Good, cheap VPN for personal use?

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Level 4

2,537 points

Good, cheap VPN for personal use?

I want to start using a VPN for home and when i use my PB at hotspots. Don't want to spend alot per month. I've heard of a couple VPN services like VforVPN and hotspot VPN. Anyone have experience with these or any other suggestions?

thx
lenn

iMac Core Duo 1.83/1gig, Mac OS X (10.5.1), PB 12"/768ram, iPod Touch

Posted on Dec 12, 2007 6:14 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

malcontent

Level 1

10 points

Mar 4, 2008 7:49 PM in response to lenn5

http://www.witopia.net

the personalVPN service is only 40 bucks a year and gets you unlimited use of an openVPN SSL VPN (witopia has one click installer) and a PPTP VPN account that will work on Panther, Tiger , Leopard, your iPhone, whatever.

Been around a while. Extremely reliable. Good support.

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Answer 2

lenn5 Author

Level 4

2,537 points

Mar 4, 2008 8:15 PM in response to malcontent

Thanks for the reply! What i'm most concerned about is the speed of the VPN. I've heard some are slow and others are very fast. Is there a noticable difference for you when using personalVPN and when not?

I've heard good things about http://www.hotspotvpn.com/.

lenn

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Answer 3

Victor44

Level 1

0 points

Mar 11, 2008 10:01 AM in response to lenn5

I spend $9 per month (on a yearly subscription) with Surfbouncer (http://www.surfbouncer.com). Uses Openvpn which works great with Mac. No problems at all and excellent service.

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Answer 4

Mar 14, 2008 12:59 PM in response to lenn5

witopia VPN is extremely fast. i have a fios fiber connection and I don't even notice when it is on. amazingly, it actually seems to increase my upload speed too. I use Skype with it a lot, and again, it actually seems to improve the voice quality. I've used it since 2005 and it's been very reliable. best of all, it's only $40 for openVPN AND a PPTP account (I use on my iPhone). Not sure why it's so much less expensive, but who cares? 🙂

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Answer 5

lenn5 Author

Level 4

2,537 points

Mar 27, 2008 8:38 PM in response to malcontent

Thanks for the replies!

One more question regarding Witopia. Can you install the SSL version on a desktop and a laptop and use the vpn service on both but not at the same time? Let's say i'm using it on my iMac at home then want to take my PB to the coffee shop and use their hotspot. If i shut off my iMac will I be able to use witopia ssl on my PB?

Btw, how does the PPTP account work on your iphone. I've got a touch.

lenn

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Answer 6

lenn5 Author

Level 4

2,537 points

Mar 28, 2008 4:03 PM in response to lenn5

I signed up for Witopia personal vpn today. Installed the ssl version on my mac and the pptp version on my ipod touch. Installing the software was very easy on the mac and all you have to do on the touch is enter some info in the Network/VPN settings screen. After using the VPN service for about an hour i can't really tell much if anything of a speed difference than without the VPN on. Everything seems to be running fine.

lenn

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