Thinking about a VPN but clueless about how it would work

PureVPN looks OK too and seems cheap enough. Just too many choices for a newbie!

 

+1

BTW PureVPN offer support via Skype, quite handy for troubleshooting. A little tricky to find that option on their site if the Live Chat icon does not appears at the bottom rigth on their webpage.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what is your download speed with and without PureVPN?

 

PureVPN
OZ servers on and off up to 40 Mbps.
HK 6 Mbps
NZ up to 10 Mbps
Others asian pacific servers not reliable.
Off course it all depends on time of the day, holiday, weekends...

For Downloads I use Netherlands can be up to 6 Mbps can be slower, usually good during their night.
Streaming OZ servers, no worries there.
My provider 10-11 MBPS and not always.

 

Lucky me, I'm on the NBN - Fixed Wireless 25/5 - consistently 21 to 23 Mb/sec download and around 4.5 Mb/sec upload. Understandably, I don't want that crippled too much if possible.

 

Lucky indeed.
NBN coming in my area sometime in July. I'll know more then how the speed will be improved or not.
So as far speed goes you are gold with nbn, privacy etc that is another cup of tea.
System and VPN configurations apart,( quite tricky those), I would think that nbn would improve the VPN speed.

 

Sometimes it's better to just jump in the water and learn from experience...
The water will always seem a little chilly, if that's what your expecting.
1> PureVPN
2> AirVPN
3> PIA
all have solid and good histories, those 3 are good places to at least start, start with small
monthly subscriptions till you find one that feels right ?
Just some honest advise. good luck.
Its like the question "whats the best Vanilla or Chocolate" there is no truly correct answer,
the answer is "what works best for "you" fits "your" preferred tastes.

 

Right you are, and so I have!

I've just paid for a two year subscription to PureVPN and after a short learning curve I'm now connected.

The first speed test returned a download speed of 29Mbps, which is quicker than my ISP has assigned me. Admittedly that was an Aussie server but that's fine. I know I can change servers later at will when and if the need arises.

 

https://www.dnsleaktest.com/ shows my ISP and it's DNS sever. Why is this so?

 

To cure this I've found changing the DNS settings in my router works. Now to settle on a DNS provider... sigh.

 

Maybe this:

https://support.purevpn.com/what-is-securedns-and-how-to-activate-it

 

Do most of these VPN's use 256 bit encryption?

 

I contacted their support and eventually got through to them. The first thing they suggested was to ask for a refund, which I have now done. They suggested I use OpenDNS but I told them I didn't agree to their privacy policy, so (haha) they suggested I use Google's DNS.

... Anyway, I've asked for a refund and will look at another VPN provider down the track.

 

""The first thing they suggested was to ask for a refund "" That is a strange first response , do they want your business or not ?

 

Sorry to hear that Krusty,
I would suggest AirVPN as this is not an issue for them, but you will find what works for you in due course.
Good luck brother.
PS: Mine passes the "Extended" test with flying colors using that or any other test site

 

I also have to factor in a consistent reliable connection. I construct a multi step chain with "manual only" firewalls. If a server drops or breaks a connection, only I can re-establish the tunnel. If vpn1 drops/breaks then I have to go back and re-establish the entire chain one by one. This is MY personal decision and firewall restriction. I don't get broken connections very often but if one happens I want to control and decide how the entire tunnel gets "reset".

 

After further correspondence they have told me what I already knew - changing my DNS settings to OpenDNS solves the DNS leak. I'm too tired and flustered to bother with it for now.

Thanks for the tip.

 

No worries brother

 

https://www.bestvpn.com/most-secure-vpn/

Not sure how accurate this is, just something to discuss.

 

This is in no way an endorsement for PureVPN, it is just a chart showing their different protocols and encryption level.

https://support.purevpn.com/compare-vpn-protocols

Does anyone have a recommended protocol? I'm not trying to hide from the spy agencies, I'm just interested in stopping my ISP snooping, so I'd like to keep a good speed / low latency through the VPN.

Thanks.

 

Yeah, for just thwarting ISP Data collection: TCP over port 443 is a good protocol.
Very effective and retains speed.

 

Cool! Thank you, good Sir.

 

Well that's interesting! Speedtest.net shows my download sped nearly twice that of what my ISP provides but the ping is not good = > 200 ms, normally around 30 ms.

Hmm, testing again now shows the speed comparable to the speed I get without the VPN but ping still 230 ms.

Just tested with SSTP.



Aside from the ping, not too shabby on a 25/5 plan.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/leemat...rying-to-cash-in-on-your-online-privacy-fears

 

#48

https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/10562/vpn-speed-test-overview/

Well, that explains the super quick speed test result.