Best VPN provider (In your opinion)? (Strictly no referral allowed)

seasonscrystal

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Is VPNtraffic China (direct) = Los Angeles (China) & Astrill China 2 (direct) = China 2 (No Facebook) ?

As for VPNtraffic, it's crap because there's only 1 china server (cn.trafficvpn.com) and most of the time the connection drops halfway and/or there's no internet access though I can connect to it.. does not occur with astrill..

I dun get what you mean "VPNtraffic China (direct) = Los Angeles (China) & Astrill China 2 (direct) = China 2 (No Facebook)". VPNTraffic China you connect directly to China, whereas Astrill (Via US) connects to LA then to China. Astrill China 2 is direct connection but most of the time the speed is so bad you hardly get anything load within a minute.

VPNTraffic has at least 3 China servers last I checked (used to be 4). That vpn dns will route you to one of the servers based on priority. They'll switch the priority of the servers around. That's why sometime you get good connection, then the next day you get crappy connection. So which servers you get connected to plays an important part.

If based on your logic Astrill also crap, cos only China 1 (via US) is really working, currently China 2 (direct) is hardly enough to surf net.:s22: IIRC Astrill actually have 3 China servers, 2 of which are used to switch around the current China 1 connection.

edit: VPNTraffic Zhejiang server still blocking speedtest site, can't show the speed, but currently streaming off sohu 720p smoothly. VPNTraffic Chongqing site is down again, so can't test -_-
 
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rainmanreigns

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That's cause you aren't connecting to the right servers;) They only give you 1 or 2 server address then assigned you to their highest priority server, if that server is full, they'll switch to another.

Haven't used VPNtraffic for a month (always on Astrill as they give 2 connections now), by memory there are 4-5 US servers, only 2 are good (can be as fast as Astrill). China server there are 3 I think, 1 that's most assigned to connection sux, the other one is fast but unstable (at time even faster than Astrill via US connection), the last one least assigned to but decent speed (faster than Astrill direct China connection).

I get a similar level of inconsistent performance from Astrill when connecting to US servers. This is my only problem with them!

Some servers are fast and others aren't despite being part of the same server cluster and the normal software they provide (windows utility and router applet) don't provde much control over exactly which server you connect to within a server cluster (e.g. Los Angeles 1 / Los Angeles (world) ).

At the moment I'm keeping track of the exact server I'm connected to according to the IP assigned when I get connected. Hopefully over a couple of weeks I should be able to try out most of them and get a feel of which particular server works best for me most of the time. Its a shame finding the fastest server is so difficult for what otherwise feels like a service that has some potentially good performance.
 

AmmarNaeem

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VPN

A VPN is a tunneling tool that encrypts data for online security and tunnels it for online privacy. VPN using netizens are virtually invisible and cannot be tracked through Geo-IP tracking, allowing them to access websites without restrictions. Increasing cybercrime rates demand high quality VPN services that can only be obtained through VPNs with impenetrable encryption. The below given list of VPN providers are the VPN industry’s pioneers and offer the best encryption you can find.
Source: Top 5 Encrypted VPN Services Make Online Safety Impenetrable
 

stiwipl

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I would not trust the VPN rankings. They care mostly about $$$ from VPN affiliate programs and will push those who are paying best. This is one of the reason why you won't see Astrill in many places as they stopped their affiliate program (temporarily I guess).
 

davidktw

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A VPN is a tunneling tool that encrypts data for online security and tunnels it for online privacy. VPN using netizens are virtually invisible and cannot be tracked through Geo-IP tracking, allowing them to access websites without restrictions. Increasing cybercrime rates demand high quality VPN services that can only be obtained through VPNs with impenetrable encryption. The below given list of VPN providers are the VPN industry’s pioneers and offer the best encryption you can find.
Source: Top 5 Encrypted VPN Services Make Online Safety Impenetrable

Those assurance about VPN is only when you own the VPN server within your corporate. Otherwise all bets are off. Security similar to what is exercised in eCommerce use cases are only possible with END-TO-END encryption. Using VPN services offered out there doesn't offer you any form of security, only a transfer of responsibility from one party to another.

