I use Proton. But I continue to run into more and more websites and services that detect my VPN and refuse my connection, or just run literally 40 captchas in a row until I just give up.

I use Proton because it has a “suite” of products under a single subscription, but that benefit is losing it’s allure as some of their products are pretty shitty from a user experience perspective, their customer support is atrocious, and they don’t seem to pay any attention to what their users actually want.

Does anyone track known VPN servers? Is there a specific provider that causes less problems? Does anyone test different VPNs for detection?

Thinking about cancelling my subscription and moving to Mullvad.

    • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      You’re fine, it’s basically just rebranded Mullvad VPN

      But at that point, you can just cut out the middle man and use Mullvad directly, I think their clients are much better and offer more features. They also don’t require your email address and you can pay anonymously with crypto.

      • NotNotMike@programming.dev
        0·
        6 months ago

        Actually, the middle man is why I picked them… I’m just trying to give Mozilla extra revenue streams besides donations from Google.

        But it is good to know its at least not a bad option. Their client is decent enough, I have no problems with it, so I’m happy to continue to support them and think of it as a monthly donation

  • anton2492@lemmy.nz
    0·
    6 months ago

    Please don’t downvote this [too much] but…

    I’m not seeing ExpressVPN get mentioned here or elsewhere anymore except for the odd YouTube ad (perhaps this is already a tell-tale sign).

    Their website states that they run it off RAM and they don’t keep logs.

    Is there something wrong with it / did something happen to it that I’m not aware of? (I’ve been a customer of theirs for some time now)

    My aim with using VPN is to maintain data privacy across my Windows, iOS and Android devices, and be able to access geofenced media (e.g. a different country’s Netflix library), with minimal to no access issues during browsing or streaming. What’s the go-to these days?

      • Ilandar@aussie.zone
        0·
        6 months ago

        I think they cause a lot of people psychological distress, either because they can’t handle disagreements or because they interpret them as a personal attack. If this sounds like you (the person reading this comment), please do yourself a favour and disable scores in Lemmy’s settings. You don’t have to live with reddit’s moronic upvote/downvote culture here.

  • iliketurtles@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Windscribe…had it for a few years now and seems fine. I’ll probably look into proton or mulvad when my subscription runs out, but I’d re-up if I find another subscription deal.

  • gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    I’ve been using Nord VPN for years. Maybe someone can educate me on why it’s not good but I’ve had zero issues with it and it allows me to do everything I need to for a great price.

  • hperrin@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    There’s always the option of renting a low cost VM in the cloud and running your own VPN. They will probably monitor your traffic though.

      • hperrin@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        Depends what you’re using a VPN for. If you’re using it for privacy, yeah, it wouldn’t help. If you’re using it for geo locked content, it works great. Or for privacy from specifically your ISP.

          • hperrin@lemmy.world
            0·
            6 months ago

            If you’re trusting any other VPN provider, then you’re already willing to trust someone. What’s the difference between trusting Proton and trusting Digital Ocean?

            If you’re only visiting HTTPS sites then your ISP already can’t snoop your traffic. A VPN gives you very little added privacy.

            No matter what you use, you’re really only protecting yourself from your own ISP.

              • hperrin@lemmy.world
                0·
                6 months ago

                You think that using a VPN is protecting you from the website you’re connecting to logging that traffic?

                No. The website sees the traffic. The only thing they don’t see is your home IP address. That’s not even a useful piece of information for tracking someone. Home IP addresses are usually dynamic.

                Websites track you through cookies and etags, and VPNs do not block those. If they did, you wouldn’t be able to log into any websites, and you would always be redownloading JS, CSS, and fonts you’ve already downloaded.

              • hperrin@lemmy.world
                0·
                6 months ago

                You think that using a VPN is protecting you from the website you’re connecting to logging that traffic?

                No. The website sees the traffic. The only thing they don’t see is your home IP address. That’s not even a useful piece of information for tracking someone. Home IP addresses are usually dynamic.

                Websites track you through cookies and etags, and VPNs do not block those. If they did, you wouldn’t be able to log into any websites, and you would always be redownloading JS, CSS, and fonts you’ve already downloaded.

                (Copied for convenience, since your comment is duplicated.)

  • Pantherina@feddit.de
    0·
    6 months ago

    VPNs are not meant for privacy. The concept is clunky, as is the concept of our internet.

    Tor or I2P are made for privacy, but the interactions with the clearnet have the same problems, you need a legal entity hosting the server, IPs are known and can be blocked etc.

    Hosting your own VPN does not anonymize you anymore but is very unlikely to get blocked.

  • UckyBon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    I use both AirVPN and Mullvad, and certain websites block them too, but it depends on which country and which server you’re connected too.

  • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
    0·
    6 months ago

    Mullvad air and proton. Several computers and infrastructure thingys I have access too in addition to a handful of vpses. Nebula for overlay networking.

  • telep@lemmy.ml
    0·
    6 months ago

    unfortunately the blocking of servers is a perpetual battle that plauges almost any publicly listed proxy (vpns, tor, etc). the only way I have found around it is using lesser known/blocked VPNs or residential proxies. both of which probably have subpar data privacy policies, if they even follow them at all.

    althought it likely won’t help your captcha troubles, I would like to give a huge +1 to mullvad. have been a happy customer for years. in compsrison to proton as a company they have a much more direct/benifitial effect on the web & furthuring users privacy online in my eyes.

  • totikom@lemmy.ml
    0·
    6 months ago

    Geph were not mentioned yet. It will likely not solve the problem mentioned by OP, but it is VERY censorship resistant.

  • LostAndSmelly@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    I’m using SurfShark. I have not seen it once in the discussion so far. Is there something I don’t know that I should?

  • Eol@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    6 months ago

    I don’t think there is one. Nord has dedicated IPs you can buy and use so that it’s always “your IP” but I’m not sure if they actually solve the blocks and captcha issues.

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        0·
        6 months ago

        What problems do you have with it? I’ve been using it for years without issues, so I’m genuinely curious. At first it couldn’t handle gigabit speeds but now I can get 90+MB/s from other countries.