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

hacktic

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Why not get the VPN only when ure in China. Ull never know when they clamp down on blocking the VPN.
 

iCubes

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I'm in Beijing now and using Astrill on a Mac. Was using VyprVPN but their speeds and connection was disappointing so I switched to Astrill. Facebook, Youtube, torrents all work fine even when I'm only on a 4mbs ADSL connection. Anything else relating to China's internet can ask me.
 

Salapi

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Hello,

I'm sorry that you have speed problems with our service. Our service is fast in most ports of the word and we have lots of customers from Singapore. Astrill is one of preferred services among Singapore customers which you can easily check by googling. Therefore, I'm not sure why you have speed issues. If the speed gets throttled over time - it's apparently caused by your ISP doing some nasty things. This is something we cannot fix. International bandwidth in Singapore is expensive and your ISP doesn't guarantee it. All you get is fast speed within the country. Please try to switch to TCP protocol and ports like 443 and 80 to avoid ISP throttling.

If your PC is connected wirelessly, try to connect it via LAN cable. Weak WiFi connection can cause speed degradation. If you have some packet optimizers like CFosSpeed or similar network shaping software - it can degrade speed in most cases, so I recommend you to remove any such software. If the speed was good during your trial, there is no reason why it would be slow now - at least not caused by Astrill. Either your ISP did some changes (enabled throttling for your account due to excessive international traffic usage) or you made some changes to your PC (e.g installed some new software).

If you use video streaming based on P2P and connect to our Netherlands server however most of the peers are outside of the Netherlands, how can you expect fast speeds ? This is not the fault of our service, but underlying P2P technology.

Unfortunately we do not offer refunds, all sales are final - which is explained in our Refund Policy which you have read and accepted during signup. We can only assist you with issues caused by our service. If the problem is not at our end, we can give only advices. I can only assure you that our network works without issues. All our Netherlands servers are on gigabit connections and there is many servers in the cluster. Our load is below 30% most of the time and speeds are blazingly fast in the whole Europe, USA, Canada. I cannot speak for Asian countries as most of them lack international bandwidth. There is a speed test tool in Help menu which you can use to find server which is fastest for your location.

If you need further assistance, please get back to us.

Best Regards,
Astrill Level3 Support

Disappointed after i paid. Gave my whole computer and router settings for them to fix through TeamViewer, took 3whole hours, they messed up my computer configurations instead...

They do not take responsibilities at all. And when i tried to find their governing body, it's NOT under the US LAW!

Don't sign up for Astrill. It's really horrifying. Their service is one of the worst i've seen, it may seem good at first with easy questions, but when they can't fix it, they blame everything on the consumers instead. What a douche.
 

elpibe10

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Disappointed after i paid. Gave my whole computer and router settings for them to fix through TeamViewer, took 3whole hours, they messed up my computer configurations instead...

They do not take responsibilities at all. And when i tried to find their governing body, it's NOT under the US LAW!

Don't sign up for Astrill. It's really horrifying. Their service is one of the worst i've seen, it may seem good at first with easy questions, but when they can't fix it, they blame everything on the consumers instead. What a douche.

Not sure what you were trying to do with their VPN servers but it helps to choose the correct country's server for streaming video that is hosted in that particular country.

Personally, I've been very impressed with their servers for the media streaming capability that I've actually just added on the Home Plan option @ US$5 / mth so that I can have more connections to their various servers.

BTW, I'll never allow anyone to bypass my firewall much less gain access to my PC via Teamviewer.
 

Knight_Rider

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Not sure what you were trying to do with their VPN servers but it helps to choose the correct country's server for streaming video that is hosted in that particular country.

Personally, I've been very impressed with their servers for the media streaming capability that I've actually just added on the Home Plan option @ US$5 / mth so that I can have more connections to their various servers.

BTW, I'll never allow anyone to bypass my firewall much less gain access to my PC via Teamviewer.

Now that Hulu block VPN any issue with the current ones on offer?
 

elpibe10

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Here are the VPN servers that my router is connected to 24/7 on my ST fibre line : =:p

VPNconnections.png
 

bagger 288

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Disappointed after i paid. Gave my whole computer and router settings for them to fix through TeamViewer, took 3whole hours, they messed up my computer configurations instead...

