You'll have a ton of choices available when looking for vpn services and vpn clients.
Companies like Nord et-al are generally very good if what you want is a wide range of available servers, and in many cases good support and knowledgebases for Linux and other clients. Some log their user's use, some do not. Some operate serious encryption, some do not. In all cases there is a performance penalty to pay. Typically that is variable depending upon the workload placed upon their servers. (ie when English Premier League football games are played most company's servers get rather busy...........).
Alternatively, roll your own - Many people who have some vps space available (on say Digitalocean, Vultr, Bitfolk etc etc etc) will put a vpn server on that as a way of getting a bigger-bang for their buck, and that often mitigates the vast majority of any performance penalty one might find on commercial services. Those are very easy to install and run/maintain and are often cheaper than paying for a commercial solution. That said, it will be fixed to one location, so if you have a need to "move around the world" allot, then that is not always the best answer.
At the client end of things on Linux, the Open VPN client is available in pretty much all of the repositories and is very easy and clean to use. (yes it can be turned on and off at will). There are Open VPN clients for just about all platforms as well. It is also possible to install a vpn client on some routers and access-point appliances as well (ie ones that are not the typical crop of ISP supplied junk appliances, but ones with a decent hardware spec running Netgear-WRT, DD-WRT, Asus-WRT, Merlin etc etc).
Personally, I use a mix of things. I travel a hell of allot in both my personal and work lives. I have a couple of my own cloud servers available for my own use based here in the UK. The primary use of those servers is not for vpn purposes really but I just add the open-vpn server to it as I am paying for it anyway, I might as well get my money's worth. (each of those servers costs me a flat $5usd per month whether I use them or not).
For a commercial provider I have used for many years now the vpnarea service as well which is a commercial service based in Switzerland with many vpn servers located around the world. Tons of choice, very good support for just about all devices and platforms and I think quite good value at $59usd per year (for my use case anyway). Am happy to recommend them to anyone with similar requirements.
I guess that it all really boils down to what it is that you feel that you want/need from a vpn service. Many people (to some degree true of myself) just want to be a bit bloody-minded and want to make it harder for the authorities and their ISP's to censor and block them and otherwise interfere. Others just want to watch a game of football on a saturday afternoon at a reasonable price. (thankfully, they don't censor/block the cricket (yet)). Others just want a bit of belt and braces security that always on encryption brings them and their families. There will be other motives I am sure. - - - to each their own I guess, but it's all pretty easy straight forward stuff to implement.
On 14/01/2019 17:35, greg oconnell via dorset wrote:
I am thinking about installing VPN software. Does anybody have experience of using it? Any pros and cons? Is any particular one recommended? I remember a magazine praising Nord and they seem to be advertising at the moment. I suspect it introduces some delay. I only want it for transactions with financial institutions and possibly playing content that is UK blocked, so can it be "turned off and on" at will? Greg -- Next meeting: BEC, Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2019-02-05 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
-- Next meeting: BEC, Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2019-02-05 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
