Best VPN service provider to the states?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Best VPN service provider to the states?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#499654 30-Jul-2011 08:45

I've had the opportunity to test a lot of VPN services lately for vpnsp. Some are certainly better than others. Personal favorites include Hide My Ass, OverPlay and Strong VPN. Based on speed, reliability and cost. Price definitely comes into play as Strong is more expensive.

In addition to testing we also post speed test results that you might find helpful:
http://www.vpnsp.com/speed-test.html

Mighty Ape

Shop Mighty Ape for electronics, games, computers books and more (affiliate link).

timmmay

19638 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#500533 1-Aug-2011 19:29

Is there any way to route a set of ports over the VPN, but not all of them? For example I might want to check email via the vpn, but surf the web directly.

HMA says that's not possible, every program goes through the VPN once it's activated.

Beccara

1467 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#500549 1-Aug-2011 20:20

I douno about ports but you could for routes/ip's. Not sure if there is a nice windows gui for it or not

Most problems are the result of previous solutions...

All comment's I make are my own personal opinion and do not in any way, shape or form reflect the views of current or former employers unless specifically stated

timmmay

19638 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#500554 1-Aug-2011 20:30

My networking knowledge isn't awesome. Perhaps it's best to go with the simple option, everything goes via VPN when I need privacy. Pretty much everything I use is overseas anyway, adding an extra hop shouldn't be a big deal.

Alternately, given I run dd-wrt, can I hook it up so some ports always go via the VPN, and some always go via the standard connection? The HMA FAQ suggests this is possible, but I don't see instructions.

1080p

1332 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#500556 1-Aug-2011 20:50

Hmm, fast, cheap, unlimited bandwidth. Pick two.

In my experience you aren't able to achieve all three. Having said that, StrongVPN provide an excellent service and it is well worth the money.

Marksmith

2 posts

Wannabe Geek
Inactive user

#501579 3-Aug-2011 19:32

timmmay: Is there any way to route a set of ports over the VPN, but not all of them? For example I might want to check email via the vpn, but surf the web directly.

HMA says that's not possible, every program goes through the VPN once it's activated.

Yes you can do that easily by setting up the VPN on your DD-WRT router and create DMZ (demilitrialized zone) with in your router. Put the device which you don't want to go through VPN in DMZ and enjoy the internet with and without VPN on all devices.

Mark Smith
http://www.bestvpnservice.com

tigercorp

662 posts

Ultimate Geek

#501583 3-Aug-2011 19:40

timmmay: Is there any way to route a set of ports over the VPN, but not all of them? For example I might want to check email via the vpn, but surf the web directly.

Another option is to use a vm running the vpn connection.
Works well for me, as I work from home so have a vm permanently vpn'd into the office to pick up mail and provide support.
Also have a vm running the Astrill vpn for downloads.

timmmay

19638 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#501615 3-Aug-2011 20:28

Marksmith:
timmmay: Is there any way to route a set of ports over the VPN, but not all of them? For example I might want to check email via the vpn, but surf the web directly.

HMA says that's not possible, every program goes through the VPN once it's activated.

Yes you can do that easily by setting up the VPN on your DD-WRT router and create DMZ (demilitrialized zone) with in your router. Put the device which you don't want to go through VPN in DMZ and enjoy the internet with and without VPN on all devices.

Mark Smith
http://www.bestvpnservice.com

My understanding of VPNs is they're per machine, not per port. You suggestion is interesting, but isn't what I asked.

maxx8864

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#501887 4-Aug-2011 13:10

You can create an IPSec policy to do what you want but your email provider would have to have a corresponding policy and that is pretty unlikely.

If you are running Windows 7 just run wf.msc, create a new connection security rule and filter it by port.

timmmay

19638 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#501890 4-Aug-2011 13:14

Thanks Maxx :) Email was just an example, i'd probably want to route a a variety of ports over the VPN. Then again I might just route my entire connection over the VPN at the router level. If I could route a port range over the VPN from DD-WRT that'd be perfect - anyone know if that's possible?

I'm not familiar with wf.msc - it appears to be windows firewall. I'll check it out when i'm home, see if I can get it to route specific ports over the VPN.

billgates

4625 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#501917 4-Aug-2011 14:07

Astrill integrates nicely with DD-WRT. The Astrill GUI has an option which configures the DD-WRT firmware on your router with your Astrill credentials.

Do whatever you want to do man.

timmmay

19638 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#501956 4-Aug-2011 15:43

That's handy that Astrill integrates well with DD-WRT - I hope my Linksys 54GL is fast enough to VPN the entire connection. It also look like they have special features that allows for partitioning of traffic, which could be handy too :-) I'll email support and see what they say.

reven

3647 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#501958 4-Aug-2011 15:46

ive used
- overplay.net - good speeds, plugin for boxee (main reason i used it)
- strongvpn - i found the speeds to slow too often to stream
- hidemyass - speeds ok for streaming, but not the best, better than strongvpn though
- unblock-us.com, dns and not a vpn, but speeds are good, its cheap usd$5 a month. im currently using this.

timmmay

19638 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#502633 5-Aug-2011 23:48

I'm on a 7 day trial of Astrill, it seems good so far. On well seeded linux distributions i'm peaking at 15Mbps, ie my cable line speed.

It's very easy to get working, though I had to contact support about one thing - how to get it to use the VPN on a per application basis (you have to hit a configuration button on the login screen to change it to OpenVPN mode). One gotcha is older torrents that you had running before seem to bypass the VPN, but i'm not sure of that.

How do you check that a VPN is properly working, and not making any connections directly, around the VPN? Of course most of my connections will go direct not via the VPN.

cldlr76

289 posts

Ultimate Geek

#505710 12-Aug-2011 19:17

timmmay: .

How do you check that a VPN is properly working, and not making any connections directly, around the VPN? Of course most of my connections will go direct not via the VPN.

If you're talking about torrents check out http://checkmytorrentip.com/ I haven't tried ths on a VPN yet but it works on my slingshot connection.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4