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.

  • Katlah@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 months ago

    Mullvad, haven’t had any issues with it. If a site refuses my connection I just change servers until it works, even found a few that work on reddit

      • telep@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        have you considered using alternatives front ends for some of the major social platforms?

        I use libreddit/redlib to browse reddit. you can run an instance locally or connect to remote ones. this way your IP isn’t logged by reddit in the first place & no JavaScript is required to be run for the website to function properly.

        there is even an extension called libredirect which can automatically swap clicked reddit (& other platforms) links to the same page on public frontends, which removes the hasstle of manually changing the URL.

  • x86x87@lemmy.one
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    3 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.

    • Imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 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.

  • Broken@lemmy.ml
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    3 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.

  • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.org
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    3 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.

  • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    um I don’t use a vpn. Please tell me why I should use a VPN. It’s just something that costs money that seems unnecessary. I have nothing to hide. Why are you all hiding behind VPNs? What am I missing?

    • firefly@neon.nightbulb.net
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      3 months ago

      @[email protected]

      “I have nothing to hide …”

      Nice story, bro.

      When you post a real photograph of yourself, wife, kids, and all your social security numbers and bank account numbers, along with a complete history of all video rentals and library books, and your private confessions of folly, vice, and sin-- post all that on your Lemmy profile, then I’ll believe you have nothing to hide.

      • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        My wife? Gross! I’m heterosexual woman. and everything else you described, except for social security numbers, sounds a lot like Facebook. Which I don’t use.

  • gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world
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    3 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.

  • Eol@sh.itjust.works
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    3 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.

    • pathief@lemmy.world
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      3 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
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        3 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