this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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Hi! So I have had surfshark for a while and been generally quite satisfied. They do everything I need them to do this far with no fuss and bundle in some handy other services as well.

My annual plan expires in a couple of months and I'm curious what else is out there, as I only started SF because it was heavily discounted at the time. From a new provider, I just need privacy, the ability to torrent totally public domain content, and a static IP. Do you have any suggestions for other options worth considering? I just like to have options. Thanks in advance!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

and a static IP.

O_o but why

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Isn't this a subreddit about selfhosting? How is no one talking about OpenVPN?

I run an IPSEC vpn between me and my server. OpenVPN for the SSL vpn when I'm on the road. Split-tunnel is the default, but if I log in as a different user then I routes all traffic out the VPN.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Try self hosting WireGuard instead of openVPN it's much faster.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I use protonvpn due to me getting it with my proton unlimited bundle, and on the plus side with some scripting I can use the proton NAT-PMP forwarding with my qbittorent to get port forwarding while.. distributing and acquiring Linux isos.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I've been using PIA for a good few years now, never had a problem with them, slightly concernced that I appear to be pretty much the only one, does everyone else know something I don't?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They were acquired by some VPN megacorp and AFAIK, all their credible postings and court stuff happened prior to that, so their credibility is unknown today

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I have Proton Unlimited, so got the VPN included. Otherwise I would use Mullvad

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

PIA. Supports port forwarding.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

OVPN. They have dedicated ip with port forwarding

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

My own Ubiquiti VPN on the USG I have in my rack. #selfhosted

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)
[–] darcy 1 points 11 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

PIA since Mullvad took away port forwarding.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I was with mullvad for a year and the speeds sucked, nordvpn for a few years now and the speeds are great - and I always keep the mesh net feature on my devices so I can remote in without opening ports.

I don’t even really use the vpn service anymore though, just the mesh net. I will probably not renew when my year is up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Mullvad, it's extremely popular among privacy advocates

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's just really goddamn expensive. I use purevpn, whose subscription costs me €14 per year for identical servixe (obviously less rigorous privacy-wise, but I'm not doing anything beyond torrenting)

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Since Mullvad got rid of Port Forwarding, I use TorGuard for checking out LinuxISOs

But I still use Mullvad on my pc/phone, since its the best

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I manily use Mysterium as I like having resedential IP addresses that are (usually) not detected for being a proxy but I also have Mullvad

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I came across a provided that offered a static IP at a "data center" rate, which is essentially a known VPN server but a static IP for it, and a separate "residential" option that was slightly more expensive. I'm assuming the latter is less likely to be assumed to be a proxy by other machines/domains. Neat concept!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Oracle cloud free VPS… with wireguard.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How to ruin Oracle free tier any%

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

AirVPN since about 8 years. Highly recommended. If you want something flashy that wins design awards looks elsewhere :) from a technical perspective they are absolutely top notch with every feature you could possibly wish for.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

VPN.ac

Very happy for quite a few years now. Before that rotated through quite a few.

Reasons=

  1. Romanian court over ruled EU's 6 month data retention policy.

  2. 6 wireguard connections.

  3. ~€46 per year.

  4. Small team of good dudes. I can't stand the support vibe from big companies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Mullvad before port forwarding, ProtonVPN once Mullvad got rid of it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I made the same move. Mullvad is still fantastic but Proton is also fantastic and works just as well for my purposes.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Defintely not you asked, but have you considered switching from torrents for your linux ISOs to Real Debrid?

Made the switch last week, can't be happier. It even comes with mega and usenet downloads for cheaper than a VPN. Doesn't solve the static IP issue, but you might want to check it out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Kaspersky because it’s part of my $3/month antivirus.. split tunnel kills my self-hosted docker stuff, and essentially isn’t really split tunneling, but yeah

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I have been happy with NordVPN. It is able to give me nearly 100% of my 1.5Gbps connection, and with almost no latency difference I'm able to game without turning it off.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

It is. I like it so much. I don't need to turn it off when I'm gaming. Watching videos.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Windscribe.

They usually run a really good sale around Black Friday (US).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I host my own VPN. All I need when I am out and about.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When you torrent totally public domain stuff you most likely want a VPN with enough privacy to not give your IP to authorities. I can’t see that point if you run a VPN on a machine somewhere in the cloud which has your name registered to it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I do only torrent stuff that won’t warrant the authorities to come to my home. This is in the end r/selfhosted and not r/piracy where you would have more concerns. Also your name is registered to the VPN service too and believe me they will rat you out if it comes to a how down with authorities.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you truly care about privacy, you can go for a provider that asks for no personal details (not even an email if you so desire) and allows you to pay using an anonymous payment method such as Monero. In this scenario it would be incredibly difficult for Mullvad to rat you out even if they wanted to, assuming you only used the VPN for anything but things that could trace back to you (so no logging into services with [email protected].) True privacy and anonymity is difficult to achieve but it is possible, just requires you to pay attention.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

True anonymity and privacy is only offline possible.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (5 children)

If you ignored everything that was just said then yeah, sure. Wonder why Tor exists... Ah well, must be just for show.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don't torrent but am looking to start using surfshark to get the most out of all the freaking subscriptions.

For my homelab and work I use a VPS running the OPNsense router OS with openvpn. You can take any FreeBSD instance and bootstrap it to get OPNsense if your provider doesn't allow custom iso's.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I use my home router as a VPN server.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Ovpn. Tested in court as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

AirVPN. They let you port forward up to 20 ports, which is useful for various use cases (not just file sharing). If you want to seed torrents, port forwarding is an essential feature.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don’t think you can go wrong with NordVPN, Proton or Mullvad. I find Nord and Proton have better speeds.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Proton is good and Windscribe is good if you need a dedicated ip.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I self host, it's way more convenient (opinion) and I don't really care about anonymity. Also less expensive.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

None, linode vps near my 5G upstream, running a wireguard node. Pihole + unbound, nginx and local DNS ftw. Route all traffic through the vps wireguard tunnel. YMMV, I'm rural so this setup works best for me.

Quectel 5G modem with 4x CA, waveform 4x mimo antenna on 30 foot pole, pointed at tower with best signal, calyx sim card, UDM-SE + 6E Enterprise AP. Started out as a way to escape CGNAT, and port forward / bypass video bandwidth throttle on T-Mobile network, progressed into a unifi obsession / homelab.

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