At the same time, for such VPN services, your security is only from your host to the VPN server. What goes out of their server to your intended target is not secured and hence offers no extra security as oppose to not using one.

The concept of VPN used in this way is like building a private underground road where target can only see you from your exit, but can't trace any route under the ground. It's obscurity, not security.

Audience please do not be mistaken that it is any sort of security. I can basically tunnel without encryption at my intended gateway perform source address manipulation using simple proxy concept and achieve the exact same effect without encryption.

If you are protecting against any eavesdropping, your target is nothing more than your ISP. There is no security in such usage of VPN per sae.
 

bagger 288

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I would not trust the VPN rankings. They care mostly about $$$ from VPN affiliate programs and will push those who are paying best. This is one of the reason why you won't see Astrill in many places as they stopped their affiliate program (temporarily I guess).


Still looking for a good vpn. hidemyass just failed me :(
 

AmmarNaeem

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Those assurance about VPN is only when you own the VPN server within your corporate. Otherwise all bets are off. Security similar to what is exercised in eCommerce use cases are only possible with END-TO-END encryption. Using VPN services offered out there doesn't offer you any form of security, only a transfer of responsibility from one party to another.

At the same time, for such VPN services, your security is only from your host to the VPN server. What goes out of their server to your intended target is not secured and hence offers no extra security as oppose to not using one.

The concept of VPN used in this way is like building a private underground road where target can only see you from your exit, but can't trace any route under the ground. It's obscurity, not security.

Audience please do not be mistaken that it is any sort of security. I can basically tunnel without encryption at my intended gateway perform source address manipulation using simple proxy concept and achieve the exact same effect without encryption.

If you are protecting against any eavesdropping, your target is nothing more than your ISP. There is no security in such usage of VPN per sae.

You state: Those assurance about VPN is only when you own the VPN server within your corporate. Otherwise all bets are off. Security similar to what is exercised in eCommerce use cases are only possible with END-TO-END encryption. Using VPN services offered out there doesn't offer you any form of security, only a transfer of responsibility from one party to another.

My response: The VPN services I am referring (and have based my response on) take responsibility for ensuring safety. People keep updating their antivirus and Firewall software in the hope that doing so will guarantee their online safety. This means that they trust a new party every time they conduct an online transaction with a new website. The VPN service providers I refer to essentially centralize security management. You can even pursue them (and trust me, they respond because they have a reputation to sustain) if you feel that any of your rights have been violated. How will you pursue a dozen different websites you buy from every day? Again, think of it as the centralized resolution of security related issues.

You state: At the same time, for such VPN services, your security is only from your host to the VPN server. What goes out of their server to your intended target is not secured and hence offers no extra security as oppose to not using one.

My response: Some VPN service providers have been in the industry for nearly a decade. Even governments (such as the Australian government) have begun recommending using a VPN when using WiFi hotspots. VPN based solutions may not sound like they have all the answers, but they are our best bet against exponentially rising cybercrime.
Using public wireless networks | Stay Smart Online

You state: The concept of VPN used in this way is like building a private underground road where target can only see you from your exit, but can't trace any route under the ground. It's obscurity, not security.

My response: Do you know that this precise obscurity is what is possibly helping Edward Snowden stay invisible even when he is on the grid? I invite you to consider VPN services as invisibility providers instead of obscurity providers.
 

davidktw

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You state: Those assurance about VPN is only when you own the VPN server within your corporate. Otherwise all bets are off. Security similar to what is exercised in eCommerce use cases are only possible with END-TO-END encryption. Using VPN services offered out there doesn't offer you any form of security, only a transfer of responsibility from one party to another.

