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.
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.
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?
It’s owned by Kape Technologies, the same companies that owns other garbage VPN providers like CyberGhost and PIA
why are ppl scared of downvotes or being downvoted?
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.
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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.
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.
Using Ivpn mainly, Mullvad and Windscribe secondly. Good ones
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?
Haven’t looked into them specifically but Proton and Mullvad have been around and have a good reputation with the privacy community.
Not OP but can I just comment that there are some high-quality answers here, good discussion. Thanks!
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.
Nord is one of the worst VPNs I have used. Would not recommend
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.
That sounds like it would defeat the purpose of the VPN almost entirely.
Some only use a VPN for geoblocks, like to watch the Netflix content of another country… and in that case I think it makes more sense.
wHaT aRe U uSiNg ur VPN fOr? /S
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.
Best thing i ever bought was my lifetime subscription for $40
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.
I’d be interested to hear some evidence of why it’s bad too
If I remember correctly, NordVPN keeps logs So, if a govt ever subpoenas their data, users can have their privacy violated.
Nord says they don’t keep logs. Who knows if they actually do or not.
I’m the same, it has wonderful Linux support
Nice try FBI.
But seriously… if everyone knew about better options, I think they would already be blocked too :)
You make a good point.
try to connect to newer servers. solves these kind of issues often but ofc not always.
How do you know which ones are “new”? I’ve tried to switch servers but there are literally hundreds and I can’t try them all.
by its name. the higher the number the newer the server.
Isn’t this just a cat-and-mouse or whack-a-mole situation? If the people who create these block lists can also see the new IPs just by having that service, they can also add them to block lists.
yes. I guess there is no other way then adding new severs and changing IP’s regularly.
AirVPN, but only for its port forwarding to sail the high seas.
Not really answering your question, but there is this open source extensions that automatically solves captchas locally
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?
The irony of this lol
when humans were asked to solve distorted text CAPTCHAs, they were able to solve them in 9 to 15 seconds…and were only able to get the answer correctly 50-84% of the time…bots taking the same texts were able to answer the same tests in less than a second, and they were able to do it more accurately — 99.8% accurately, specifically.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/bots-better-at-solving-captchas-than-humans
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.
Can also recommend AirVPN.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Also IVPN and AirVPN
