, and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Friendly reminder:
legality != morality
It's harmful to confuse the two.
The combination of DD-WRT and StrongVPN was a good solution for me while I was overseas. It proved to be a reliable solution. I wrote about my experience here:
http://gesker.blogspot.com/2011/04/dd-wrt-and-strongvpn.html
https://try.cloud.ubuntu.com/ Try Ubuntu for 1 hour for free on Amazon's EC2 Cloud
ssh -D 8080 -Nf ubuntu@50.12.345.67 (replace with valid IP from your Ubuntu Cloud Guest) Oh, and don't forget to add an SSH tunnel and configure your web browser to use a SOCKS proxy to localhost.
I didn't say anything about deserving or being owed. If you're going to bring those things up, then you might as well ask why I deserve to be able to buy the disc. The answer is that I don't deserve to be allowed to buy the disc; there's simply no conflicting interest which suggests I should be prohibited from doing so.
The same goes for pirating products which aren't for sale. The purpose of copyright is to provide a financial incentive to publish. If the publishing doesn't happen, then the purpose does not exist. There's nothing to "steal."
When I try that with DVDs, it definitely doesn't work (and never has) unless I violate the law. I put it in, mount the drive, see some directories and .VOB files, but they don't play unless I break the law. Turns out with DVDs that was fairly easy and totally undetectable. I bought DVDs and illegally played them (almost exactly as you suggest except for the illegal part) and nobody ever enforced the law (and nowdays I think there's an exemption which makes it allowed, though downloading the software is still illegal).
But with Blu-Ray it is much harder. Even if there were an exemption which made it legal to play Blu-Rays, or even if DMCA were totally repealed so that it were legal to download the software to play them, legal for the publisher to upload it to me, legal for them to sell it, and legal for them to create it (all these things are currently illegal), it still wouldn't work well, because Blu-Rays have been actively adapting to prevent people from being able to play them. Even in this hypothetical world where illegal things were legal, I would have to subscribe to constant updates of player software and someone would have to be constantly working on making those updates for every new disc.
Fuck that. DVDs were stupid but pragmatically handleable. Blu-Rays are just stupid. When someone says they don't want your money and they actively and continuously work to provide incentives for you to not pay them, the best thing to do is believe them and don't fight.
I hope so. We should all work to make this happen as soon as possible, and I ask you to join me in getting all those people available so they can become employed in either more productive industries, or at more productive companies that aren't spending extra money to go out of their way to eliminate their own customers.
Those people already know, though, that their employer's top priority is to reach a goal of zero customers. I'm sure their resumes are already out there. The ones that don't know, maybe they're qualified to work at McDonalds. If not, there's still a welfare state and that welfare state will have greater resources to spend on people who are unable to do anything, after our economy stops wasting resources on DRM. The sooner this insanity is over, the better for everyone, from people like me, all the way to the stockholders of the companies who are currently working to minimize revenue. When I say everyone I mean everyone.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
....I moved to NL in 2005, from the US, and was troubled by the poor choices for TV here. I ended up subscribing to the UK's SKY+ service, as a foreigner, and it has all the GOOD stuff from America and NONE of the bad stuff. It has ON DEMAND, it has episodes missed, it comes with a TIVO like player (1TB, 2 tuners), and it has apps for the iPhone and other devices. With the advent in the last couple of years in NL of uitzendinggemiste.nl and veamer.nl one can now see just about any material online, after the fact, whenever you want. It has gotten to the point that I don't miss ANYTHING from the US TV experience now, which includes the ridiculous amount of drug advertising on TV. With an iTunes account in the US, and the download sites in NL, I feel comfortable that most of what I would want to see is available to me for little to no effort and cost (other than the original SKY+ installation.)