My response: The VPN services I am referring (and have based my response on) take responsibility for ensuring safety. People keep updating their antivirus and Firewall software in the hope that doing so will guarantee their online safety. This means that they trust a new party every time they conduct an online transaction with a new website. The VPN service providers I refer to essentially centralize security management. You can even pursue them (and trust me, they respond because they have a reputation to sustain) if you feel that any of your rights have been violated. How will you pursue a dozen different websites you buy from every day? Again, think of it as the centralized resolution of security related issues.

You state: At the same time, for such VPN services, your security is only from your host to the VPN server. What goes out of their server to your intended target is not secured and hence offers no extra security as oppose to not using one.

My response: Some VPN service providers have been in the industry for nearly a decade. Even governments (such as the Australian government) have begun recommending using a VPN when using WiFi hotspots. VPN based solutions may not sound like they have all the answers, but they are our best bet against exponentially rising cybercrime.
Using public wireless networks | Stay Smart Online

Seriously I don't know how to trust your guts feeling thinking you can sue these VPN services for your security holes. Let me first make you understand what is my experiences with security. I have been working for years with a mobile and security company and I have been the consultant for security products such as IBM and Oracle security suites such as Identity Management Systems and Single Sign On systems. I can tell you straight into your face and straight into the faces of all these so called VPN solutions management that the kind of "security" assurance you are sold is a fallacy.

If these VPN can technologically solve security without END-TO-END security methodology, I would love to know how. I would like to urge you to study in depth what is SECURITY and how END-TO-END security using SSL/TLS are implemented. How it is so important to work with X509 certificates performing the mandatory certificate validation to form the secure eCommerce Internet standard today.

Anything less than END-TO-END security is no security. If not, why do you think all decent ecommerce solution in the market today uses HTTPS. Why not just use plaintext HTTP, and from your host, VPN to your so called REPUTED VPN service since they are so reputed and you can sue them for whatever leakage of your information.

If you can actually sue them when you did not use END-TO-END SSL with certificate validation, please contact me immediately, I would love to engage their service right away. In any cases, if you doubt what I am talking about, feel free to send an email asking the following question

"If I own my own online webstore, can my customer use your VPN service and be fully secured all the way from their computer to my online webstore WITHOUT USING HTTPS"

You state: The concept of VPN used in this way is like building a private underground road where target can only see you from your exit, but can't trace any route under the ground. It's obscurity, not security.

My response: Do you know that this precise obscurity is what is possibly helping Edward Snowden stay invisible even when he is on the grid? I invite you to consider VPN services as invisibility providers instead of obscurity providers.

It is quite amusing for this discussion. I highly recommend you have a proper education on the topic of Security. I think you watch too much MISSION IMPOSSIBLE :)
 
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AmmarNaeem

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Seriously I don't know how to trust your guts feeling thinking you can sue these VPN services for your security holes. Let me first make you understand what is my experiences with security. I have been working for years with a mobile and security company and I have been the consultant for security products such as IBM and Oracle security suites such as Identity Management Systems and Single Sign On systems. I can tell you straight into your face and straight into the faces of all these so called VPN solutions management that the kind of "security" assurance you are sold is a fallacy.

If these VPN can technologically solve security without END-TO-END security methodology, I would love to know how. I would like to urge you to study in depth what is SECURITY and how END-TO-END security using SSL/TLS are implemented. How it is so important to work with X509 certificates performing the mandatory certificate validation to form the secure eCommerce Internet standard today.

Anything less than END-TO-END security is no security. If not, why do you think all decent ecommerce solution in the market today uses HTTPS. Why not just use plaintext HTTP, and from your host, VPN to your so called REPUTED VPN service since they are so reputed and you can sue them for whatever leakage of your information.

If you can actually sue them when you did not use END-TO-END SSL with certificate validation, please contact me immediately, I would love to engage their service right away. In any cases, if you doubt what I am talking about, feel free to send an email asking the following question

"If I own my own online webstore, can my customer use your VPN service and be fully secured all the way from their computer to my online webstore WITHOUT USING HTTPS"



It is quite amusing for this discussion. I highly recommend you have a proper education on the topic of Security. I think you watch too much MISSION IMPOSSIBLE :)

This discussion is to generate productive debate on security and not to humiliate other. So please set your tune accordingly.

