Ivacy VPN is offering a lifetime subscription via Stack Social for $24 USD. 5 years/lifetime seems to be $80 USD normally.
Sample Speedtest
Test Date: 4 Apr 2019 18:25
Download: 76.8 Mbps
Upload: 35.2 Mbps
Ping: 47 ms
Referrer will receive $10 credit when referee makes first purchase $10 or more.
There's a few opinions on the ozbargains link posted above.
Well that answers that…thanks for pointing me in the right direction! :D
Having used multiple 3rd party VPNs (including Ivacy) and hosted my own VPN servers, here's my personal take on this.
Privacy isn't a big deal as most people think. Unless you're doing internet banking over the VPN, or hacking the NSA, or doing anything illegal via the VPN connection, like going to the darkweb sites and doing dodgy things, then it doesn't matter whether XYZ VPN company logs your data or not. Even if they say they don't, you can never be sure. Some people will probably vouch for e.g. PIA (Private Internet Access VPN), saying they'd rather pay monthly for a trusted VPN provider. In the end, it doesn't really matter too much. If you're just using the VPN to access streaming services locked to a specific region for example, then it doesn't really matter which VPN providers you use.
These Stacksocial lifetime deals pop up ALL the time. In fact, they have been on Stacksocial since years ago. It's the same as some of the Groupon or 1-Day deals now. People who haven't seen this before immediately buys them and may probably use them a few times, if at all.
I've purchased the same Ivacy lifetime deal like 3 months ago. It's kinda crap to be honest (in comparison to the other VPN providers I've used). I purchased it mainly because it is one of the few VPNs that actually has servers in China. I want to connect to China because there are some TV shows in China that I want to watch, they're kinda like the Netflix / Hulu of China. I was getting like at most 10 Mbps download and I've tried various VPN connection types like L2TP, IKEv2, etc and they are all crap. Also tested several connections to a few USA servers and other countries, terrible compared to other VPN providers.
And no, it's not an issue with my setup or an issue with my network. I'm on a 200/20 plan with my ISP and I'm getting the same speed, if not slightly higher (205/21) consistently on both Wifi and ethernet. In all my VPN tests, I've tested while using an ethernet connection. I'm also using a performance router, not a shitty ISP router. Tested on my phone as well (Galaxy S8+) and same results.
The problem you guys need to realize is that by selling a one-off "lifetime" membership at a cheap price to the mass public, they are barely making any money and there's no reason for them to purchase additional servers or upgrade them. Everyone will essentially be hogging the connection and the speed just goes to shit.
Another thing with VPN providers is that some of them will spoof the VPN server location. So even though you select e.g. China server to connect to, it could be a VM running from a server located in the USA. Check here for more info (Ivacy is on the list):
https://www.privacyend.com/vpns-fake-server-locations/
https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn-server-locations/
Also, there are tons of "free" VPNs and I would stay away from them (unless they have really good reputations). A lot of people seem to be attracted to the built-in free VPN in Opera browsers (on PC or on phone) these days. Opera is owned by a Chinese consortium, so yeah…
WindScribe is a free VPN and currently they are offering 50GB for your account, which resets every month. So basically, you get 50GB of data usage every month, which is more than enough for most people. You can get it here:
https://sharewareonsale.com/s/windscribe-vpn-giveaway-coupon…
I signed up with them for a free account ages ago and they still provide me the 50GB as promised. They also constantly release new updates / features and are pretty transparent. Although I don't have a paid account with them or anything, but I think they are pretty good.
Alternatively, you can set up your own VPN server and control everything yourself. I just use multiple VPNs for various reasons, e.g. getting free internet access at the airport while on their time-limited public WiFi. Depending on the VPN, some can also do relays to bypass firewalls. E.g. the VPN client will first make a HTTPS connection to a Windows Azure server (middleman), the Azure server will then contact the VPN server hosted e.g. on a work PC with a locked down network. Because it is unlikely for a network admin to block a HTTPS connection from a Microsoft service, this means that the VPN server will 99% be able to receive the VPN client connection request and then establish a connection directly.
There are also VPNs that can do e.g. UDP hole punching, or VPN over DNS (which basically encapsulates VPN traffic via a DNS lookup - which is one of the various methods that allows you to use a public time-limited WiFi and still able to access the internet despite the time limit already expired. Because you can still ping via ICMP protocol, but just won't have 80/443 access).
Also, if you guys do decide to buy Ivacy, make sure you check your account settings for the NAT firewall setting:
https://billing.ivacy.com/port-forwarding.php
Excellent write up thanks for sharing. I've used windscribe now for a good year here and overseas and works very well. I have it as an addon on Chrome.
