I’ve heard you should get a VPN regardless - to prevent viruses and protect privacy etc. But also for the bonus of sometimes getting more shows in streaming services.
Has anyone had any luck or can anyone recommend a reliable service for us Australians?
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VPN’s don’t ‘prevent viruses’, but can help protect your privacy or be used in streaming services.
I used Mullvad and was very happy with them. They are a month to month service that doesn’t auto renew, with an actual zero log policy. Lots of server options, no speed drop noticed.
I use proton vpn, it has a free tier if you want to try it out first
Use cyberghost, my partner uses it to get some shows only available on American streaming services.
Note: using a VPN means you will now be sharing the same public IP as many others around the world. Services like Netflix know this and block specific IPs from VPN suppliers because everyone is trying the same thing. Some vpn suppliers do have a bonus option for streaming when you will pay more so you CAN stream and Netflix etc won’t block you. Some other companies may include the streaming component by default. Just read around and see what fits for you.
Software Prices
I occasionally buy software for my Mac. Using the VPN I can check the prices that are offered to different countries. They are not the same!!!
Software that was $50 in the US was the same price in the UK but for some reason 30% cheaper in Oz, so I set my VPN to Australia and buy it at the cheaper price, same software different price, go figure.
I haven’t checked buying other things but I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t the same.
Mainly I pay for the VPN to watch British shows on the BBC and movies on SBS in Oz.
I use ExpressVPN. It’s reliable and is rated highly.
I believe that once the VPN tunnel is in place the ISP can’t snoop on what I’m doing? If I’m wrong I’m sure someone will correct me.
I live in NZ
The only extra privacy thing youre getting is that your internet service provider is unable to get clear metadata surrounding your connections when using a VPN which they are required to keep by law.
If at any point you become under investigation/have a warrant, the internet service provider will advise to the courts which VPN provider was used by the person under investigation. That information will be provided to the relevant authorities who will forward the request to that VPN provider.
The VPN providers will hand over your connection logs to any authority that formally requests them to save them facing any legal issues.
VPNs do add an encapsulated layer of encryption, making exploits such as MiTM attacks less likely, even though this is already mitigated through standard SSL/TLS protcols.
The only thing you should look at using a consumer based VPN for is to bypass geoblocking on sites such as netflix.
If you want true anonymity, you will need to go down the TOR/I2P route. You could also host your own VPN server in a non-extraditing country preventing your logs from being obtained through legal process.
Be aware that creating a reddit account using a VPN will usually result in a shadowban.
I use a vpn as part of a multi layer defence.
Hides my ISP ip address, which is the first thing you can do at least.
Of course have your anti virus, web browser adblock/script block and try not to open any apps as Administrator.
Stay away from desktop email apps, as they are popular attack vector and exploits are common with them.
Use a host file when not using a vpn to block ip addresses, use 0.0.0.0 and not 127.0.0.1 for TLD’s for entire countries you never have any reason to go to like *.ru for example
I use Proton VPN, have 1030 GB of storage, I use 450 MB of that so far. I use the vpn app on all devices, tv, tablet, laptop, mobile.
Costs me $12 a month. Works fine for me, speeds are excellent for streaming too.
Been happy with PIA for a few years. They have a no logging policy and do not run servers in countries with mandated logging.
Do you really get more movies/shows on streaming though?
Same here, I find the UI very simple to use.
I also used it to Indonesia and got a sub for YT premium for $6.50 AUD a month.
Makes me wonder how that works with CGNAT
Don’t connect to an AU VPN then to avoid log handovers (should advertise no logs stored however)
I was only just going to use it for my TV really. If I went VPN for the PC it would just be browsing, and I guess my usual/only account.
Thers a better than even chance you’re ISP up is shared behind a CG Nat anyway.
Vpns are genuinely the bigest snake oil, use the to geo hop and while travling if you have to use free wifi but otherwise you’re being sold a lot of bs
You definitely can access stuff that is region restricted, yeah
You do it by connecting to another country, so you get the offerings from that region. So, if there are things on a US service and not an Australian one, you could get access to it.
That being said, streaming services do have ways around it and the connection via a VPN can be pretty slow.
As Altruistic said, you can access some shows that are region restricted, that aren’t shown in Aus or have been removed from our region, but still showing in others. You can also bypass YouTube etc ‘not available in your region because reasons’ messages.