Let me come back to the point. Think about it: According to the World Bank, 81% of the US and 74.2% of Singapore uses the internet. How many people know how to tunnel without encryption at their intended gateway; perform source address manipulation using simple proxy concept; and achieve the exact same effect without encryption? Not a lot I can assure you. If ISPs were the solution, wouldn't we have figured a way out by now? In sharp contrast, developed countries around the world have only recently begun to formally structure their cyber security strategies in this decade.
There is still a long way to go for cyber security to develop and we cannot remain unprotected with a naive sense of security. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of dismissing the few cyber security measures we have at hand. Maybe we will develop something better in the years to come, but for now VPN service providers are our best bet.
 

davidktw

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This discussion is to generate productive debate on security and not to humiliate other. So please set your tune accordingly.

Let me come back to the point. Think about it: According to the World Bank, 81% of the US and 74.2% of Singapore uses the internet. How many people know how to tunnel without encryption at their intended gateway; perform source address manipulation using simple proxy concept; and achieve the exact same effect without encryption? Not a lot I can assure you. If ISPs were the solution, wouldn't we have figured a way out by now? In sharp contrast, developed countries around the world have only recently begun to formally structure their cyber security strategies in this decade.
There is still a long way to go for cyber security to develop and we cannot remain unprotected with a naive sense of security. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of dismissing the few cyber security measures we have at hand. Maybe we will develop something better in the years to come, but for now VPN service providers are our best bet.

Spare me the numbers because that is not the focus of this discussion. I will be productive here as you wish. So I will show you the illustration and show you where your security understanding is flawed.

The original usage of VPN is as follows
wwgrxj.jpg


Here environments A and B are secured environments via firewall and facility hardening may it be application hardening, gateway hardening or even physical facility hardening. They are not connected using dedicated lease line laid point to point physically and connected via the Internet, which is inherently an unsecured network. In order to allow network traffics to secured traverse between these 2 networks, VPN are setup where each environment host their own set of VPN gateway(s). Is this the SECURED usage of VPN.

Now. Your usage of VPN is as follows
25r0ahg.jpg


What goes out of the VPN server towards your intended target is INSECURED. You can't sue the VPN service owner because they did what they promised. a SECURED line from your host to their VPN gateway. But what goes outside of their network is not under their charge. Internet traffic are not END-POINT to END-POINT. They hope between multiple gateways. Your VPN service, NO MATTER HOW REPUTED THEY ARE, have NO CONTROL over any hops outside their own network. While they provided eavesdropping between your host and them, they not TOTALLY NO CONTROL thereafter. As such, someone who is eavesdropping after the network packet traverse outside the secured channel is susceptible to sniffing. Your usage of VPN DO NOT OFFER END-POINT to END-POINT security. As such, you are only under the impression that you are secured but you are actually not.

If you want to argue that at least you have partial security from the WIFI sniffing. My answer to you is be prepared for whatever confidential information such as your credit card info, your personal info and so forth to be intercepted elsewhere. Those that sniff your WIFI is normally small time hackers. Good ones is not interested to target at just one, but a whole lot. They will likely hack into gateways in the middle and compromise them for such purpose. They are not targeted at you only.

Here I shall give you an illustration of SSL/TLS. The underlying security channel concept of HTTPS.
1675nh4.jpg


HTTPS provides end-point to end-point encryption to give you a secure channel. But this is not all. In order for proper security to take place. First there is a circle of trust to be established. This is enforced using X509 certificate which is validated by decent browsers. Any applications that skip X509 certificate validation at the end-points and just use SSL is still susceptible to MAN-IN-THE-MIDDLE attack using certificate swapping.

Please do not sell that VPN used in your way is secure. The next thing is your find people believing in your half-baked knowledge about security and start using VPN and then exchange confidential information, without the full knowledge that beyond the VPN service, their network packets are traversing in unsecured Internet.