They do not take responsibilities at all. And when i tried to find their governing body, it's NOT under the US LAW!

Don't sign up for Astrill. It's really horrifying. Their service is one of the worst i've seen, it may seem good at first with easy questions, but when they can't fix it, they blame everything on the consumers instead. What a douche.

Can share what problems you face?
 

Salapi

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Can share what problems you face?

Basically trying to connect to Bloodzeed streams on Starhub 25mbps cable. The stream has over 100 connections but still buffers, my cable can connect, but it buffers every 5seconds, which i believe is by ISP. But no reason if VPN further make the situation worst, it buffers for like a minute before it loads 1 second of the stream.

Tried ALL the server, all the ports, all the settings. Every possible settings. And i even let Astrill take control of my PC to do the things i do all over again. And they can't fix it.

So they blame it on me. I told them that my original connection without VPN is faster than using their VPN, their reply is to blame my ISP. Telling me that they can do nothing if my connection is slower than their VPN, they could not make my connection faster. What the shiat? :s22:

No VPN - Buffers in 10secs.
With their 40+ VPNs - Buffers dunno how long all in 0.2kb/s ~ 50kb/s

They changed every possible settings available on my router, on my PC, uninstalled all my firewall, my most basic Microsoft Security Essential also uninstalled, my system is clean.

They can't find anything to blame so blame the ISP in the end. I told them i can surf and browse faster on my cable connection than their VPNs. They use the same excuse that if my connection is bad, then it is my problem. Their VPN cannot fix what is bad. Dafug?

Hello,

Please note that VPN can only work good, if underlying internet connection is working properly. You can't expect VPN to perform fast if connection itself is getting bottle-necked at ISP end.

For now, you can try connecting with other VPN protocols and see if they work any better. You can even try switching between different country servers and see which one works good enough for now.

We recommend servers on USA west coast like Los Angeles, Seattle, Fremont. You can try also Denver which works good for some customers and Asian servers - Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea

Best regards,
Astrill Support
support@astrill.com

Check our blog and Twitter regularly for news and updates. Become a fan on our Facebook page for updates and special offers.
BLOG: https://www.astrill.com/blog/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/astrill
FACEBOOK: https://www.astrill.com/facebook

Their reply.
 
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elpibe10

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While I don't agree with their tech that you need to mess with any ports for video streaming (only P2P requires a port to be open), I feel that it may be true (to a certain extent) that the problem is with your 25Mbps cable broadband.

The other possibility may be the limitation of your router.

Some of the higher res video streams are actually quite bandwidth intensive.

On one of Astrill's LA server, I was actually able to stream 4K video from Youtube without any lag and I noticed on my MikroTik that incoming traffic is ~20+Mbps and sometimes even higher.

BTW, surfing the net will definitely be faster without VPN even if you're on fibre.
 

Salapi

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While I don't agree with their tech that you need to mess with any ports for video streaming (only P2P requires a port to be open), I feel that it may be true (to a certain extent) that the problem is with your 25Mbps cable broadband.

The other possibility may be the limitation of your router.

Some of the higher res video streams are actually quite bandwidth intensive.

On one of Astrill's LA server, I was actually able to stream 4K video from Youtube without any lag and I noticed on my MikroTik that incoming traffic is ~20+Mbps and sometimes even higher.

BTW, surfing the net will definitely be faster without VPN even if you're on fibre.

sigh... as a consumer i don't have the expertise to solve the issue, and Astrill on their part isn't helping. And they had a refund process but are unwilling to initiate a refund even though the problem could be due to them.

This is the reply i got after i said i've posted on HWZ forum seeking help since their incompetent technicians can't solve the problem and started to push blames.

Hello,

You do not need to threat us. We can close your account permanently.

This speed issue also happens with other VPN Companies. Like we have stated in our previous email, most Asian countries lack international bandwidth.

Best regards,
Astrill Support
support@astrill.com

Check our blog and Twitter regularly for news and updates. Become a fan on our Facebook page for updates and special offers.
BLOG: https://www.astrill.com/blog/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/astrill
FACEBOOK: https://www.astrill.com/facebook
 

elpibe10

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... just to elaborate a little further on the 'blame the ISP' part :

On my ST & VQ fibre connections, bandwidth to LA is easily ~100+Mbps

I'm quite sure the 25Mbps SH cable will only give you less than 10Mbps (or maybe just 2 to 3 Mbps ?) so you'll very frequently encounter lags in video streaming.

