I have a noob question. I have tried Proton VPN plus for 1 month and I’m thinking about paying it for a year but if I just want to surf the internet with a better privacy isn’t just enough using the free servers. What do you recommend me to do?
If you care about your privacy, you need to change some habits first while surfing, then you also need to stop using some known services. A paid vpn is a good tool but it’s not enough .
Like others said, habits need to change. Vpns really only keep your data secure by encrypting the traffic. This does bring some benefits: location changes, IP changes etc. But your browser itself will reveal your GPS location, timezones, and even computer info like GPU/cpu, screen size and more which counters your VPN unless you change settings. For keeping your data secure, yeah their free VPN is plenty, but you are limited to certain things, my biggest, is that there is no P2P traffic allowed on their free tier. So no torrenting, and sometimes games may flag as P2P and proton will kick you off the server
The quick answer is maybe? Probably?
A few basics, there are only a small of handful of free servers. If you are located in the same country as the free servers (USA, Netherlands, and… 1 other?), then that may not be an issue, you won’t see much speed slow down.
Second, and the big one, is that you should always be suspicious of free VPNs. How are they are making money? Usually…because they are profiling you, and selling your information to ad profilers. If you don’t want that, you are extending a trust to Proton that they are NOT doing that. Now in Proton’s case, their financial model is obvious. They want you to pay for the plus. They sell their VPN. The free tier is their claim to being generous, and giving people who can’t afford plus, a convenient but limited option, with the hope you’ll upgrade.
Are they being honest with that? I’d like to think so. I’d like to think their clear financial model is enough to sustain the idea that they aren’t also monopolizing free users, that it is a public good they are offering.
That might be true.
but always be suspicious.
as long u dont need P2P or port forwarding free is totally fine.
It’s good I pay you to get ten connections so I share that with friends so works out £5 a year each proton doesn’t keep any information about you or see what you’re doing online.
As to alternatives, visit techradar.com
Learn how to configure FireFox. Learn how to turn off geolocation and IP address, including WebRTC. VPNs can only encrypt your traffic and keep you safe to an extent
For me…just the access to the additional servers and being able to block ads, trackers and malware is worth it to go to ‘Plus’…but being able to pick from all the servers is where it’s at
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It’s OK to use the free tier of ProtonVPN to just surf the internet with consideration of online privacy.
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if you want to do more things on the internet other than viewing web pages, like torrenting, streaming and travel abroad, then get a paid subscription is a must.
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Using ProtonVPN in all east Asian countries is great even there are severe censorship under some communist regimes. And in that particular circumstance, the App doesn’t work. It need you to manually configure you device to connect to your VPS on which there is a connection to the ProtonVPN server and expose you VPS’s service on the internet with the IP of a ProtonVPN’s exit node.
Privacy, first use uBO on your browser, and set up dns for rest of your mobile apps
And then disable history and personalization from your google account
He’s right, paid vpn is useful but not enough
On android it’s great, but for some reason it now takes forever to connect on windows. It used to be connected before I even logged in now the app doesn’t even start for a minute after and then the connection process is a slog.
Apparently the entire US telecom infrastructure has been hacked by China, so maybe a VPN to another country could help at least keep the US ISP from knowing your traffic (and therefore China).
This is so freaking true! Like turning off location services, signing out of Google when doing searches, using other browsers like DuckDuckGo with a Tor app is a great way to aid in keeping your data secure while also using a VPN to offer that extra layer of security. I would also add to use a fake email for anything other than personal or business related matters and use things like Facebook as little as possible.
I have changed a lot of surfing habits and degoogled by far my phone and my pc. I have read a lot about privacy-focus services. That’s why I was wondering if it was a really necessary step to pay for the VPN or just use the free servers.
Games flag as P2P on paid or free version?
I don’t understand number 3.Could you explain further?Thanks.