I have said and would repeat once more. Please get yourself acquaintance with proper Technological Security topic before making the statement that your current usage of VPN is secure. There is obscurity from some parties, but NO SECURITY.
 

AmmarNaeem

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Spare me the numbers because that is not the focus of this discussion. I will be productive here as you wish. So I will show you the illustration and show you where your security understanding is flawed.

The original usage of VPN is as follows
wwgrxj.jpg


Here environments A and B are secured environments via firewall and facility hardening may it be application hardening, gateway hardening or even physical facility hardening. They are not connected using dedicated lease line laid point to point physically and connected via the Internet, which is inherently an unsecured network. In order to allow network traffics to secured traverse between these 2 networks, VPN are setup where each environment host their own set of VPN gateway(s). Is this the SECURED usage of VPN.

Now. Your usage of VPN is as follows
25r0ahg.jpg


What goes out of the VPN server towards your intended target is INSECURED. You can't sue the VPN service owner because they did what they promised. a SECURED line from your host to their VPN gateway. But what goes outside of their network is not under their charge. Internet traffic are not END-POINT to END-POINT. They hope between multiple gateways. Your VPN service, NO MATTER HOW REPUTED THEY ARE, have NO CONTROL over any hops outside their own network. While they provided eavesdropping between your host and them, they not TOTALLY NO CONTROL thereafter. As such, someone who is eavesdropping after the network packet traverse outside the secured channel is susceptible to sniffing. Your usage of VPN DO NOT OFFER END-POINT to END-POINT security. As such, you are only under the impression that you are secured but you are actually not.

If you want to argue that at least you have partial security from the WIFI sniffing. My answer to you is be prepared for whatever confidential information such as your credit card info, your personal info and so forth to be intercepted elsewhere. Those that sniff your WIFI is normally small time hackers. Good ones is not interested to target at just one, but a whole lot. They will likely hack into gateways in the middle and compromise them for such purpose. They are not targeted at you only.

Here I shall give you an illustration of SSL/TLS. The underlying security channel concept of HTTPS.
1675nh4.jpg


HTTPS provides end-point to end-point encryption to give you a secure channel. But this is not all. In order for proper security to take place. First there is a circle of trust to be established. This is enforced using X509 certificate which is validated by decent browsers. Any applications that skip X509 certificate validation at the end-points and just use SSL is still susceptible to MAN-IN-THE-MIDDLE attack using certificate swapping.

Please do not sell that VPN used in your way is secure. The next thing is your find people believing in your half-baked knowledge about security and start using VPN and then exchange confidential information, without the full knowledge that beyond the VPN service, their network packets are traversing in unsecured Internet.

I have said and would repeat once more. Please get yourself acquaintance with proper Technological Security topic before making the statement that your current usage of VPN is secure. There is obscurity from some parties, but NO SECURITY.

I fail to see why you keep referring to the legal practice of suing VPN service providers when I gave no such indication. In fact, the word I chose to use in my response was 'pursue', not 'sue'. While I applaud your well-boasted credentials, thank you for the illustrations and admire you for your consistency, I am offended by your 'Mission Impossible' pun and deeply saddened by what I infer is your insistence that everyday internet users should wait out for the commercial availability of END-TO-END security solutions.
I invite you and the rest of my fellow forum participants to imagine a scenario:
It is raining (cyber crime threats), and while you would love an umbrella (end-to-end security), all you have at hand is a piece of cardboard (VPN service provider). Would you walk out into the rain fully exposed and complaining about the ineffective coverage that the cardboard would have provided had you used it, or would you have used the cardboard and saved yourself as much as possible? Every individual will have a different view-point, and therefore a different answer to this question.
Mr. David, I am attempting to contribute to the discussion by providing a view-point that I expect will allow the users of this forum and new cyber security followers to make informed decisions. I bow down to your greatness but I assure you that I do not appreciate your attempts to commandeer this forum and the right of this forums' participants to make independent decisions.
Kindly do not tell us what not to do if you are not willing to tell us what to do. I do not appreciate your attempts at playing judge, jury and executioner on this forum.
And while we are on the subject of what is 'not the focus of this discussion', I invite you to revisit the original question that sparked this discussion: you guys got any recommendation from other providers?
I therefore suggest that you stop showing off, make your recommendation (which I gather will be a complete nullification of the question judging by your take on VPN service providers) and move on. If you are bored, kindly find a forum titled 'Why are VPN service providers useless?', because this is not it.
 

