Bookmem Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 9 minutes ago, securitybreach said: If they do not respect my privacy, I wont use their streaming platforms. I stream from Prime but only because I have it anyway to save on shipping. Haven't used Netflix or Hulu for years. Anything worth while watching from either one can eventually be found elsewhere. I couldn't care less if they track what I watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 I do not care about what they know as it is their service, they are anti-privacy since they are anti-vpn. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 I have prime but only use the shipping. I could get netflix (bundled with tmobile) and hulu (bundled with ATT Fiber) for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wa4chq Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 HALLELUJAH.... I spent a good portion of the day messing with this stuff. I finally got Surfshark working. The phone was not a problem to get set up, it was the lappy and desktop. I was expecting to see the same ap or gui that Mullvad and PIA had. But I finally found the proper site to guide me along. What I hadn't noticed was the little icon just below the tab bar. Ran a couple tests to see if it was working. It does and shows me located in Isle of Moronica. Thanks for all of the info, tips, links etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wa4chq Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 (edited) Edited October 5, 2021 by wa4chq 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 Here is an interesting article on Surfshark from 2018. Surfshark commits to doubling every user donation to support efforts to protect oceans by Surfrider Foundation Quote Riding against the wave of the holiday rush, privacy protection service Surfshark has launched a campaign supporting ocean cleaning efforts. Under this initiative, Surfshark will match every donation of their subscribers and contribute the double amount to the Surfrider Foundation. According to the recent studies, there are 5,25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean today. Of which, 269,000 tons float on the surface. Also, it is estimated that approximately 8 million tons of the newly produced plastic end up in the oceans every year. Doubt if this initiative made the vpn any better but it is a nice gesture. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Well, it's that time....my PIA subscription is set to renew later this week, but I don't want to do that. Looking to switch providers, and I think I'm fine with any of the 3 mentioned in this thread. Proton looks acceptable...both Linux & Android versions available. Big "gap" in coverage between tiers. 2 devices isn't enough for me, and 10 is way more than I need, or ever WILL need. But by default, I'll be stuck in this tier. I NEED coverage for 3 devices, but the price differential is huge. Mullvad looks acceptable, and it's kinda neat they'll even accept cash and a printed "token" to credit your account. COMPLETE anonymity, although truthfully, it's overkill for me. I don't need to be completely anonymous, just anonymous online, when I want to be. Can't figure out what the cost is in US Dollars, though. And a little concerned about the ability to provide customer service when needed. Looks like they're based on Europe. If I HAD to speak to someone, could I understand them? My pet peeve is customer service provided by those with such a severe accent that I can't understand on the phone. Minor concern for now, but could be a HUGE one at a later date. Surfshark looks acceptable, and the price is right. In fact, I started on their website and was quite pleased to see their Linux offering is designed for Debian distros, and distributed in a DEB format, rather than an installation shell script. But it appears there is no Linux GUI; as it indicates "controlled by the terminal". Is that correct? No GUI? I don't use a VPN all the time....in fact, I can't with many of my subscription accounts for my profession. My ISP and address need to be authenticated for access (I'm aware of the implications, but my choices are to work with that or find a whole new line of work). So my VPN usage is primarily for personal use, and I need to be able to turn it on and off quickly and easily, as I move back and forth between tasks or applications. Does Surfshark have a Linux GUI? an Android GUI? or is it truly command-line-only? I was leaning to Surfshark, but the lack of GUI may be a deal-killer for me. So as I'm making this decision, I realized one of the reasons I selected PIA initially was the ease of access, the no-log policy, and GUIs available for my Linux & Android devices. Price was a bonus. But being bought out was a deal-killer; I'm no longer interested in PIA, now owned by a "shady actor" IMO. All 3 appear to have no-log policies; and all 3 seem to be rated quite well. I don't object to a 1-year script, in fact I kinda prefer that. I'd even go for the 2-year script (Surfshark?), but now I worry about a shady-actor acquisition again, although I suppose that risk is present in any of these VPN providers. So I think the ultimate question to be answered is probably regarding GUIs. Which of these VPNs have GUIs? Just looking for some confirmation before I pull the trigger this week. I'd be interested in knowing which of these have GUIs, and how happy you are with your service/selection? What do you like, or not like about it? And do you expect to re-up your subscription when it expires, or will you be shopping around again? TIA for any advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Mullvad is $5 USD a month. Mullvad has a gui for every OS including Linux and android. