VPN Selection

brucemc777 · 18 Feb 2021

Completely new to VPN...

After reading a couple articles from TechRadar i am interested in trying out a VPN.

NordVPN looks most impressive in their balance of speed and cost, while SurfShark is quite well rated, costs less, but it would seem they do not offer the speed of NordVPN.

Unfortunately for me, there is absolutely no way from the articles for me to have an understanding as to where i would see the hit i would take in speed using either, which has always been a big concern. Frankly, both 1) cost and 2) a hit in speed, have been the highest two reasons i have not engaged a VPN. I also suspect it is relevant that our ISP, Verizon, also provides out television and it is all over FIOS.

Can anyone give me a practical comparison?

If it helps, according to Ookla, my DL is 108.44Mbps and up is 106.14, which is fair as i took Verizon's 100Mbps offering-

Thank you VERY much for sharing your knowledge and expertise!!!

Fabler2 · 18 Feb 2021

Have a look at this comparison site - VPN Comparison Tool | Top10VPN

Windscribe offers a free version with 10 GB limit so you can play about with it.

brucemc777 · 18 Feb 2021

Many thanks for coming to my aid!

I hate to ask what i feel is going to be an unanswerable (dumb) question, but how would i notice the difference between 85Mbps (SurfShark) and 95Mbps (NordVPN)?

For instance, if the question is fair, would it be at all noticeable if only one computer was "surfing"? One computer was streaming YouTube? One television on and the computer was also watching a YouTube? Three TVs were on and the computer was going to different websites? Though i doubt the TV portion would have any impact at all with this, i simply do not know and i would rather appear a little ignorant than keep my question to myself and be ignorant...

Money is tight enough that i want to maximize my savings with a two year plan, i doubt i would resolve all of my questions within a 30 day money back test period, and i don't want to find 6-12 months from now enough problems that i will regret one over the other, but with how close they are in speed, i kind of doubt i would ever know the difference. That is now where i need your expertise!

And that brings me to one last request of you - Are there any other factors between the two i am looking at that would be a notable advantage or disadvantage of one over the other?

Thank you,
-Bruce

Paul Black · 18 Feb 2021

Hello @brucemc777,

I noticed you have already looked at TechRadar. Another site that I have always found to be informative and good is TomsGuide . . .

> The Best VPN Service in 2021

I hope this helps.

CannonRebel · 20 Feb 2021

I use Surfshark, and my speeds generally run at around 90-100Mbps, my connection is 100Mbps. It also depends on your location and choice of servers. I had Nord, and it was the slowest out of three vpns for me. I used PIA for 10 years, they changed owners and my speeds dropped to 60Mbps. Surfshark

brucemc777 · 20 Feb 2021

Thank you!!!

Callender · 21 Feb 2021

What would you use a VPN for and why/ when would you want to use it?

What Is a VPN, and Why You Need One | PCMag

If to prevent ISP snooping then check out Cloudflare Warp:

Cloudflare Announcing Beta for WARP for macOS and Windows

Cloudflare Warp does not hide your IP address from the websites that you visit.

If you need to access region locked content then you'd need a traditional VPN.

Personal choice:

I use Cloudflare Warp mostly. It's free but may become paid in future with a feature limited free version.

Only if and when I need to access region locked content - I use DewVPN free.

There will be a slowdown but unless you are downloading huge files you won't notice much difference.

I can stream movies from US to UK with no juddering even though speed test results don't look great.

brucemc777 · 23 Feb 2021

For better or for worse, i jumped in and went with the NordVPN service.

I suspect that some websites seem to not like my using a VPN - for instance, i was at one of my daughters' college websites and had to go to their secure upload page for documents - it first refused to connect, but when i turned the VPN off it connected. Was this just coincidence, or are there times that some sort of connection check is performed that force not using a VPN?

Thank you!

Callender · 23 Feb 2021

A college is likely to block VPN usage since they need to ensure that nothing dodgy is going on in their network. VPN's are sometimes used for nefarious purposes.

What to do if your VPN is Blocked | VPN University

You should really explain why you need to use a VPN. Personally I only use a VPN when needed to access region locked content.

brucemc777 · 23 Feb 2021

My reason for a VPN? I am ashamed to admit it - paranoia.

Over the years i have been bombarded with so much material saying that i should get a VPN for such a wide range of privacy issues that it finally boiled over the "curiosity" stage to just getting one. There have been rare times, perhaps once or twice a year, that something or another was blocked on youtube i think, but that hardly makes getting a VPN worthwhile. I really think it is just the accumulated hype that drove me to it. I normally pay for music through Amazon and though i was curious enough to download Onion, i never toyed around or visited "the dark web".