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?"

Comments

Run your own

[dskoll]

Get a cheap colocated server in the US and then run OpenVPN or whatever flavor of VPN you prefer.

Re:Run your own

[QuantumRiff]

You can get a vm at rackspace for about $11 a month: http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/cloud_hosting_products/servers/pricing/

Or of course, there is always the ever popular Amazon..

Re:Run your own

[hodet]

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.

Re:Run your own

[QuantumRiff]

Downloading 30Gb with it (since you only pay outgoing bandwith) adds about $4 to the bill for the month. You do pay for bandwidth, but it isn't very much.

Re:Run your own

[1s44c]

The same rackspace from the other day that allowed an unauthorized user to access another's account and transfer several domains, and then offered a paltry half month of free hosting as compensation?

Yes, that same rackspace.

Is there a list of providers that never fucked up somewhere? Because I personally don't know of any.

I had a lot of trust in Linode until the recent BitCoin Heist revealed that any machine could have been raided. I trusted Hetzner until I heard of some abuse of their admin tools.

Re:Run your own

[Pieroxy]

The same rackspace from the other day that allowed an unauthorized user to access another's account and transfer several domains, and then offered a paltry half month of free hosting as compensation?

If all you install is OpenVPN, what do you care? Machine compromised? Reinstall the whole thing with a different set of keys. Problem solved.

I'd say that for this purpose a hosting company that is not too rigid on the procedures is all the better.

Re:Run your own

[Cthefuture]

That's too much. Check out lowendbox and find something you like.

Since you don't need disk space, much RAM or CPU then you should be able to find something that will work for less than $20 a year. They usually come with a fair amount of bandwidth.

Re:Run your own

[houstonbofh]

Why when there are so many services? And to answer the OPs question, look at the review here. http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-providers-really-take-anonymity-seriously-111007/

WiTopia, TunnelBear

[jaffray]

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.

Astrill

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Unblock Us

[titten]

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).

Re:Unblock Us

[fearofcarpet]

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.

Re:Is it legal?

[nine-times]

There's practically zero chance of them finding out. They would need to somehow know that the IP address of the VPN server is illegitimate (that's pretty unlikely already), and then convince that VPN service to hand over your personally identifiable information.

And if they do catch you, what crime do they have you for? Violation of the terms of service?

Re:Why!

[jd2112]

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).

Just watch BBC and see what will be on US TV in a few years.

Re:Is it legal?

[Anonymous Coward]

Legal? Well, if you're concerned about that - or anonymity - you should probably be looking a VPNs which accept Bitcoin in payment. *Those* are the providers that actually care about protecting their clients. Here's a list:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade#Connectivity

Bitcoin does have its uses...

Re:Is it legal?

[fearofcarpet]

What really irks me about geographical restrictions is their totalitarian approach. I keep a permanent address in the US along with a few bank accounts and whatnot. But if I subscribe to a US-based service with my American address and bank account, I'm only allowed to use it while I'm physically within the US. I understand the reasoning--that stuff airs abroad at different times and with different distribution/carrier agreements--but as far as Hulu or Netflix is concerned, I live in the US and just travel 99% of the time... I mean, I still have to file US taxes (because taxes are based on citizenship and residence, so I get to file taxes in two countries) but PayPal/Hulu/Netflix/etc. throw a temper tantrum unless I log in through a US-based VPN... Anyway, it seems unlikely that a citizen living abroad who pays for a streaming service in their own country would be extradited for violating the TOS; more likely to happen to someone re-selling access or broadcasting it in a pub or something.

Why bother? Just pirate it.

[Cajun Hell]

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.