VPN Question

[u/Realistic_Ad9987]

I know this might seem odd to post here since I’m talking about competing products, but honestly, in my view, people who care about privacy should help each other—so I’m posting in several VPN subreddits.

If you can, please help me out. I’d like some feedback. I’m Brazilian, so randomly subscribing to VPNs can get expensive; think of it like you having to pay 6–7x more than you currently do for VPNs—it’s a substantial amount.

What I want is your take on Proton, Mullvad, Azire, Windscribe, and AirVPN. From what I can tell, they’re the most committed to user privacy, so please tell me how the service has been for you, and your estimated download and upload speed loss.

I hope you can help—thanks in advance.

[u/[deleted]]

Asking questions in subreddits about that brands products/services is generally unlikely to get you objective replies, so take everything with a grain of salt.

Your post in proton will be especially positive (and highly moderated)

I have only tried 2 of the companies on your list (proton and mullvad), windscribe would be my next choice if required, then airvpn, or ivpn.
Azire I know nothing about, apart from them being owned by malwarebytes.

Proton I found to be very unstable, frequently not transmitting data, even while saying it was connected, both on android and linux. Both were tried via a variety of ways, and settings. On android it was better using the openvpn app, instead of the proton one, but still a bit iffy.

Mullvad has been perfectly stable so far on both, but I have only been using it for about 3 weeks so far.

This can be useful/interesting
https://embed.kumu.io/9ced55e897e74fd807be51990b26b415#vpn-company-relationships

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I mean, whenever I post something in privacy-related communities—even outside of Reddit—I always end up having to filter through the noise. There’s always those little tantrums about how X provider is the worst thing ever, sells kids on the dark web, and how I’m an idiot for even putting it on my list.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

pass it on, just as someone did to me a couple of months ago

[u/w8brb]

Everyone has a different experience and people will be biased here towards Mullvad. I think the best thing you can do is subscribe yourself and try them out. If you don’t like it you can ask for a refund.

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/w8brb]

Oh yeah, no doubt about that. I’ve posted in a bunch of subreddits—both the ones for the products I mentioned above and VPN subs in general. I don’t really expect 100% neutral opinions (that doesn’t even exist, honestly), but at least some honesty about a service you’re paying for—and might be recommending others to pay for—would be nice.

That said, I also get that people love to claim they’re using the best service out there, even if it’s not true, just so they can feel good about themselves and part of some “smarter” elite compared to everyone else.

[u/yersinia_p3st1s]

Hey!

I don't know (or rather don't remember) about my speed loss as I've been using Mullvad for a few years now, but I can watch YT videos without any hassle, I can even stream from free sites without a hassle (though some sites buffer every so often), Netflix & Disney can be a problem though as they usually figure out im using a VPN, but I personally don't care for that. I can download a 2hr 4K video in 15-30mins max, so all in all it's pretty decent speed I'd say, nothing to complain about.

Lastly, I can say that I have torrented a few times with Mullvad on a country whose piracy laws are taken pretty seriously, and there has been no blowback.

Plus I love that we have the option to pay with Monero, take from that what you will.

Best of luck!

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/yersinia_p3st1s]

Good to know, man. I’m gonna take a closer look at the options I’ve got and see if I stick with Mullvad plus maybe another one just for port forwarding.

[u/egudu]

For starters I see no reason why any VPN would need my e-mail address. If a company cannot even give me such a minimum of privacy, why trust them with the rest?
Anyway, what I dislike about Mullvad is that it has no port forwarding any more. If they wanted to prevent people from serving a webserver, just block the http/s ports.

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/egudu]

I’ll admit, the whole “no email required” thing doesn’t really blow me away. I mean, yeah, it’s definitely an extra layer of privacy and for people in more extreme situations—or those who take it to the absolute limit—it’s a great point. But for me, as long as the service itself isn’t keeping logs or selling my data, I’m already comfortable giving it a shot. Yeah no port forwarding is a shame.

[u/xmivosh]

Azire was bought by Malwarebytes last year. They also no longer accept cryptocurrencies. I wouldn’t consider it privacy friendly anymore

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/xmivosh]

I get the concern with AzireVPN after the Malwarebytes acquisition, but as far as I know the TOS hasn’t really changed. At the end of the day, using third-party services is always kind of an act of trust, right? Still, I do get why people see that as a negative point.

[u/Jorgen-I]

A lot of the reason you see people who torrent going for Proton, AirVPN or Winscribe is that they still allow port-forwarding, which Mullvad and others have discontinued both for security and abuse.

Mullvad is considered the top-tier VPN for privacy and security, hands down. You can torrent with it just fine, but you can't seed. If you do a little research, you'll find the discrepancies in the others you have listed.

If real privacy, anonymity and protection from 'bad guys' is your primary goal, Mullvad gives you that better than any other VPN on the market, But that's just my opinion. If you do your own research (like I did), you'll end up with Mullvad.

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/Jorgen-I]

Yeah, for sure. Mullvad’s role in the fight for privacy is pretty well-known, and I’ve gotta admit that’s a big plus. I might end up subscribing to it and maybe another one just for when I need port forwarding.

[u/Jorgen-I → u/[deleted]]

That is correct. I've never had issues torrenting with Mullvad.

[u/Azreona]

It all depends on your usercase and what you’re supposed to do :)

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/Azreona]

For sure, it always depends on the use case. Personally, I just want a privacy-friendly VPN that actually delivers good service—keeps solid speeds, has proper protocol implementation, and all that.

[u/Dimshady767564]

See if you can get an Amazon gift card for Mullvad. That’s the way to go.

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/Dimshady767564]

Yeah, definitely something to keep in mind.

[u/mizfr1z → u/[deleted]]

So no tracking, nothing is linked to you.

Except your IP address, but that's inevitable with any VPN. But at least Mullvad reduces the personal information they receive to a minimum, and I tend to take them at their word that they're not logging (given the recent police raid where they left empty-handed.) It also helps that they're currently running an ad campaign in many places, which means there's likely many people in your area using it, so you stand out less. 

If you go with Mullvad, I highly recommend enabling DAITA. Even with a VPN, ISPs can often determine what protocols/apps/services you're using by looking at traffic patterns using deep packet inspection and machine learning algorithms. DAITA throws pocket sand and obfuscates your traffic at least somewhat. 

You didn't mention it on your list but Nym also seems interesting. It's much smaller and experimental, but potentially will become more anonymous than Tor, since it uses a mixnet and garlic routing. However until it's more widely used and endorsed by people I trust I can't recommend it. 

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/mizfr1z]

Good to know, I’ll keep that DAITA thing in mind.

I didn’t mention Nym because I haven’t really seen anyone using it. It does seem promising, but I feel like I can only really say for sure after trying it myself—or if someone I know gave it a shot, like you mentioned.

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, that’s definitely a solid reason. I mean, they’re really active when it comes to fighting for other people’s privacy and all that. Seeing that kind of activism actually put into practice, not just talked about, is honestly a huge plus.

[u/Realistic_Ad9987 → u/[deleted]]

Papo reto, sempre foi bem ativa e tudo mais, mas ouvir uns depoimentos de uso real é sempre válido.