October 18, 2008 by sharky
What To Look For When Purchasing a VPN Service
It all depends what you’re looking to do with it. For simple anonymous browsing, some providers offer this for as little as $5/month, or even for free. But if you want a total Internet traffic anonymizing experience, a premium VPN account is a better way to go - there’s no IP numbers to configure into the webapps, and no software to install - just set up the VPN and it’s done! Other VPN selling points include:
• Strong Encryption — Some VPN service providers offer SSL/TLS and IPsec (cryptographic protocols) for an added layer of security. OpenVPN is also very secure and is an option to thwart ISPs that block regular PPTP VPNs. PPTP can leak DNS data, and isn’t really all that secure, but is often a suitable workaround for ’sandvining’ or throttling ISPs.
• Shared IP vs. Dedicated — A shared IP means that you will get a random IP from ’server IP pools’ each time you connect to the VPN. Dedicated means your VPN’s IP address remains the same, even when disconnecting from the service. The latter would be recommended if you intend on using a VPN with a private BT tracker.
• Server location — Many VPN providers offer a choice of server locations. For most P2P & BitTorrent users, the location isn’t terribly important (with the exception that if a tracker bans your country’s IP range, and you’d like to join that tracker anyways, a VPN can help). But the VPN location is more importantly used for personal website browsing & accessing geographical blocks; for example, you reside in the UK but want to visit sites such as hulu.com which blocks all IP ranges outside of the United States. A US VPN server will thus allow access.
• Terms of Service — Some VPN providers may (or may not) mention "illegal" activities being banned on their servers, such as P2P file sharing of intellectual property.
What Can a VPN Service Do For You?
Using a VPN to bypass a restrictive ISP in order to download torrents is only a small part of what a VPN provider can do. Other features include, but are not limited to:
- • Assigns your computer a new IP address, hides your real IP to anonymize all web applications.
- • Bypass Skype and other VOIP blocked in your area or by your ISP.
- • Bypass blocked websites (that have blocked you or your country/geographical region).
- • Security & anonymity with a secure encrypted connection between your computer and the Internet.
- • Protect your wireless (Wi-Fi) connection at home or at public Hotspots.
- • Virtual Firewall — Attacks are often directed at a known IP address.
- • Anonymizes you at work or at school even behind restrictive firewalls.
A List of VPN Providers:
www.yourprivatevpn.com
Pricing: Starting at €5 a month for unlimited bandwidth.
Notes: YourPrivateVPN is a P2P-friendly VPN provider that supports Windows 7, XP, Vista and Mac OS X. All subscriptions come with unlimited monthly transfers, and prices start at just €5/mo. for their “Silver” plan. The discerning difference between offered plans is the speed in which the VPN is set to, but even Silver comes with a respectable 2,000 kbps (which is 250 KB/s).
About Privacy - “Our most important aim is to ensure your privacy and security. For this reason our servers are configured in such a way that your real IP is never stored, so there will be no trace of your real IP on our servers. In addition when you book your anonymous access, you can pay comfortably with PayPal. Thus we receive no information about your payment data. We don’t even need your name; an email-address is enough for us.”
http://torrentfreedom.com
Pricing: $17 a month for unlimited bandwidth; uncapped speeds.
Notes: TorrentFreedom is the only VPN provider that is strictly customized for P2P applications - and BitTorrent in particular. Doesn’t bother with the PPTP VPN protocol, and opts for superior torrent-friendly OpenVPN on all accounts, and subscribers can use both public and private trackers alike. Supports Windows, Mac OS X and Linux/UNIX/BSD. To quote, "To initiate the connection, 1024-bit RSA keys are used. Data transfers use a dynamically generated 2048-bit encryption key. This key changes every 20 minutes." Anti-P2P "TOS"? — None - they encourage users to use P2P apps through their VPN service.
www.perfect-privacy.com
Pricing: €10 (Euro) a month for unlimited bandwidth (with an additional setup fee of €10).
Server Locations: All over the world.
Others: Finally, a VPN that says exactly what we want to hear, "We are not interested in who you are. You can pay anonymously. We do not keep logs." - now that’s a breath of fresh air! Anti-P2P "TOS"? — Not found.
Security — Perfect-Privacy offers many solutions that work in conjunction with each other for a total anonymous experience, including 4096-bit OpenVPN encryption, 4096 bit SSH-2 (Secure Shell 2), and 4096 bit SSL/TLS, Squid proxy, CGI proxies, and more.
http://vpngates.com
Pricing: $15 USD /month. Discounts offered for extended subscriptions. No setup fee.
Server Locations: US, UK and Germany.
