Best Free VPN's compared and rated

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by DarkPhoenix, Sep 17, 2012.

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  1. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    I came across this awesome list of Free VPN's. This list has tons choices for cross platform, Windows and Linux and gives you a detailed break down of the pros and cons of each application/service. Each is rated for speed, anonymous rating ( privacy/security), how much bandwidth you can use with the service and if the network does any logging of it's own.

    https://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-anonymous-surfing-service.htm

    Couple that with the information from this Harvard Law Blog which gives a detailed break down of many different anonymous technologies not just VPN's so you can find the combination that works best for your needs.

    http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/herdic...-for-online-anonymity-encryption-and-privacy/

    Awesome stuff. I hope this helps the many people on this forum asking for free VPN info and are not getting very good responses.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    However, I am never satisfied and wish to know if there are any Wilders members that have info on some VPN's the above article may have missed.

    I'm looking for the best free VPN that allows the most bandwidth so you can play online games, watch days worth of YouTube and Hulu, download Bit torrents or 10 gigabytes of software from C-Net and GamersHell for example.

    That's the Big problem with most free VPN's. If your going to be using streaming media or downloading a lot, you will run out of bandwidth fast.

    There is Ultrasurf but it's not a VPN it's a proxie server and only uses Internet Explorer, which I can't stand. There is also Hotspot but it only gives a limit of 5 gigabytes per bandwidth per month. There is Spotflux which used to be RaptorVPN which was unlimited, but the Spotflux website doesn't say anything about bandwidth. I have looked at tons of VPN's and just cant find the right one that suits my needs.

    ( after looking at the pages above to see what I already looked at) Is there any other recommendations you guys can give me?

    Thanks.
     
  2. chinook9

    chinook9 Registered Member

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    Glad to see that the techsupportalert VPN page has been updated. I did a lot of research on VPNs a couple of months ago and came up with a few good ones. I am not really a privacy geek and was more concerned about security for financial transactions.

    With cost also being a major factor I ended up going with BoxPN which has really impressed me. They are inexpensive, have excellent support, and, when I cancelled my subscription they instantly refunded my money. I cancelled because I realized I never used it but I highly recommend them.

    I think that for many users SecurityKiss would also be very good.
     
  3. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    As a rule I would stay away from any free VPN unless it is just their trial offer. You have to ask yourself what do they get out of giving away free services. Maybe your data. I would say many of them are Honey Pots :cautious:
     
  4. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    Replies like yours I have seen in other Free VPN threads on Wilders and is the reason I posted the list and Harvard page. I saw another blast Hotspot Shield simply because it was ad supported. ( those ads can be removed via a firefox addon)

    Point is, You guys are being silly and possibly being alarmist. I can see caution and researching up on the services you want to use, sure, always, but many of these have been around for years, are world wide and very respected.

    You guys may also suffer from a delusion that says if they charge you for the service, they are more likely to be on the up and up and won't log your info or sell your logged info to a third party or misuse your info in any way. The truth is you guys don't have any more good evidence that the Free VPN's are not telling you the truth any more than you can know your paid service is lying to you.

    I suggest people do their research on the company, talk to others who have used the service and give the service a good test for a while not sending critically sensitive data over the network (like banking info) until they are satisfied they service and company is on the up and up.
     
  5. LockBox

    LockBox Registered Member

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    As one who has been pretty hard on the free VPNs, I can only say that you are right. Point taken. Well said.
     
  6. That was me. As Bruce Scheiner says it comes down to trust. Who can you trust?

    Well I can't trust add-supported VPN's. Why? Because they are tracking your usage and delivering targeted add's. Sure any VPN could sell you out point taken but I think saying FREE VPN's are better than some of the paid options is incorrect.

    It comes down to trust in the end, do your research and always read the TOS.
     
  7. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    Nowhere did I say or imply Free VPN's were better than paid VPN's. I only said they can both be lying to you equally.

    When you purchase a paid VPN, they have your real name, credit card info etc.. yep.. it comes down to trust. Some would rather trust a company that did not have access to that information (Free VPN) over a company that does, asks for it, and you willingly give it to them (paid VPN) and not considering that a privacy/security risk in itself. In this respect, the argument can be made, that you even have less of a reason to trust a paid VPN.

    I think a Free VPN can be as honest, trustworthy and as good a service as any Paid VPN if it fits your needs, as long as you do your research and are satisfied.
     
  8. First I'd never purchase a VPN with my real credit card or bank card. that's just a NO NO. But having your real paypal is fine, I'm not into major hacking or carding so the risk for me is low. Sure they have my name, but my name is not my name ;)

    I'm not sure about your free VPN opinion, most offer paid solutions and only offer limited free solutions to get you to buy the paid version. But with 99% of any anonymous service they will roll over if push comes to shove.SO DON'T BE A FOOL, remember no one is going to jail for you. no one is going to ignore a court order


    + I really hate those lists, dumbed down for people who shouldn't be using those services. Plus I find the review pretty off mark. Problem with dumbing down information for users is that people who are ill-educated or dumb as rocks start using the service. Talis is a example their forum has been infiltrated with people who are dumb as rocks, wanting to put an exit node on their universities wifi. I mean seriously how dumb can you be.
     
  9. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    That's why people shouldn't be using these services to mask illegal activities in the first place.

    Yes, people don't educate themselves very well at times. That's why I posted the Harvard Blog link so people can learn about all the various technologies and use all of them to get better protection than using a Free VPN alone.

    Exactly what do you find off the mark about that list and how is the information dumbed down? I found they offer more comprehensive information than most similar lists.
     
