Topic: List of VPN Service Providers - 2023 - page 9. (Read 2817 times)

There aren't many VPN which simultaneously offer decent privacy and high speed for streaming. AFAIK only ProtonVPN offer both. I only used free version though with slow home internet connection, so i don't know if it can handle 4K streaming.

I've been using ExpressVPN for a couple of years now and so far I haven't had any issues with them whatsoever. My subscription ends in 2 weeks and I see here that some people raised legit concerns regarding them and privacy they provide so now I am looking at the competition and seriously thinking about getting something else.

Since one of the things I use VPN for are streaming services (Netflix and Amazon mainly), are there any VPNs on the market (other than ExpressVPN which I know works very good for this) that can handle 4k streaming without issues, with high amount of available servers that consistently work for streaming sites?

Good tips, man. I just want to add few words about it. It's good suggestion about privacy - don't use Russian VPN servers for privacy reasons. From what I saw, quite many VPN providers don't even have servers in Russia, probably because of reason that you mentioned.
About 2nd tip. There is problem that Russia started to block VPN providers websites. So, it might be an issue to subscribe VPN for Russian people if they haven't done it yet. And since Visa and MC isn't working, Bitcoin is one of few ramining alternatives to pay for VPN.

Tip 1

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During the VPN session, don't use Russian servers if anonymity is your priority because Roskomnadzor has high control on them.

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Tip 2

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Russia's firewall doesn't work well and compared to the Chinese firewall, it's very weak. Websites are blocked by ISPs and you can still access blocked websites by using the VPN that has servers in other countries.
The list of VPNs on this thread will help Russian people to get out of the information vacuum and check blocked news websites.

Https says nothing about the authenticity of the person, website, or software you are dealing with. You should use https everywhere as it encrypts your data and protects against man in the middle attacks and protects against your communications being spied upon. Be aware, though, that that is all it does. It doesn't matter if your communication channel with a scam website is encrypted with https - you are still connecting to a scam website, and you can still download malicious software over the https connection.

Making sure you only download software from the official website or github repository is pretty basic stuff. When possible, you should also verify your download against the PGP keys of the developers or against provided hashes. Unfortunately this is not possible with NordVPN as it is with some other VPNs.

My first attempt to use a VPN I had an ugly experience with NordVPN
It was not Nord's fault but mine. I was very amateur in cybersecurity issues.
I downloaded the NordVPN from a shared link on social media instead of their website or playstore.
They altered the domain name with hyphen(-). I didn't know, I completed the registration. Immediately some popups begin to display in my phone. I knew I was being spyed. I searched for the file source to uninstall but I couldn't find it.
I was swift to reset my phone even when my backup was not upto date. I lost data but I was safe from attack.
After the loss, I re-examined the url and notice it has a security encryption https: but it was still malicious.
But I am using the NordVPN now but not always.
I wish someone would create a topic on how to beat the cyber criminals, they are upgrading everyday.

So Kape isn't as bad as we thought. Even so, i wouldn't trust them since they have history of anti-privacy (ad injector on Crossrider) and currently manipulating VPN review website. Besides, even if people think they no longer malicious, there are some VPN provider with better reputation/history.

Avoid Kape and avoid every company they own.

Whether or not they were personally responsible for infecting their users with malware and invading their privacy with ad injectors and trackers, or whether they only provided the tools to do so to other individuals, is more or less irrelevant. They were in the business of spying on users, collecting their data, and monetizing it, the exact opposite of what you want from a VPN company. Their CEO even admitted the name change was to distance themselves from their prior activities. They bought VPN review sites and then changed the rankings to promote their own services.

Go and look at the Privacy Policies of some of their other VPNs. They are absolutely atrocious.

CyberGhost - https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/en_US/privacypolicy
When registering they want your name, address, and email address, and will store your IP address alongside that. They then go on to collect all kinds of information, including "data relating to the browser you are using, mobile/desktop device, general properties and metadata, OS version, preferred language, the date and time of your visit, battery charge, screen resolution, Google Advertising ID, Gyro-sensor data, screen size, Connectivity (WLAN), Mobile service provider". Tell me exactly why my VPN provider needs to know how much battery I have left or who my mobile service provider is? And then of course, "we may communicate your Personal Data to a member of our group of companies (this means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company, KAPE TECHNOLOGIES PLC, and all its subsidiaries)" and "with 3rd part suppliers for the purposes of optimization of our Website and Services as well customer analytics and fraud prevention (e.g.VWO, Appsflyer, Google etc)." Because you definitely want your VPN provider sharing your information with Google of all companies for the sake of "customer analysis".

ZenMate's looks pretty much the same, except they also use tracking pixels, with the data again being handed over to Google for "customer analysis".

PIA is the same. "We may disclose collected Personal Data to necessary members in our group of companies (across our ultimate holding company and all its subsidiaries)".

Remember that Kape's subsidiaries include companies like https://www.webselenese.com, which is designed to "Connect consumers with brands". In other words, a marketing agency. Who has access to all your VPN data, if they want it.

We are not exactly starved for choice when it comes to VPN providers. When there are dozens of better ones out there, why would anyone ever settle for one of the worst?