Yup, almost all of them supports Chrome/Firefox extensions. Just be careful of the following when using purely the browser extension:
a) Your VPN connection obviously only works for the browser processes. Your local machine will still be on your local internet connection.
b) Be careful of WebRTC or DNS leaking your real IP. There are extensions to control WebRTC.
It's probably a better idea to use Split Tunneling with your VPN. Most decent ones have this option inside the VPN app, although I don't remember if Ivacy has it or not. In a nutshell, Split Tunneling basically is a way to determine whether a packet should be routed via your VPN connection or via your local connection.
e.g. you may want to watch Netflix via the VPN, so anything that's e.g. *.netflix.com should go through your VPN. If you have a server at home and you're running an internal DNS for something like "bob.contoso.com", then you probably want to route that via your internal connection as you'll have your own internal DNS for resolving it. OR, let's say you want to watch Youtube using your local connection because your local connection is faster than your VPN, then you'd want to use Split Tunneling here too.
Also, be careful when using the VPN app on Windows. Some will (profanity) with your TCP/IP stack. I've had a few cases where my ethernet adaptor got screwed, because after all, the VPN apps will have to install some sort of driver to intercept the TCP/IP stack and control routing tables, etc…
Ivacy does provide settings for you to add the connection as PPTP/L2TP etc using the built-in Windows VPN profiles, so you can do that too.
Lastly, most of them will have a 5 device slots limit. I would recommend keeping at least 1 slot free and try to delete any old devices that aren't using the VPN ASAP. With e.g. VPN Unlimited (another Stacksocial lifetime VPN deal which I purchased years ago), if you used up the 5 device slots, you can delete one of the slots but it will take 1 week before it gets deleted. Which means you'll have to wait 1 week before you can add a new device. You can only delete 1 slot at a time.
Also, make sure you constantly update the passwords for your VPN service. Some of them get hacked quite a bit (you can check on sites like haveIbeenpwned).
BTW, there are some VPNs that you should absolutely stay away from. E.g. iNinja VPN, or Hola VPN, they will sell your data and there are a few articles/reports on this.
I would say always do your research into the VPN providers, check the reviews (and don't check just one site, check multiple sites). Look at not just the features they offer, but also performance, stability and other unreported / hidden bullshit they may be hiding (e.g. fake VPN servers). If the VPN server you're connected to is NOT in the real location, then chances are you won't be able to access the services in said location. All you're doing is connecting to a fake server.
There are also some VPNs that use "peer to peer" technology or blockchain type implementations. I would probably stay away from those as well, too much detail to get into.
Some other alternatives you may want to look into for speed/performance is Wireguard. Cloudflare's new Warp VPN will be using Wireguard and Wireguard is implemented by a lot of devs on XDA-Developers for their ROMs.
Lastly, consider using a free proxy. E.g. Psiphon will probably be enough for most people.
In any case, there are a lot of options, not to mention there are other solutions like Shadowsocks etc. So don't necessarily buy into something just because it is cheap. Save the money and invest it in something else more worthwhile. But then again, I'm not saying Ivacy is complete crap, but just make sure you check and understand your options.
Hope it helps.
Got a few ones i can recommend to my friend who's using it mainly for netflix usa
If you're talking about a completely free VPN, then maybe WindScribe VPN. They are offering 50GB atm:
https://sharewareonsale.com/s/windscribe-vpn-giveaway-coupon…
You could probably register using multiple email addresses and switch between them when your 50GB limit is reached. It'll reset every month so you should be good. Their performance is pretty decent too.
Otherwise, if you think it's too much hassle, then you could just buy either VPN Unlimited or Ivacy from Stacksocial. My original post was just to point out all the pros and cons of purchasing a VPN.
I have tried multiple VPN's as well. And this is pretty normal deal. Currently using Torguard which is $30USD/year after discount. Almost all have like 5 connection limit so you can share it with someone to reduce the cost as well. I have 2 servers constantly running behind VPN for streaming purpose.
Just purchased as a backup to my PIA VPN… seems pretty good so far. A little less options for tweaking encryption and other settings but the android app is a bit more 'consumer' friendly since it has streaming BBC iplayer etc links built in.
How does this VPN service stack up? I did a quick search and it doesn't appear to rank in the "top VPN lists" that I found (although I am sure the numbers in most of those need to be taken with a grain of salt)…but does anyone have any first hand experiences/thoughts?