HN Explorer

Ask HN: What VPN service are you currently using?

8 points by ilt ↗ HN
Hey guys, what VPN service are you using these days in non-work context? I used to use one VPN till some years back, mostly for US Netflix content and am thinking of going for something again.

Are VPNs still good for circumventing region blocks implemented by streaming services?

What VPN would you suggest wrt good mix of privacy, cost and platform support(desktop + browser + iPhone)?

21 comments

[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 64.6 ms ] thread
jnrk
iClouds private relay seems good enough for day-to-day security - but when I was abroad a couple of weeks ago, I used Tunnel Bear to circumvent region blocks. It's cheap and gets the job done.

I'm mostly in the Apple ecosystem (MacBook, iPhone, iPad)

aborsy
Keep in mind that this is limited to the Safari’s traffic. The traffic from apps or other browsers doesn’t go through iCloud relay.
KomoD
Pretty much exclusively Mullvad at the moment, I used to also use controld(.com)
ohpls
I use Mozilla's VPN.
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romanhn
Google's VPN. I was already paying a small bit of money for extra Google Drive storage and they recently started including the VPN as part of the Google One package.
jethronethro
iVPN currently. Works well and isn't too pricey.
devonnull
Like a couple of other commenters, I use Proton VPN. I have an unlimited Proton account, so I decided to take advantage of that.
Ms-J
Don't trust services from Proton.

This link covers just the tip of some of the issues: https://web.archive.org/web/20200201174816/https://vpnscam.c...

There's also: https://web.archive.org/web/20190318213020/https://cryptome....

protonmail
The first one is a false claim that came from a competitor, details here: https://reddit.com/r/ProtonVPN/comments/8ww4h2/protonvpn_and.... Proton's DDoS protection hasn't used Radware in years, and even if it did, the technology means the encryption cannot be bypassed. All Proton services are open source so how they work is independently verified.
Ms-J
Even in your link people are calling out Proton's BS. Tesonet and Proton go hand in hand.

You haven't addressed any of the communities concerns. What about the second link where "Bynet Data Communications" with ties to Israel's IDF, is providing network services?

protonmail
Proton is it's own network provider, and does not use services from Bynet, and that's easy to verify: https://ip.me/ip/185.70.42.45
Ms-J
All that link shows is who is the organization and ASN behind the IP. No one could verify if Proton does or doesn't use services from Bynet Data from that info. Could you address your relationship with Tesonet?
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protonmail
Run a traceroute on the IPs in our ASN and you'll be able to verify. Also see the Reddit link posted above.
Ms-J
A traceroute won't show anything relevant to the use of other services. It will only show the path the packet follows and will omit layer 2 equipment, such as a switch. Which then can be further used to export and log data.

From your Reddit link, which I have already addressed, user common_sense7 goes into detail about the relationship with data mining Tesonet and ProtonVPN, direct link: https://old.reddit.com/r/ProtonVPN/comments/8ww4h2/protonvpn... The thread was even locked by ProtonVPN's mods.

sloaken
I have used Private Internet Access for a number of years. But as I do not see others mentioning it, I worry it might not be as good as I think.