Avoid Kape.

I'm unsure what to think of Kape Technologies. They were, in the past, known as Crossrider[1] and a simple google search regarding their previous name leads you to numerous malware reports related to Crossrider - MalwareBytes even mentioned that in 2018[2]. A very recent report that I've just found - responsible to shift my perspective of the company - was this one[3] where there was an investigation regarding the claims made by other security labs and, if the report is correct, it turns out that Crossrider wasn't involved in the malware distribution, bad agents only took advantage of the platform that Crossride developed to spread malware (I do recommend users reading that article since it goes more in detail regarding this issue). Still, by the recent purchase that the company made it seems quite eager to grab a hold on numerous VPN services, I wonder why that particular focus? Let's all remember that they are a public traded company[4] and those are driven by profits... I wouldn't be comfortable knowing that at the end of the day my VPN provider is under the grasp of some company like that.

Regarding ExpressVPN - I never liked them. Here's an article[...] of which I'll highlight a relevant sentence:

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[1]https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-crossrider-renamed-kape-after-switching-to-cybersecurity-1001227178
[2]https://blog.malwarebytes.com/threat-analysis/2018/04/new-crossrider-variant-installs-configuration-profiles-on-macs/
[3]https://restoreprivacy.com/kape-technologies-crossrider-malware/
[4]https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/KAPE/kape-technologies-plc/company-page
[5]https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/expressvpn-cio-among-three-facing-1-6-million-doj-fine-project-raven/

According to this article (https://restoreprivacy.com/kape-technologies-owns-expressvpn-cyberghost-pia-zenmate-vpn-review-sites/), Kape now owns all of them. I would recommend you to choose different VPN.

I use Windscribe since a few months ago. It's quite ok. Keep in mind that the lowest price is not exactly $1, but $2, with an extra dollar for unlimited data. Sometimes the speed is terrible (I bought the Singapore IP) but it doesn't last that long, it is also possible that my network is the issue so this will need more test. Not the most privacy focused one but good enough if you just need something cheap.

As it was mentioned they do accept bitcoin but I wanted to add that the bitcoin payment is different, it won't show up if you aren't logged in. They basically need you to already have an account with Proton team like the proton email and then you have to log into that account to see the bitcoin payment option in your account. Here is the details: https://protonvpn.com/support/vpn-bitcoin-payments/

I don't use ExpressVPN, so I had no idea that they went down in quality and they're not privacy-oriented provider.
How about CyberghostVPN or PrivateInternetAccess?

You are right, companies have to earn trust in this business because promises mean nothing if they aren't backed by the facts. The nature of trust in this business is pretty similar to bitcoin mixers.

Thanks for correction   I'll update that column with: Monthly and Custom.

Yeah, that list is incomplete and I really want to make community based list of VPN service providers. At the moment, this list is created from personal experience with dozens of VPN providers.
I didn't include the Express VPN purposely. They have gone down in quality and I am not a fan of Kape Technologies. If anyone thinks that they are trustworthy, then I am open for discussion, it's very important for us to have a list of privacy-oriented VPNs.

I think that any VPN service provider found here[1] can be added to the list (most were already mentioned). What is specially good about these providers is that not only they accept BTC/crypto as a payment but also they don't use BitPay a.k.a "anti-Bitcoin service"[2] as their payment processor (which is awesome). As a vouch I can only recommend either IVPN and Mullvad since those were the only ones that I've used. Mullvad has a higher advantage regarding privacy because they simply assign you a random number to be your account instead of asking you for your e-mail ...

Note: This post shares similar information with this[3] post of mine, but I think that the information shouldn't be missed even though the threads approach the same nature of discussion.

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[1]https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.58370560
[2]https://debitpay.directory/anti-bitcoin/
[3]https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.58370560

Great idea to make list of VPN providers. But your list is incomplete. There is some popular providers which accept BTC for payment is missing. I can suggest to add few:
ExpressVPN https://www.expressvpn.com/
PureVPN https://www.purevpn.com/order

Agree about NordVPN. I was surprised that it wasn't listed in OP.

Good point, streaming services like Netflix don't like VPN's at all, and they're activelly blocking it. Unfortunately, monthly plans cost very expensive  compared with yearly ones.

Small correction: the price model isn't really monthly. You can literally pay any amount and get the exact duration you paid for.
Until they accept LN, I use BCH for Mullvad. It's accepted with zero confirmations (Bitcoin needs one confirmation).

I use Mullvad and I love it, no complaints here! Connection is always fast and secure

Nord VPN https://nordvpn.com/ also offers cryptocurrency payments. There are three to choose from: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.

In my opinion, it is one of the best VPNs and I will rather not change it, but I would like to know how it looks compared to other services in 2021.

I think it is important to remember that some VPNs offer "privacy", but you will need to trust them to give you said privacy. For example, if a VPN claims to not keep logs, you need to trust they actually don't keep logs.

Also, regarding using a VPN for streaming, many streaming services will block IPs associated with data centers, especially services that offer content based on geo-location. If this is why someone is going to buy a VPN service, it would probably be best to purchase a one-month plan (or the shortest plan available) to make sure they can actually access the streaming service via that VPN.