this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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my sub to proton is winding down in a couple months and i'm not sure im gonna stay w/them

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[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 14 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Airvpn has port forwarding and goes on sale during seasonal holidays.

Use mullvad if you know you aren't going to torrent at all and just want IP spoofing with performance.

Don't use free vpns or other companies, they literally could be Israeli mossad fronts.

Proton CEO is a NATO liberal.

[–] whatdoiputhere12@hexbear.net 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

what do you think of vpns that use residential isps (are there any)?

basically a vpn that would use a local isp (like a Vodafone ip for UK or Germany) so you can avoid websites blocking you for using a vpn

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 3 points 5 days ago

Probably would work for geo-spoofing, but in most cases mullvad vpns haven't been blocked so much.

You can roll out your own vpn quite easily with something like tailscale and route all your traffic through your home machine.

[–] communism@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago

If it's just like, using a friend's IP address, it's not really serving the same privacy purposes as you won't have the same IP address as loads of people, unlike using a commercial privacy VPN. I use Mullvad which is notorious for being blocked a lot, and even I can use the internet nearly completely unimpeded.

[–] spectre@hexbear.net 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Mullvad doesn't allow torrenting?

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Mullvad disabled port forwarding, so you are essentially kneecapped while torrenting as some private trackers require participants to port forward and being stuck as a leecher isn't fun.

[–] spectre@hexbear.net 2 points 5 days ago

Ah makes sense

[–] StillNoLeftLeft@hexbear.net 6 points 5 days ago

It works fine for me.

[–] communism@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 days ago

Mullvad or IVPN if you don't need port forwarding. AirVPN if you need port forwarding.

[–] tactical_trans_karen@hexbear.net 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

MULLVAD WORKS FINE FOR TORRENTING PEOPLE!!! I use it all the time, you don't need port forwarding.

[–] communism@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You can torrent fine without port forwarding, but having port forwarding is helpful for seeding (which everyone who can safely do it (i.e. everyone who can afford a decent VPN) should do; it's good etiquette and keeps torrents alive). Without port forwarding you can only seed to people who do have port forwarding, whereas with port forwarding you can seed to everyone.

Ohhhhh! Okay, I must have missed that!

[–] humanrogue@hexbear.net 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

If your only goal is piracy, a debrid service might be better

[–] take_five_moments@hexbear.net 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] humanrogue@hexbear.net 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

You pay someone else (a debrid service) to torrent for you (approximately $3/month for 6 months), and you download the files from their site when it's done.

The benefit is that if you want a popular file, chances are they'll already have it available and there's no waiting for them to finish the download.

And you don't need a VPN because your IP isn't shared with any of the other torrenters

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Well you missed the holiday deals but mullvad, air (if you’re not Italian), windscribe and of course proton are the usual suspects.

Air, windscribe if you’re paying for it and proton if you’re paying for it are the ones with port forwarding.

Mullvad takes cash and doesn’t store user accounts.

E: what are you trying to accomplish? A person trying to dodge their employers spying is different than one who just wants to access banned pornography sites is different than one who wants to avoid run of the mill government scrutiny is different than one who is under active investigation etc.

[–] take_five_moments@hexbear.net 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

nothing that interesting just pirating movies and games

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago

You want air if you’re not Italian.

[–] Homme_Tanks@hexbear.net 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I agree entirely with hello_hello.

Air is good for torrents but I think the eddie client sucks and it has no split tunneling which is also annoying (though not a problem if you are confident setting up openvpn). If you buy two years during a sale it is super cheap. I had continuity issues with the client on android that I did not with Mullvad or Proton.

Mullvad is great on pc and android, but no port forwarding could potentially impact your torrenting activity. The gift card system to add time to your account is fantastic.

I switched over to Proton and have been using their whole suite lately. I like their stuff so far but I'm honestly not sure if they are registered in a SSEUR jurisdiction or not

[–] TheModerateTankie@hexbear.net 6 points 5 days ago

I've been using mullvad through tailscale for $5 a month and it's worked very well. A lot faster than my old VPN, Private Internet Access which I think got gobbled up by the Isreali company that owns a lot of VPNs. I'm sure tailscale is going to start charging one of these days, but right now it's free for home users and makes home networking pretty wonderful.

[–] 420lenin69@hexbear.net 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

It depends on your use case.

Torrenting movies without getting fined / sued? Use whoever is cheapest.

You want to protect your identity from the cia? Get a burner phone with a removable battery that doesn’t have a camera (or cover it) and only use public WiFi.

[–] communism@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 days ago

Get a burner phone with a removable battery that doesn’t have a camera (or cover it) and only use public WiFi.

This advice really depends on what you need to do. Most people in this boat would benefit more from using something like GrapheneOS that provides actual security. If you're talking about cheap burner phones you can buy for a bit of cash, those will be running proprietary OSes and using entirely unencrypted comms like SMS. Besides, their association with people like drug dealers means that I wouldn't be surprised if some of them come with purpose-built spyware preinstalled. The burners will work for some narrow use cases, or if you can't get your hands on a Pixel phone, but for most people with state level threat models it's poor advice.

[–] chgxvjh@hexbear.net 2 points 5 days ago

Burner phone is only private so long you don't contact personal contacts, log into identifiable online accounts, or take it home. It's really not practical general privacy advice.

[–] chgxvjh@hexbear.net 4 points 5 days ago

I have mullvad but it's blocked by so many websites, it's not funny.

[–] LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net 4 points 5 days ago

I can vouch for AirVPN. Made the switch when my PIA sub finally ran out. Definitely don't use PIA, it's an Israeli company.

It was a seamless switch for me, but I can't vouch for any of their client software since I only use binhex-QBittorrentVPN.

i've used a "build your own" plan from Windscribe for a couple years now. Built the cheapest one possible and came out to $3 a month. I use it entirely for pirating movies/tv shows and its been super quick, never had any issues. I never looked too deep into security issues or anything like that, all i know is my torrents work and they're quick for a price cheap enough i can forget about it