Jump to content

Shopping for a VPN service


interwebtech

Recommended Posts

It's a crazy crowded market... found one today I am test driving (first 2GB free) called Private Tunnel, which is run by the OpenVPN Technologies folks which to me sounded like a fantastic endorsement. I need unlimited data. Only a handful of devices really need this (2 PCs, android phone). Cheaper is better BUT it needs to be rock solid. I am getting near full speed with these guys. $30 a year for unlimited up to 10 devices. But before I commit I want to ask the experts (youse guys).

 

Use case: already using SSL for SAB and newsgroups, so mostly for torrents. I have only done a handful of those and got freaked out by the prospect of exposing my IP that way. I also have recently had a brush with commercial data capture (think Nielsen TV boxes, but using an android set top box that commanders your gateway settings and captures ALL your network traffic.) so I am more inclined to start masking my activities in general lol.

 

Any others that you might recommend? No need for links... I can find based on name; don't want to turn it into a affiliate link bonanza lol.

Link to comment

 

I've been using torguard.net for a bit over 4 years now I think. Never had any issue with them. Speeds are good and many different regions and countries/cities to connect thru. Use it on a daily basis, for grabbing torrents and streaming for netflix. Can use on 5 devices at a time. The few times I've submitted a ticket with questions, they've been answered within hours. You need to watch there blog or twitter account, as well sites like slickdeals.net, usually on major holidays there will be 50% off promo codes. That brings down the price for a yearly vpn account down to just under $30.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

PIA here too. Not sure I would advocate setting up on you router though, this would mean that ALL your traffic would go through it. If it's mostly for torrents there are a few VPN enabled torrent dockers that would enable you to just route your torrent traffic through it.

Link to comment

PIA here too. Not sure I would advocate setting up on you router though, this would mean that ALL your traffic would go through it. If it's mostly for torrents there are a few VPN enabled torrent dockers that would enable you to just route your torrent traffic through it.

 

Yeah I backed away from putting it on the router after reading about all the problems with outside access to Plex.

Link to comment

Could I ask a question about VPN in general, at the moment I still use the built in VPN of my ASUS router but its is terribly slow. So I decided to add lsio openvpn-as docker but didnt find that to be any faster.

 

I recently changed usenet provider and they offer free VPN but havent used it because I thought if my own hosted vpn is slow what are they chances of another being faster.

 

Am I simply just doing it wrong? Noticed @mr-hexen said chaning from UDP to TCP he saw full speeds. This would be amazing if I can do the same as I have moved into my own place but all my unraid machines sit in my parents basement.

 

Any input would be appricated :)

 

**EDIT**

@mr-hexen

Link to comment

Does PIA etc just annonmise your or does it allow you to connect to your internal network.

 

Reason I ask is because I dont expose any dockers to WAN so no port forwarding on router. But I need to access unraid from my home using VPN. So if I used usenetserver vpn would I be able to access UNRAID or will it just hide my ip and route traffic through them.

 

I was hoping to get better performance from openvpn-as (lsio docker) but maybe I configured it wrong.

Link to comment

It wasn't me who said that.  You need to realise there is a difference between OpenVPN-AS and a provider like PIA.

 

OpenVPN-AccessServer provides a VPN tunnel TO your LAN.

 

PIA provides a VPN tunnel to their servers enabling you to route your traffic across.

Link to comment

It wasn't me who said that.  You need to realise there is a difference between OpenVPN-AS and a provider like PIA.

 

OpenVPN-AccessServer provides a VPN tunnel TO your LAN.

 

PIA provides a VPN tunnel to their servers enabling you to route your traffic across.

 

Sorry yes your right it was @mr-hexen. So what benefit do you have using a service like PIA VPN, simply to anonymise yourself?

 

What way could you tunnel into your LAN which is faster than my current method of using built function router?

Link to comment

You need to setup OpenVPN-AS and you will have to open ports on your router to allow access to it.  These ports will be used for VPN on your router anyway, should be faster running on your Unraid that your router as it'll have more grunt...  The speed will be limited in terms of file transfers by your internet upload and download speed.

Link to comment

You need to setup OpenVPN-AS and you will have to open ports on your router to allow access to it.  These ports will be used for VPN on your router anyway, should be faster running on your Unraid that your router as it'll have more grunt...  The speed will be limited in terms of file transfers by your internet upload and download speed.

 

Thanks for the replies, think I will have to revisit openvpn-as. might keep it enabled on my router too just as back just incase tower ever goes down.

Link to comment

You need to setup OpenVPN-AS and you will have to open ports on your router to allow access to it.  These ports will be used for VPN on your router anyway, should be faster running on your Unraid that your router as it'll have more grunt...  The speed will be limited in terms of file transfers by your internet upload and download speed.

 

Thanks for the replies, think I will have to revisit openvpn-as. might keep it enabled on my router too just as back just incase tower ever goes down.

 

You need either/or, you can't have both as you'll need to set up port forwarding from your router to your Unraid box, personally I use the OpenVPN implementation on my router as it has dynamic DNS built in and if my Unraid box needs a reboot I don't get disconnected.  If OpenVPN-AS is on your Unraid box and the docker/plugin fails to start then you won't be able to reconnect. 

 

My modem/router is an Asus DSL-AC68U. 

 

Are you sure your speed is limited by the VPN and not your upload/download internet speed?  Post your router make/model and your internet connection speed.

Link to comment

You need to setup OpenVPN-AS and you will have to open ports on your router to allow access to it.  These ports will be used for VPN on your router anyway, should be faster running on your Unraid that your router as it'll have more grunt...  The speed will be limited in terms of file transfers by your internet upload and download speed.

 

Thanks for the replies, think I will have to revisit openvpn-as. might keep it enabled on my router too just as back just incase tower ever goes down.

 

You need either/or, you can't have both as you'll need to set up port forwarding from your router to your Unraid box, personally I use the OpenVPN implementation on my router as it has dynamic DNS built in and if my Unraid box needs a reboot I don't get disconnected.  If OpenVPN-AS is on your Unraid box and the docker/plugin fails to start then you won't be able to reconnect. 

 

My modem/router is an Asus DSL-AC68U. 

 

Are you sure your speed is limited by the VPN and not your upload/download internet speed?  Post your router make/model and your internet connection speed.

 

ASUS RT-N66U had around 4 years or around when Batman the dark knight came out lol... ISP is virgin media 200Mbps down and ~12Mbps up

Link to comment

You need to setup OpenVPN-AS and you will have to open ports on your router to allow access to it.  These ports will be used for VPN on your router anyway, should be faster running on your Unraid that your router as it'll have more grunt...  The speed will be limited in terms of file transfers by your internet upload and download speed.

 

Thanks for the replies, think I will have to revisit openvpn-as. might keep it enabled on my router too just as back just incase tower ever goes down.

 

You need either/or, you can't have both as you'll need to set up port forwarding from your router to your Unraid box, personally I use the OpenVPN implementation on my router as it has dynamic DNS built in and if my Unraid box needs a reboot I don't get disconnected.  If OpenVPN-AS is on your Unraid box and the docker/plugin fails to start then you won't be able to reconnect. 

 

My modem/router is an Asus DSL-AC68U. 

 

Are you sure your speed is limited by the VPN and not your upload/download internet speed?  Post your router make/model and your internet connection speed.

 

ASUS RT-N66U had around 4 years or around when Batman the dark knight came out lol... ISP is virgin media 200Mbps down and ~12Mbps up

 

I'd conduct some speed tests over VPN both with your router and OpenVPN-AS to try and work out if the router or something else is the bottleneck.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...