Hello, I am using Linux Mint 17.3 and I am looking for a good and free VPN (I know, maybe it's asking for too much). I live in Spain, if it has any relevance. Could You recommend me any? how do I install it?

I have read that it can bypass IPS throttling, but I am not sure whether this is true or just a myth. Can anyone confirm it?

Thanks in advance!

Hi techuser, and welcome to LQ.

If by "VPN" you mean a 3rd party service provider, there are many, free and otherwise. My best advice is to do your research and determine yourself the best option for your particular objectives.

As to being able to bypass your local ISP's throttling policy, in my opinion using a VPN service will have no impact whatsover on this. To reach the VPN service provider's servers, you will still be "exiting" through your ISP : that is your "door" to anywhere other than your local home network. The VPN service will only enable you to appear to the internet as being in a particular network segment as opposed to your usual one.

Cheers,

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If the throttling were actually based on the "particular network segment" however e.g. Netflix or YouTube, rather than based on sheer quantity, wouldn't disguising the segment through use of a VPN possibly circumvent the effects of the throttling algorithm?

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Actually, "strictly speaking," this is not quite true.

The purpose of using VPN, in situations like this, "is to deny your ISP any insight into what you are actually doing." All that the ISP – and the owners of any and every other "intermediate hop" – will be able to see is: "an encrypted packet, addressed to a readily-discernible IP."

In this way, they will be reduce to "just traffic analysis." They will still be able to deduce that you are sending packets to the IP-address of "a VPN provider that is undoubtedly known to them," but they will no longer be able to deduce what any of your traffic says.

Neither will they have any way to discover which(!) "in a particular" network represents you. They cannot discern which subnet you are contacting – nor that you are "contacting a subnet" at all – nor, indeed, any details whatsoever about exactly what you might be up to.

Unless ... the "trusted" VPN-service provider that you are contacting "has gone over to The Dark Side," and simply tells them. (Which possibility you will never be able to know...)

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You can try http://www.vpnbook.com/ and it's FREE.

Scroll down, and click the OpenVPN tab. Download one of the certificate bundles. To use VPN and the certificate, as root typeUsername and password for vpnbook is at their website at the bottom of the certificate bundles listing.

PS: While using a VPN may give you a different IP address. Some VPNs will leak your DNS/ISP provider. Visit https://ipleak.net/ to test those leaks. If you see your DNS/ISP address, then the VPN server is leaking your DNS/ISP info. Scroll down to the bottom of that page for instruction on how to prevent the leaks.

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Yes, but since OpenVPN is open source then presumably it's going to be difficult for the VPN server to divulge details about you.

What's the application being open source got to do with it?

The VPN server, and those operating it, will know what you're surfing as it is that server which sends your requests on to their final destination.

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Aha. Good point.

In which case, how in God's name can anyone surf the net while preserving their privacy?
I don't walk around town with my name and address plastered onto my forehead and I don't expect to do the same on the net.

Tor browser is a reliable method but it's slow and not a pleasant experience.
Apart from that we learn on this site that OpenVPN is fundamentally useless and Tails is something that wags on the back of a dog!

Before Edward Snowden revealed that certain Govt's were involved in mass surveillance of the public, there was a big market in VPN's.
Site's like Hidemyass and CyberGhost offered a FREE vpn service.
These were hundreds of servers located around the world offering people free vpn.

This kind of hardware (servers) and service is gonna cost a lot of money. But it was still free. Hell, even I signed up!
It allowed people from outside the US to join sites like Hulu and watch American TV/movies.
Now, you know your IP address is hidden if you can dodge DRM rules enforced by the US, right?

Days before Snowden revealed Prism to the world suddenly the free vpn's stopped working. And that's cos the free vpn's paid for themselves by effortlessly passing on browsing details to the Govt.
The free VPNs with hundreds of servers around the world begging you to use them for free turned out to be part of Prism.
IMO.

Consequently, if I come across a FREE vpn service which can offer me anonymity at the click of a button - I think twice.
Just saying.

1 members found this post helpful.

With free VPN providers, you should definitely do as much research as possible. Free providers have to make money somehow, and if it's not on premium plans or usage limits, after which you have to pay, you should assume they're making their money off your data, logging your activity and using it for marketing purposes.
Ultimately you have to trust your VPN provider has your best interests in mind, but the only way to get that level of trust is to do your homework, verify its promises and services are legit, and then take additional steps to protect yourself. There are good providers out there committed to your security and your privacy that are worth your trust. Do your research.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thre...ovider.321982/

sshuttle and a $5 dollar/mo digitalocean VPS is a good marriage.
Or

If you just need a temporary ssh account that you can tunnel traffic to visit http://createssh.com/

You get to use their ssh service for 10 days I think. After that expires, you repeat the process again by creating another user account for an additional amount of days.

Then you can create a ssh dynamic proxy to it with

ssh -D <port number> <accountname@server address of createssh.com>

Open your browser and find the settings to manage the connections. Select use proxy 5 and in the field box enter 127.0.01 and put the port number in the port field.

To: Techuser

sshuttle and a $5 dollar/mo digitalocean VPS is a good marriage.

sshuttle Download page @ https://github.com/apenwarr/sshuttle

I like sshuttle because it's like a VPN and you don't need to configure each application to use a proxy like you do with ssh.

Or

If you want a FREE temporary ssh account that you can tunnel traffic to visit http://createssh.com/

You get to use their ssh service for 10 days I think. After that expires, you repeat the process again by creating another user account for an additional amount of days.

To use ssh as a dynamic proxy type this in a terminal

-f Requests ssh to go to background just before command execution.
-C Requests compression of all data
-q Quiet mode.
-N Do not execute a remote command. This is useful for just forwarding ports.


Use a port number higher than 1024 eg. 2200

Open your web browser and go to the settings and find manage connections. Select Proxy 5 and then enter 127.0.0.1 in the field box and enter the port number in the port field box. You might or not need to restart the web browser.

1 members found this post helpful.

Don't you just love OP's that don't give feedback when they ask for help

1 members found this post helpful.

It's always possible the OP actually has a life - you know, weekends are for going out, getting drunk, that sort of thing ...

Thanks for the sshuttle reference - interesting.

I'm sure free vpns are worth every penny.