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Opera Adds Free VPN-Client With Unlimited Usage To Its Desktop Browser

Posted by msmash on from the who-doesn't-like-free-VPN-service dept.

On Thursday, Opera announced that it is adding a free built-in virtual private network (VPN) client to its desktop browser. The feature, which isn't available on other popular Web browsers, will allow users to hide their IP address, unblock firewalls and access region-locked content. It will also help users protect their personal information on public Wi-Fi networks as it offers 256-bit encryption. "Everyone deserves to be private online if they want to be," Krystian Kolondra, SVP at Opera told Slashdot in a statement. "By adding a free, unlimited VPN directly into the browser, no additional download or extensions from an unknown third-party provider are necessary."

The move comes a year after Opera acquired North American VPN company SurfEasy. Unlike Chrome and Firefox, which require you to use an additional third-party tool (such as an extension), Opera's VPN offering is baked in the browser. What's more, it is free and offers unlimited usage. The feature is available on Opera's Mac, Windows, and Linux clients.

17 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Sorry, still nope by Anrego · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Opera is still (and will probably always be) that weird guy no one really likes but few have specific complaints about.

    Personally I'm strongly debating switching to chromium because firefox has gone to shit and palemoon doesn't look long for this world unfortunately. I never even considered opera, but despite this reminder that they are still around and despite my admission that I don't really have anything specific against them, I'm still not going to.

    1. Re:Sorry, still nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Says you. I switched to Opera as my primary browser back in 1997. I loved it and had no complaints about it. Sadly, since they bastardized it by dropping Presto and switching to Chromium I gave up on it and switched to Firefox.

    2. Re:Sorry, still nope by Forgefather · · Score: 2

      I switched to Vivaldi recently and after fiddling through the options for a bit I was able to get a pretty good browser out of it. Basically i went through the options and disabled all of the new UX design stuff, like tab stacking, and moved the tabs to the side. Its built on top of Chromium though so you still get the extensions.

      --
      "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
    3. Re:Sorry, still nope by Forgefather · · Score: 2

      The main reason for me is that I really need side tabs. That was the one feature keeping me in fire fox for years because I have anywhere from 20 to 50 tabs open at a time. This is simply not doable in Chrome or Chromium without really hackish addons that create sepperate windows for the tabs. All in all Vivaldi was everything I wanted in a browser. (Chrome - Google) + side tabs

      --
      "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
    4. Re:Sorry, still nope by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2

      Seconded. Opera was the browser you used if you were curious about what new features were coming to Firefox in a year or two.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    5. Re:Sorry, still nope by foradoxium · · Score: 2

      Agree.

      I use both Firefox and Chrome at both home and work, and my phone. I actually prefer firefox on my phone.

      As someone who uses and likes both browsers I believe firefox is as good, if not slightly better, than Chrome. I prefer it's UI for addons, it has fireFTP, and to be honest it seems, on my systems at least, that firefox is slightly faster to launch and load my initial pages.

    6. Re:Sorry, still nope by jimbo · · Score: 2

      I test drove Firefox for a few days recently, taking it through some fairly heavy testing and it seemed to do just fine, moderate memory requirements, good performance, etc. I don't use it as my daily driver but I think saying it has "gone to shit" is a brutal and unfair exaggeration.

      As for Opera; given their new owners I'm not going to trust it with my data. Vivaldi may not be super pretty but it's very configurable and uses Chrome extensions, so that has replaced Chrome for me.

  2. No, Thank You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Now that Opera is going to be owned by the Chinese, they cannot offer anything compelling. No, thank you. No one in their right mind will ever trust the Chinese. Opera is not open source, and because the Chinese company that is buying Opera has close ties to the Chinese government, you cannot expect any privacy whatsoever. Simply put, Opera is, IMHO, no longer a real option to those concerned with privacy.

    1. Re:No, Thank You by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 2

      Yes, but think about it for a second. With the built-in VPN they won't be able to spy on you!

    2. Re:No, Thank You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Chinese company that is buying Opera has close ties to the Chinese government,

      That's just FUD. If you read anything about the companies that make up the consortium (it wasn't just one China based company) that bought the Opera properties, you see they are just capitalistic as any other multinational corporations. Mergers, acquisitions, venture capital groups, monopoly lawsuits, investors, high finance, etc. are all part of the Asian megacorps that are emerging from China. Besides, I can't believe after the surveillance state rant bait that's posted daily here on slashdot, that anyone would trust US companies (or European or Israeli ones) to not spy on their users. Just because Apple and Microsoft now have decided to go for the positive PR by making a show of fighting the Feds after decades of gleefully cooperating with them at the expense of their customers privacy, suddenly that makes them all more trustworthy? Pshaw.

  3. Netflix? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now that Netflix is actively blocking VPN users, I wonder how this will play out?

  4. Like HolaVPN and Zenmate? by LichtSpektren · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No thanks. Most "free" VPNs are well-publicized to data farm you in exchange for being free (a la Windows 10). If you actually want quality and privacy, you have to pay for it. My preference is AirVPN but there's other good ones out there.

    1. Re:Like HolaVPN and Zenmate? by blackomegax · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Fact of life: if you aren't paying for something, YOU are the product.

  5. Opera by puddingebola · · Score: 2

    When people discuss Opera, they always bring up the features they introduced that are a part of all browsers now; will this be one more?

  6. A lot of people don't care by aepervius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I really don't care for example that they catch that I am trying to watch the daily show from germany or the rare few video which tells me "GEMA blocked blahblah youtube license not apid wahhwahhwambulance"

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  7. SOCKS by ooloorie · · Score: 2

    Both Firefox and Chrome support SOCKS, which is just as good as VPN for web browsing and a lot easier to set up (most hosting accounts effectively include it as part of SSH service).

  8. "5.4 MB That's a lot of data!" by westlake · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ars Technica is a little more cautious about what is being offered here --- which is an alpha release for the desktop only.

    I am a little wary myself when someone promises "no fees, no limits" on services which tend to get expensive as you scale up. Opera bundles free, unlimited VPN client into its browser