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 With Mullvad you can use wireguard which is reconed to be the bee's knees faster and more secure than other programs. Proton is super secure and trusted by many folk worldwide who need anonymity. Surfshark is the cheapest at $2.30 a month if you sign up for the 2 year deal. I use Surfshark. The gui thing does not work on my Arch, there is a AUR thing but I could not get it to work. So instead I have crafted a few bash alias's and run it from a terminal. On MX even though it is Debian based sort of I could not get the gui thing to work. Howvever I can set it to run through the Network Manager. It is east to do and there is a guide you can follow on the Surfshark site.On MX the vpn connects automatically when I boot up which is nice as I like to run through a vpn all the time, I have it set to a uk server.This is what it looks like on MX, To test out if I could use Amazon Prime to watch videos from a different country through the vpn, I set Surfshark to use a Moldova server, I am based in the UK. I did manage to sign in to Amazon though I had to authenticate via my GMail account. So signing in to GMail and Amazon is possible through a foreign vpn connection. I tried to watch this but it would not load up and play. Running through the Moldovan server was a lot slower than normal so maybe that was the problem. Not really a problem as I have seen the entire Swedish series before, well worth a watch and much better than the western reruns. You do have to cope with subtitles though. I tried and did watch this though, Bear in mind I did all the above through a wireless connection on my old ToughBook so things would run slower than if I was on my fibre ethernet connection on my Arch set up. So with Surfshark you can use Amazon Prime and GMail using a server in a different country. One thing to note is that I have tried quite a few different servers on Surfshark and was not able to connect to all of them. Why this is I do not know but I can connect to enough different ones to meet my needs. Hope that helps. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 3 hours ago, abarbarian said: With Mullvad you can use wireguard which is reconed to be the bee's knees faster and more secure than other programs. Yeah, I use wireguard on my computers and phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 (edited) 23 hours ago, securitybreach said: Yeah, I use wireguard on my computers and phone. oh jeez, another layer? what is wireguard? i thought it sounded like a component of the vpn experience, but now it sounds like a separate service/tech, used in conjunction with a vpn? what's the point of a vpn AND wireguard? EDIT: found this site and read up on wireguard. https://www.wireguard.com/ so yeah, I'm back to thinking it's a component of the vpn. but you use it separately? i'm confused again... Edited January 25, 2022 by Hedon James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 Wireguard is the replacement for openvpn: Quote WireGuard® is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. It aims to be faster, simpler, leaner, and more useful than IPSec, while avoiding the massive headache. It intends to be considerably more performant than OpenVPN. WireGuard is designed as a general purpose VPN for running on embedded interfaces and super computers alike, fit for many different circumstances. Initially released for the Linux kernel, it is now cross-platform (Windows, macOS, BSD, iOS, Android) and widely deployable. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/WireGuard https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn/wireguard-vs-openvpn/ https://www.wireguard.com/ Basically wireguard is an alternative backend that replaces openvpn. Most VPN clients use openvpn as the backend but some allow you to use wireguard instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wa4chq Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 On 1/24/2022 at 5:53 AM, abarbarian said: With Mullvad you can use wireguard which is reconed to be the bee's knees faster and more secure than other programs. Proton is super secure and trusted by many folk worldwide who need anonymity. Surfshark is the cheapest at $2.30 a month if you sign up for the 2 year deal. I use Surfshark. The gui thing does not work on my Arch, there is a AUR thing but I could not get it to work. So instead I have crafted a few bash alias's and run it from a terminal. On MX even though it is Debian based sort of I could not get the gui thing to work. Howvever I can set it to run through the Network Manager. It is east to do and there is a guide you can follow on the Surfshark site.On MX the vpn connects automatically when I boot up which is nice as I like to run through a vpn all the time, I have it set to a uk server.This is what it looks like on MX, To test out if I could use Amazon Prime to watch videos from a different country through the vpn, I set Surfshark to use a Moldova server, I am based in the UK. I did manage to sign in to Amazon though I had to authenticate via my GMail account. So signing in to GMail and Amazon is possible through a foreign vpn connection. I tried to watch this but it would not load up and play. Running through the Moldovan server was a lot slower than normal so maybe that was the problem. Not really a problem as I have seen the entire Swedish series before, well worth a watch and much better than the western reruns. You do have to cope with subtitles though. I tried and did watch this though, Bear in mind I did all the above through a wireless connection on my old ToughBook so things would run slower than if I was on my fibre ethernet connection on my Arch set up. So with Surfshark you can use Amazon Prime and GMail using a server in a different country. One thing to note is that I have tried quite a few different servers on Surfshark and was not able to connect to all of them. Why this is I do not know but I can connect to enough different ones to meet my needs. Hope that helps. The original movie trilogy by Stieg Larsson was great! Why did they do the other version? Doesn't everybody speak Swedish? If they don't, can't they read? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.