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.

  • Broken@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 months ago

    Proton and Mullvad are the only 2 I’d trust. I suspect that they get similar results.

    Proton has gotten a lot better since launch, but it’s always a moving target with these things. I really only have issues with some store sites that just don’t load with a VPN, which only tells me I don’t want to shop there.

    • Molecular0079@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      No port forwarding though :(

      I used to use Mullvad but after they disabled port forwarding I switched over to Proton.

    • pathief@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 months ago

      I used to be a Mullvad customer but switched to Proton because I use all the products on their suite. It makes financial sense to me.

      Mullvad, however, has the best VPN experience ever. Faster, more stable and way less Captchas (though I’m not sure that’s good?). Plus, I love their bullshit free pricing. It’s 5 euros a month regardless if you buy 1 month or 2 years. Can’t recommend it enough, even though I’m no longer a customer.

      • iiGxC@slrpnk.net
        0·
        2 months ago

        Yep, I switched because I was moving away from the proton ecosystem lol. Their poor google-free android support for mail, and awful linux vpn support (they have a hard dependency on networkmanager, but I don’t use NM, I use iwd) plus no ipv6 pushed me away

  • Eol@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    2 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·
        2 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.

  • Pantherina@feddit.de
    0·
    2 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.

  • Salix@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    2 months ago

    If you don’t need port forwarding, Mullvad is my pick. Since they got rid of port forwarding, I’ve moved to AirVPN and am happy with them. I just dislike AirVPNs’ GUI app, Eddie. I mainly use Wireguard directly for their servers.

    • helenslunch@feddit.nlOP
      0·
      2 months ago

      The fact that this even exists is hilarious. Not to mention that it’s actually a “featured” extension in the Chrome Web Store. Google is actively promoting a product that defeats their own product.

      Have you used it? Does it work?

  • x86x87@lemmy.one
    0·
    2 months ago

    There are only 2 VPN providers that are worth using IMHO: Proton and Mullvad. All the other VPNs are of questionable quality or their practices make you wonder if you should use them at all (eg logging and keeping logs)

    Unfortunately there are websites that try to detect vpns and block you. Fuck those websites. Don’t encourage them by giving them eyeballs or money.

    • harsh3466@lemmy.ml
      0·
      2 months ago

      That’s what I do. If a website blocks me because of my vpn, fuck em. I don’t waste my time. What business of theirs is it if I’m using a vpn.

    • Imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      What don’t you like about IVPN? Audited, open source, great reputation. I don’t even use them but seems odd to count them out.

      • Scolding0513@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        2 months ago

        yeah ivpn is recommended too, i think he just forget. i think they do the same thing as mullvad? like you can pay with monero and no email

        ivpn mullvad and proton seem to be the golden three. I’d throw in OVPN too though

    • helenslunch@feddit.nlOP
      0·
      2 months ago

      I try not to but those websites comprise most of the internet at this point. Unfortunately people also use VPNs to do nefarious shit, so it’s not always malicious.

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

      Unfortunately there are websites that try to detect vpns and block you. Fuck those websites. Don’t encourage them by giving them eyeballs or money.

      It’s mostly CDNs like Cloudflare and Akamai that are notorious for blocking VPN and Tor users. Fuck CDNs, they destroy privacy and centralize the internet.

  • lemmyreader@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Depends on use case and the country. I use Mullvad and Riseup VPN and something private (and Tor). Sometimes when a site has Mullvad in Europe blocked, it works when I try one of their servers outside of Europe. In my experience Mullvad is awesome, and you can try it for one month. And Mullvad, the no nonsense VPN provider, has had the same prize since years! (And no discounts like Proton trying to get you sign up for a year or more trying to keep you with Proton).

  • LostAndSmelly@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 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?

    • helenslunch@feddit.nlOP
      0·
      2 months ago

      Haven’t looked into them specifically but Proton and Mullvad have been around and have a good reputation with the privacy community.

  • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    ProtonVPN free (paid is still too expensive for me) and Mullvad.

    I find that Mullvad is usually blocked more.

    For the past 3 or 4 years I was just on ProtonVPN free tier. For past 15 days I am using Mullvad. I really like that you can choose some custom ports for WireGuard, and also the multihop.
    What is unfortunate is that I can’t generate separate credentials for OpenVPN, like with ProtonVPN. It just uses account ID.

    I have also tried IVPN for a week. Nicer UI, but a bit more expensive, sort of. They have variable pricing based on subscription length, and that just makes me dislike them enough to stick with Mullvad. €5/month whether it’s 1 month, 6 months, a year or longer.
    I don’t remember what specifically it was, but I know I also preferred the Mullvad’s ToS over IVPN, although both are fine.

    I also thought of AirVPN because of port forwarding, but for privacy I’ll stick to Mullvad.

    What surprised me with Mullvad was the payment processing speed. It only took 4 days from me dropping the envelope with money into mail collection box in Slovakia to me getting the time added. Considering that shipping to Sweden is “3-5 days”, they must have just processed that basically immediately.
    But perhaps I was just lucky. I’ll see the next time.

  • iliketurtles@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 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·
    2 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.