  10. CasperFace

    CasperFace Registered Member

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    Well, it's certainly better than the plethora of those "Best VPN Reviews" sites out there... you know, the ones where those big commercial VPN providers like HMA and StrongVPN always seem to "miraculously" make it to the top of the lists. ;) At least this author doesn't appear to have any vested interest in promoting one service over another.

    However, the rating system seems rather arbitrary, particularly with regard to anonymity. I see no reason why Vidalia should get such a low rating, for instance, considering the fact that the underlying system (Tor) is a multi-jurisdictional triple-hop chain of SOCKS proxies. If used correctly, the anonymity is actually very strong. When a breach occurs, it's almost always the result of poor judgment on the part of the user... not a flaw in the system itself.

    Also, making an "apples-to-apples" comparison of services that are technically different from one another (e.g., application-level versus network-level anonymization services) doesn't really make much sense either. But to the author's credit, the other recommendations about anonymity tests, add-ons, search engines, and disposable email were pretty much right on point, IMO.

    To address the OP's question about free VPNs and bandwidth limitations, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find any provider who's willing to give you a generous amount bandwidth at no charge. It's just not realistic, given the fact that bandwidth costs money. At a bare minimum, a provider needs to have a high-end VPS or dedicated server for this... probably several of them it they're going to be handling such a large amount of traffic from a multitude of users.

    At the risk of stating the obvious, being a bandwidth hog at the expense of everyone else isn't exactly considered good netiquette. Therefore if you're a heavy downloader, you probably shouldn't be looking at "free" options anyway, but rather try to find a decent paid service (of which there are many) that can accommodate your needs.
     
  11. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    Thank you for your insight and opinions. I too would like to know exactly how they came up with their anonymity ratings.
     
  12. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    I think I found Exactly what I was looking for. ( high Bandwidth) I just got a reply to my e-mail from Spotflux. I e-mailed them yesterday with this message, and their reply below.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Cool beans for me, If the service is sound, secure and doesn't misuse it's log info.

    The above list doesn't have Spotflux in it except in the comments.

    From the Spotflux website:
    http://www.spotflux.com/

    On Logging practices the Support forum has this to say.

    http://support.spotflux.com/customer/portal/articles/436718-does-spotflux-log-my-

    The Privacy Policy is here: http://launch.spotflux.com/privacy.htm

    I read through it and the tiny bit of information the do collect is not identifiable to you and is not used for nefarious purposes. I think that's enough to temp me to give them a good test run. Sorry this post turned out to be so long, but I wanted you guys to be able to give me opinions on this service based on the available information.
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2012
  13. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    I'm using SecurityKISS. It's awesome. I think it's the best free VPN.:)
     
  14. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    I was mistaken about Spotflux working with Bit Torrents. I tested this and the client shuts down the connection as soon as it detects a bit torrent being downloaded, so the reply I got on the e-mail was a little misleading.

    I did find another Free VPN that is unlimited and does work with Torrent files, also not in the list above.

    It's called VPNDirect http://www.vpndirect.com/index.php

    VPNDirect offers Lite (free) and paid for versions. I have tested the Lite version with torrents and it works fine. The Lite version has ONE totally Free server in the USA with no limits, thus it may be shared by a lot of users. You have to scroll down the server list when you connect and choose the server that does not say " premium" . The service asks you to register via email with a username and password to activate the connection.

    I don't know what their speed cap is because my internet connection is only a middle of the line DSL connection operating at 3.500 kpbs. When downloading torrents I normally average 320.0 kb/s which is over 3/4 of my speed. With VPNDirect, I'm getting those same speeds so for me, I don't notice any slowdowns. (about an hour per gigabyte) If you normally use a 5.000 kb/s or higher speed, you may see a difference, but I have no way to test that.
     
  15. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    Does SecurityKiss work with BitTorrent?
     
  16. The Hammer

    The Hammer Registered Member

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    I know I've seen a review of it somewhere and I recall it being favourable.
     
  17. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    I don't know if it even works with bit torrent, you'd have to test it But, The problem with SecurityKiss is it has a bandwidth limit of 300 megabytes a day for the free version, which is fine for only browsing websites, but horrible for downloading a lot or watching a lot of movies. I think they also reset their connection every so many hours so if you are in the middle of a download, your download will stop. You would have to re-enable your bit torrent to continue downloading the next day when you get another chunk of 300 megabytes to use.
     
  18. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    Why don't you try it out? You would love it.:)
     
  19. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    Hmm...I did not find it reseting connection every hour or so. Nor did I read any review pointing it out.:doubt:

    300 mb is enough for me given I only use VPN when I want visit certain sites and don't need it all the time. Also I don't use Bit Torrent.
     
  20. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    I may have been confusing SecurityKiss with another Free VPN when I said it reset the connection - I know many of them will do this.

    If you don't plan to use Bit Torrents then I guess you're good to go. :)
     
  21. DarkPhoenix

    DarkPhoenix Registered Member

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    Can someone with a really fast internet connection ( like 15.000 kb/s or higher) please test VPNDirect Lite and Softflux so we can know what speeds they top out at?

    Thanks.
     
  22. tooth

    tooth Registered Member

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    excellent article, i don't use VPNs a ton, sometimes on occasion while travelving to secure briefly.
     
  23. justpeace

    justpeace Registered Member

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    Thank you DarkPhoenix for an informative post.

    Let me add that even a free VPN may be used to chain another heavier anonymity layer.

    My personal setup when I am travelling is a free VPN > Tor > SSH account at a very secure provider.

    The owner of the local hotspot can only see that I use a mainstream VPN but nothing of my Tor connections.

    And even though the setup is not very common, a free VPN can be used to create one's own multihop VPN.
     
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