Are VPN services good?

[Seby]

I saw many ads for VPNs at good price.

 

[FancyMancy]

I'd be sceptical, both about the big ones and the small, free ones. If they, in actual fact, do not keep logs and also give options for you to buy them in ways which are not traced back to you, and also if they are secure in keeping your anonymity, then they might be OK. You should do a lot of research into them. For example, google different years for the best or top 10 VPNs, e.g. "Top 10 best VPNs of 2017" and "2018" and "2019", and compare. Also visit computer help forums and ask on there for more.

 

[Jack]

Download tor

 

[Hp. Hoodedcobra666]

If you want anonymity then Tor would be better for this. If you pay and you hide behind a VPN, it's related to your payment, and you can only hope they do not log.

Granted you do nothing illegal the VPN can actually provide you a little more anonymity and some extra protection. The downside is, if they log activity, your privacy will be compromised at the root level and they will be able to examine everything you do on the web.

The only thing a VPN does is protect you from your internet service provider, but puts you at the mercy of the VPN company.

Tor solves all the above problems. If you have serious anonymity concerns, use Tor with a bridge.

 

[Shael]

If you want anonymity then Tor would be better for this. If you pay and you hide behind a VPN, it's related to your payment, and you can only hope they do not log.

To add to this topic, try to find a VPN that accepts cryptocurrency payments. ProtonVPN does this, to name one example. This way you can keep payment details anonymous.

 

[The Alchemist7 [JG]]

If you want anonymity then Tor would be better for this.

People say Tor is extremely surveilled for this reason and that your provider can see that you are using it, which can attract their attention on you.

Also some VPNs are claiming that they do not log activity. I have no idea if all of them are lying with this. Also you can pay with Bitcoin for some VPNs so is way more difficult to trace the money to your real bank details in this case.

But I think it's all about hiding from your internet provider and hiding your real IP adress when entering websites. In rest we cannot really hide from anything else. The police can find people and their locations even on the Deep Web where you would expect the highest anonimity.

 

[WiseDragon]

If you want anonymity then Tor would be better for this. If you pay and you hide behind a VPN, it's related to your payment, and you can only hope they do not log.

Granted you do nothing illegal the VPN can actually provide you a little more anonymity and some extra protection. The downside is, if they log activity, your privacy will be compromised at the root level and they will be able to examine everything you do on the web.

The only thing a VPN does is protect you from your internet service provider, but puts you at the mercy of the VPN company.

Tor solves all the above problems. If you have serious anonymity concerns, use Tor with a bridge.

And the downside of tor is that it's slow af. The service is quite good tho. But only tor doesn't protect you totally. You have to do some more things to be (almost) totally anonymous. Fortunately not many people know how to bypass the protection of tor and find your real ip, and it takes some time. So you're good.