What is a good VPN to use on mobile?

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Apr 7, 2019
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VA
A few months ago I changed carriers from Google Fi over to Mint but they don't give you a VPN whereas Google included it. I've been using Nord and have been totally unhappy with their service when using it on my phone but the experience with their desktop version on my pc has been quite good so far. I've tried their suggestions from changing it from TCP to UDP, I mostly use the location that's the closest but I started using the next one out and it still acts up... basically the internet locks up and acts as if there's no connection and does nothing, you can try to open the Nord app but won't even finish loading so you have to go into your network settings where it says VPN and you can click that to disable and then you can open Nord and reconnect. This typically happens several times a day, some more than others and am just tired of having to fight with it on a constant daily basis. I had gotten a special deal for 2 yrs and already wanting to ditch it, I thought I could get by and hold off but sometimes it gets better and then it's back to being worse again.

I don't mind paid software as long as it's good, typically you can find them for a few bucks a month. My friend said he could help me set something up on my server at home since I'm already using PFsense as my dhcp server but that will only work on the home network when I'm there. The one Google provided actually worked quite well and I never had these issues with it, I just didn't like having to pay for the data I used, their plans are reasonable but the data you've used gets added as a separate charge so it's extra.

I don't think it's the phone itself, I bought a new Pixel 6 Pro and is running the current OS along with all the other updates, when not using Nord everything works fine and don't have these issues, sometimes at work I have to power cycle the cable modem/router when the wifi stops working but that's a different issue altogether and related to that unit and Comcast which is why I hate those things and never found any that actually worked well without their issues.
 
If your friend sets up a vpn server on your Pfsense firewall you can securely access that when you are away from home. This would route all traffic through your home router out through your ISP.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will chime in to fill in the gaps.
 
If your friend sets up a vpn server on your Pfsense firewall you can securely access that when you are away from home. This would route all traffic through your home router out through your ISP.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will chime in to fill in the gaps.
Yes he's mentioned that to me but I was under the impression that it wouldn't work away from home but need to research it more, he said that for his work they use Checkpoint. He helped me setup PFsense when I upgraded to 1gb internet most consumer grade products can't reach those speeds and my Ubiquiti router was the bottleneck.
 
I use SurfShark on my iPhone. Completely flawless for the past two years.
Thanks, currently checking them out, seems like a good deal they are running at the moment. I don't really care about speed so much I just want it to be reliable and stable.
 
I use an OPNsense firewall and can access my home fiber internet connection away from home with OpenVPN. It has proven to be fast and reliable for me. And it costs nothing since it's running on equipment I own and control.
PFsense can do the same.
 
I use an OPNsense firewall and can access my home fiber internet connection away from home with OpenVPN. It has proven to be fast and reliable for me. And it costs nothing since it's running on equipment I own and control.
PFsense can do the same.
He just got back to me and said that I could run Open or Wireguard but that's the fastest and they'll both run from PFsense.

I think he's wanting to go for a ride tomorrow so I'll be able to talk with him more about it, he had mapped out a 200 mile ride from his house and back. I know that I could set it up but he has a lot more experience with that stuff than what I do. Once setup it sounds like an app I'll have to setup on my phone that uses the same VPN that we'll configure in PFsense.
 
Curious why you feel you need to use a VPN? Are you concerned your cell phone carrier can see your non-encrypted traffic?
No not that, I use public wifi a lot and having a VPN is just an added layer of security when checking email, checking acct, etc....
 
No not that, I use public wifi a lot and having a VPN is just an added layer of security when checking email, checking acct, etc....
Ahhh, OK.

Then yes, your buddy's suggestion of just using your PFSense box makes the most sense. That's the lowest cost option for sure, and won't have the performance hit that the free commercial solutions have.
 
Ahhh, OK.

Then yes, your buddy's suggestion of just using your PFSense box makes the most sense. That's the lowest cost option for sure, and won't have the performance hit that the free commercial solutions have.
Yes when Nord works it's great and don't really notice the speed drop with everyday browsing, I tried their anti-malware solution on my desktop and it was horrible so had to stop using that, it's crazy their desktop version works fine but then it's the total opposite on my phone, about the only issue I have is with my credit unions website that evidently they don't like VPNs and I can usually connect to another server and I can login just fine, there is a game that I play sometimes but can't remember which one but has issues with the VPN as well when connecting.

I'm trying their St. Louis server now, I mostly use Manassas because that's the closest and Charlotte was the next one out but wasn't any better during the short while that I tried it.
 
my Ubiquiti router was the bottleneck.
was this old or outdated? The UDM pro can do gigabit. the new model has 2.5Gbit ports.
Although I like pfsense it does take abit to keep it going and updated.
 
was this old or outdated? The UDM pro can do gigabit. the new model has 2.5Gbit ports.
Although I like pfsense it does take abit to keep it going and updated.
I was using their er-10x, evidently has an inherent limitation on throughput and could only get around 600mb or so, I didn't find that out until I had upgraded Comcast to gigabit and I had already upgraded from an old Linksys wireless router but could only get around 200 mbps using wired connection back when I upgraded to their 300mb plan.

With the er-10x I found there was a configuration change that I could've made but from reading online it was hit or miss but still wouldn't be able to support the full gigabit speed.

I really liked the Ubiquiti router and it worked very well, I thought it could handle the bandwith as it technically wasn't a consumer grade product, I still keep it around as a backup if the PFsense goes down I can hook it back up and continue on, I have a separate AP on the network that doesn't provide any dhcp so the router handles everything.
 
I have https://www.vpnsecure.me I dont use it often anymore but I bought a lifetime subscription at a incredible price some years ago.
Kind of funny but I recently used it on my MacBook Air the week you posted this while vacationing in Florida using the condos unsecured free wifi. Just made me feel better.
 
Nord would hardly work at all on my phone until I changed it to Open VPN TCP. Now I get full speed all the time. I have not made any changes to the phone's vpn settings. Whatever the app did is all that has been done.
 
I use the Mozilla VPN, reasonably priced and I like to support the only company that still has a browser which ISN'T based on chromium. And they are privacy focused and the actual application uses wireguard which is great.
 
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