davidktw

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I fail to see why you keep referring to the legal practice of suing VPN service providers when I gave no such indication. In fact, the word I chose to use in my response was 'pursue', not 'sue'. While I applaud your well-boasted credentials, thank you for the illustrations and admire you for your consistency, I am offended by your 'Mission Impossible' pun and deeply saddened by what I infer is your insistence that everyday internet users should wait out for the commercial availability of END-TO-END security solutions.
I invite you and the rest of my fellow forum participants to imagine a scenario:
It is raining (cyber crime threats), and while you would love an umbrella (end-to-end security), all you have at hand is a piece of cardboard (VPN service provider). Would you walk out into the rain fully exposed and complaining about the ineffective coverage that the cardboard would have provided had you used it, or would you have used the cardboard and saved yourself as much as possible? Every individual will have a different view-point, and therefore a different answer to this question.
Mr. David, I am attempting to contribute to the discussion by providing a view-point that I expect will allow the users of this forum and new cyber security followers to make informed decisions. I bow down to your greatness but I assure you that I do not appreciate your attempts to commandeer this forum and the right of this forums' participants to make independent decisions.
Kindly do not tell us what not to do if you are not willing to tell us what to do. I do not appreciate your attempts at playing judge, jury and executioner on this forum.
And while we are on the subject of what is 'not the focus of this discussion', I invite you to revisit the original question that sparked this discussion: you guys got any recommendation from other providers?
I therefore suggest that you stop showing off, make your recommendation (which I gather will be a complete nullification of the question judging by your take on VPN service providers) and move on. If you are bored, kindly find a forum titled 'Why are VPN service providers useless?', because this is not it.

I don't find the need to get emotional about the whole shebang here. As such I just get to the point. Your understanding about security is flawed from day one. You keep on quoting numbers and reports and how VPN is being advocated. That is not the crux to the problem.

The problem is you have greatly mistaken on how security works technologically. If you feel I have not been friendly to your opinion, you may be right. For that I shall apologise.

However if you still want to be stubborn about your flawed understanding about security, you can proceed as you wish because at the end of the day, whose confidential and private information are traversing open in the Internet is not really my concern. My concern is to educate the correct understanding about security and how your usage of VPN do not contribute to security no matter how much you want to believe so.

I have already given you the correct usage of VPN and illustrated on how your VPN usage is not protecting your confidential data. If you still don't see pass the numbers and reports, so be it.

Whether you seek legal pursue (which is normally the case), or just plain verbal or written correspondence with the VPN service provider is not at all important. What is important is you have no case against them because you have misunderstood the usage of their VPN service.

Security is a scientific topic. You either have security or you don't have. Your usage of VPN is analogous to walking across the minefield with your ears plugged.

Your best bet is on the way you are using VPN, if there is no better way, then there is no better way. What is the point to lock up the door and place the key under the mat ? Don't worry, I have no intention to tell you what to do. If you intend to follow the flawed path, who am I to say you shouldn't ? It's in your onus to decide what is good for you. My recommendation is you are on the wrong path, so you decide if you want to continue or not.

HTTPS is widely used and is one of the easiest approach to safe network communication. There is nothing for me to show off talking about security. It's the industrial standard to safe communication between endpoints, if you feel this is show off, then it clearly show how much you truly understand about security. Again I repeat once more, go and get yourself formally educated with the correct technological security model. This is Security 101 topic per sae. At my level, I'm advocating basic security model and hence nothing to boost about at all. Any security personnel would have identify if I have shared the correct security model or not.