Add the overhead of a VPN connection, it'll be inevitable that you'll encounter even more lag when connecting through VPN.
 

elpibe10

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Honestly, from a consumer to another consumer, if Astrill can't satisfy you for video streaming performance, then I seriously doubt any other VPN provider can.

I've tested over a dozen VPN providers and I've yet to find one that streams videos as well as Astrill.

P2P would be a different story as client anonymity would be of utmost importance and for that, I trust PIA more.
 

Salapi

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Honestly, from a consumer to another consumer, if Astrill can't satisfy you for video streaming performance, then I seriously doubt any other VPN provider can.

I've tested over a dozen VPN providers and I've yet to find one that streams videos as well as Astrill.

P2P would be a different story as client anonymity would be of utmost importance and for that, I trust PIA more.

Thanks for your honest reviews and opinions. First thought that came up was to upgrade to ST fibre, but it doesn't make sense as i don't really need to spend so much more just for the streaming. I guess i'll just have to suck thumb?

But anyway, i have to admit that they do have good VPN connections to China. I really enjoyed it.

Just dislike the part where they simply blame it on Starhub Cable connection, their engineer tested with my computer, without Astrill, it runs faster, with Astrill, it's a disaster. I could not emphasize this enough.

... just to elaborate a little further on the 'blame the ISP' part :

On my ST & VQ fibre connections, bandwidth to LA is easily ~100+Mbps

I'm quite sure the 25Mbps SH cable will only give you less than 10Mbps (or maybe just 2 to 3 Mbps ?) so you'll very frequently encounter lags in video streaming.

Add the overhead of a VPN connection, it'll be inevitable that you'll encounter even more lag when connecting through VPN.

I can watch on Youku and Tudou etc faster on the Chrome extension called "Youku Unblocker" than Astrill China - (USA).

And they (Astrill) told me it's my ISP problem.
 

Salapi

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Here are the VPN servers that my router is connected to 24/7 on my ST fibre line : =:p

VPNconnections.png

hi can you test if China (via USA) is able to use now? I complain on Astrill and they shun me off again... zzz...

Can't get my China servers to work. The 2nd server is to slow, on ST Fibre at my brother's house now, also can't be used.
 

bagger 288

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hi can you test if China (via USA) is able to use now? I complain on Astrill and they shun me off again... zzz...

Can't get my China servers to work. The 2nd server is to slow, on ST Fibre at my brother's house now, also can't be used.

So u managed to cancel your account? Or got to stay on the package? How long signed up for?
 

mr_voodoo

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Wow.

Such arrogance on their part.
Mark Singapore down to yet another Asian country.

Asian countries like Korea, HK and SG have high fibre pentration and connectivity. It's the western countries still on 100mbps servers.

"Most Asian countries lack international bandwidth"

Awesome customer service too, " no need to threaten us"

Why are you guys still giving them your business? Get your own cloud server, use as seedbox, storage space, music server, vent server and VPN
 

oric1

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hi can you test if China (via USA) is able to use now? I complain on Astrill and they shun me off again... zzz...

Can't get my China servers to work. The 2nd server is to slow, on ST Fibre at my brother's house now, also can't be used.

I'm also having problem with China 1 (via USA) server, kept getting "The connection was reset. The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading."

I just checked with their support and this is their reply "It is currently down. It has some hardware problems. It's being worked upon by our hosting provider. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. Thanks for your understanding and patience."

FYI, the China (No Facebook) server is working fine & able to stream Tudou quite fast.
 

Ah-Pin-Kor

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From Astrill's Twitter feed:

Ming Chen ‏@mingchen53 20h
@astrill Not IKEv2 in this case. I find that no sites can be reached via China 1 server today. I used it to watch TV shows.

Astrill VPN ‏@astrill 18m
@mingchen53 We apologize, there was a broken tunnel on these servers. It's fixed now. Please open next time a ticket so we can fix it faster
 
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