Others: Provides PPTP, L2TP IPSec VPN services. All of your Internet traffic is encrypted and is tunneled to their VPN server. Once there, it is decrypted and allowed to travel to its intended destination. Your local ISP will only see a single encrypted data stream between you and their VPN server. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — None found.
www.strongvpn.com
Pricing: $15 USD /month for regular VPN, $20 for OpenVPN. ($25 setup fee, but waived on a 3-month subscription).
Server Locations: US and Europe, with UK servers coming soon.
Others: Regular VPN service offers 128-bit encryption, while their superior OpenVPN service offers 2048-bit strong encryption via SSL/TLS protocol. Smart phone, iPhone, multi-IP VOIP devices supported. Multi-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux). Individual server speedtests are also available. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — None found.
http://blacklogic.com
Pricing: $15 USD /month for regular VPN, $40 for IPsec. Dedicated IPs start at $20 /month.
Server Locations: US and Canada.
Others: There are a variety of configurations available, including optional dedicated IPs (not shared) on both the regular VPN and IPsec servers. All plans are described as "unlimited bandwidth". Anti-P2P "TOS"? — Yes.
www.linkideo.com
Pricing: €2 Euro /month, up to €10 for unmetered connection.
Server Locations: UK.
Others: Linkideo once offered a free VPN service, but canceled it back in August ‘08. While Linkideo offers the most affordable VPN plans of the bunch, download speeds are capped on their €2 and €5 plans. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — None.
www.flashvpn.com
Pricing: Starting at $5 USD /month for regular VPN, $8 for OpenVPN.
Server Locations: Unknown.
Others: Offers both shared IP and dedicated IP VPN servers. 100% content encryption; no ‘provider logs’ are kept. Also offers a limited 7-day free trial (pay $1.49 with a $1.49 rebate on transaction). OpenVPN is also available. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — No.
www.purevpn.com
Pricing: Monthly unlimited accounts start at $6 USD /month for ’shared IP’. Dedicated IP VPNs are $15 /month.
Server Locations: UK, US, Europe and Canada.
Others: Also offers plans in 100 MB ‘blocks’, as well as plans paid by hourly rate. Provides PPTP, L2TP IPSec VPN services. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — No.
www.virtualpn.com
Pricing: "Basic" package - $9 USD /month, plus $9 setup fee. SSL VPN Package - $11, plus $11 setup fee. Corporate packages available with SSL + Samba.
Server Locations: US and Europe.
Others: Offers a "1-day for 1-dollar" test account. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — Maybe. Has an "Intellectual Property" clause in the TOS, but doesn’t mention P2P directly.
http://madvpn.com
Pricing: A variety of plan options; costs vary depending on server location.
Server Locations: US, Canada, UK, Japan, Germany, Netherlands.
Others: One of the very few VPN providers that offers multiple ‘blocks’ of VPN IPs on the same account. As far as we can see, all packages are bandwidth capped - this is not economical for general filesharing. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — No TOS found.
www.securenetics.com
Pricing: Starting at $9.49 USD per month (for VPN accounts). Regular ‘proxy’ accounts (for anonymous browsing) are $5.49.
Server Locations: North America, Asia, Europe.
Others: Only their "Standard" and "UltraMax" accounts offer VPN solutions. You have a choice of Secure Anonymous OpenSSH Proxy, OpenVPN, PPTP VPN, Socks Proxy, or HTTP Proxy Servers to use - a first in the industry to offer this variety of options under one service. Free secure anonymous Email account included with all VPN accounts. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — No TOS found.
www.metropipe.net
Pricing: ‘Tunneler Pro’ VPN account is $23.33 /month.
Server Locations: Unknown.
Others: The ‘Tunneler Gold’ plan (at $5.83 /mo.) is aimed at anonymous browsing (not filesharing). The ‘Pro’ account is made for P2P, but it’s seemingly expensive for only 25 GB monthly limit, although it does use OpenVPN. Anti-P2P "TOS"? — No - the TOS is here.
http://vpnprivacy.com
Pricing: $15 USD /month. Discounts offered for extended subscriptions. No setup fee.
Server Locations: Canada and US.
Anti-P2P "Terms Of Service"? — Unsure.
http://www.supervpn.net
Pricing: Starting at $8 USD per month.
Server Locations: Unknown; but VPN services are available worldwide.
About — To quote, “Your Torrent VPN account will be on our servers which are configured in such a way that your real IP is never stored so there will be no trace of your real IP on our servers”. SuperVPN net also offers a variety of other customized VPN options (iPhone, VoIP/Skype, anonymous surfing, torrents, eD2k) - and apparently there are no bandwidth limitations.
http://www.roadwarriorvpn.com
Pricing: Starting at $19.95 USD per month. A static public IP address is available for an additional $5 a month (great for private trackers!).
Other Notables:
www.hotspotshield.com — Hotspot Shield creates a virtual private network (VPN) between your laptop or iPhone and their Internet gateway, and it’s free! This security and privacy product ensures your anonymity while on-line.
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