I'm not bored either, but rather you are too passionate but shared the wrong information. I have no intention to star another thread, thanks for bringing it up. Neither have I indicated the current VPN usage is useless, I don't remember I said that. I only said it does not offer security at all, it's only obscurity from some parties, but not security. However you keep on advocating that it combat against cyber-terrorist when clearly the science have shown otherwise.

Therefore my words are as follows. There is no need to take my words for it. Read what I have said and go read up a proper IT book on security and cryptography such as the following Cryptography Textbook. What I have mentioned would be found inside. If you bend on following your own way, be my guest.
 

MaXifLeX

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Chill bros, this is just a discussion forum for sharing, no point in getting so worked up.

On a side note, davidktw, thank you for your posts and diagram. Your posts do make sense and have educated me on the security aspect of VPN.
 

Asakura

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Opened up a trial account just for the sake of testing the china server in astrill but it's for full account users only.. defeats the purpose..

can be done. :s13:
jus ask the cso kindly.
if fail do the below mentioned.
Why not sign up for a paid account and then ask for a refund within 7 days if the speed is not satisfactory.
 

davidktw

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Chill bros, this is just a discussion forum for sharing, no point in getting so worked up.

On a side note, davidktw, thank you for your posts and diagram. Your posts do make sense and have educated me on the security aspect of VPN.

I'm glad it helped to clear up the doubts on at least one person :) These diagrams are not made up by me, you can find them in the Internet somehow.

I have been setting up my own OpenVPN, PPTPd, IPSEC/L2TP servers for years on Linux systems, and also have setup them for real Enterprise usage to protect backend access to AWS Virtual Private Cloud(VPC).

The usage of VPN by the other poster is used by me for years to tunnel things across from another exit point. I have used things like SSH Tunnel with SOCK5, HTTP(S) Tunnel etc for such purpose. If I have known they are safe for proper confidential transfer of data usage, I would have recommend them as well.

But clearly I wouldn't say so because I know these things inside out and how they function. For any proper transfer of data across any insecure network may it be intranet network or Internet, end-to-end SSL is the simplest way. Other non-streaming approaches available would be out of reach by most consumers, such as S/MIME, WS-Security etc.

There is no other way out if you want to claim something secure, this mode of VPN usage is just plain wrong to call it secure. So far, it is only for some niche usage and we all know what the real intention of so called these VPN services are for :)
 

stiwipl

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Astrill is down for 15 hours or so. If you are logged in and connected, do not disconnect. My session on the router is always on and it works, it is just Astrill's API that is down. I disconnected Mac client for reboot and now I am unable to reconnect.

I am thinking about getting something for backup, any experience with Express VPN?
 

bagger 288

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Astrill is down for 15 hours or so. If you are logged in and connected, do not disconnect. My session on the router is always on and it works, it is just Astrill's API that is down. I disconnected Mac client for reboot and now I am unable to reconnect.

I am thinking about getting something for backup, any experience with Express VPN?

Is it still down?
 

stiwipl

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Is it still down?

They restored their all services half an hour ago.

Anyone tried VyprVPN?
I have narrowed my backup choices to HMA vs VyprVPN vs ExpressVPN. What I like about HMA is that they have quite many servers with virtual IPs, eg. UK server with USA IP or Singapore server with USA IP (similar to Astrill).

VyprVPN on the other hand has developed Chameleon which is similar to Astrill's Stealth protocol and might be useful in highly restricted countries.
 

IntelFlash

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If i have a few fibre point and wireless at home, must i apply for the home plan from Astrill?
 

oric1

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If i have a few fibre point and wireless at home, must i apply for the home plan from Astrill?

By default, Astrill Personal VPN account can be used on multiple devices, but only on one device at the same time. Connecting another device to Astrill VPN network results in disconnecting the previous one.

Purchasing Astrill's Home Plan gives you the possibility to connect up to 5 devices with one account at the same time. Forget about annoying relogging all the time, stay connected and safe 24/7 with your PC, Mac, iDevice, TV and more at the same time.
 
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