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Learn me on VPN services like I'm 5

Baboontyme

By Baboontyme
in Can You Help Me With This?

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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2821

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I'm not tech stupid. But I don't really understand a VPN service or what it does or how it works and how to protect myself. Also which services are best. As I'm getting into cord cutting I think this is something I should be doing. Don't worry about why, just esplain it to me in native tongues. I'm not going to be running a massage parlor out of my home or anything. 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31534

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 Remember that the internet is a series of tubes.

You must connect your tube to the other tubes.  That act identifies you to people connected to the other tubes and permits them to potentially hack into your tube and the machines connected to it, or steal shit coming from your tube.

With a VPN, you connect your tube to some private tubes at the VPN company, rather than to the internet at large.  They take the data out of your tube, mix it with other clients' data from other clients' tubes and send it to the internet through their tube.  So the internet at large never sees that Baboontyme's tube is connected to the rest of the tubes and never knows that Boon is on.  Similarly, because of the data mixing, they would have an exceedingly difficult time identifying Boon's data and stealing it.

Most individuals use VPNs to hide the fact that they are stealing copyright content, as by Kodi or torrents. They rely on the identity hiding nature of VPN. Those that spew highly sensitive data from their tubes also may want VPN, as might the generally paranoid.  Those rely on the data-security aspects of VPN.

I doubt that you need a VPN service just because you are cutting the cord.  Some other factors might indicate VPN, but not that alone.

Shorter, more technical description:  VPN hides your IP address from the internet, including its use to address data to and from you.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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rage-a-holic

rage-a-holic 4462

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As mentioned, you really only need a VPN if you're doing something illegal or quasi-legal you don't want tracked back to you. So if you're not using torrents/IPTV/Kodi/file shares/usenet/etc, it's not really worth spending money on.

On the other hand, if you're a raving tin foil hat lunatic like a couple of my neighbors, who believe Google is spying on them and every internet click is dangerous, a VPN may help you sleep better.

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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2821

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3 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

As mentioned, you really only need a VPN if you're doing something illegal or quasi-legal you don't want tracked back to you. So if you're not using torrents/IPTV/Kodi/file shares/usenet/etc, it's not really worth spending money on.

On the other hand, if you're a raving tin foil hat lunatic like a couple of my neighbors, who believe Google is spying on them and every internet click is dangerous, a VPN may help you sleep better.

Yeah I have to imagine my end game is going to involve some of this. I have a broad spectrum to cover if I intend to cut the cord and I am somewhat ragey and intent on cutting the cord at this point. It's already in motion. 

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52-80

52-80 19241

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its like money laundering.  but for your internet traffic.  what you want to consider: speed.  ease of setup (are there apps or browser extensions or do you have to code in the configuration).  many different points of access or few.  whether the company will sell out your data or succumb to governments. 

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bschoolprof

bschoolprof 6272

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This falls under the umbrella discussed above, but some people use them to "mask" their true geographic location.  This can be useful if one wants to, say, access a streaming provider's content in another country (i.e., use a VPN to make their servers think you are coming from that country) or to get around geographic blackout restrictions for products like MLBtv.  

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23115

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do you want anyone other than your browser company, maybe your malware & anti-virus, and maybe your computer OS company know what you are doing on the net?  when you are on a hotel, airport, or any public wifi, are you ok with the risk that someone can see all that you do on the net, which may include text messages if you have your phone connected to wifi?  do you want your isp to know about your midget porn fetish?  so you want surly assholes to be able to ip trace you to your home so that they can shit your house like ronald miller did to kenneth wurman in Can't Buy Me Love, the greatest teenage love movie in the history of the world?

if you answered no to any of the above questions, get a vpn.  if you are ok with the possibility of people and companies seeing what you do online, then don't vpn.

at the very least, if you going to conduct any financial transactions over public wifi, get a vpn, or don't conduct said transaction over public wifi.

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23115

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to rage's earlier question, what's your motivation for vpn?  

if it's nefarious shit that can lead to prison time, then first you probably shouldn't be doing it.  now that's out of the way, if it's nefarious shit, then you want to pay with bitcoins or gift cards, anything that's not traceable to you.  dloading torrents and pirated media may or may not fall into this category.

if it's just to hide your internet traffic from spying eyes, then don't worry about hiding your payment.  

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bschoolprof

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12 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

to rage's earlier question, what's your motivation for vpn?  

if it's nefarious shit that can lead to prison time, then first you probably shouldn't be doing it.  now that's out of the way, if it's nefarious shit, then you want to pay with bitcoins or gift cards, anything that's not traceable to you.  dloading torrents and pirated media may or may not fall into this category.

if it's just to hide your internet traffic from spying eyes, then don't worry about hiding your payment.  

what about midget porn?

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23115

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then i wouldn't worry about going through the trouble of hiding your payments.  

 i got vpn decades ago to hide my dloading habits.  but working for many many years in a big telecom company, i know how much shit can find out about users' usage.  it's not big government that you should be worried about.  unless you are looking to blow up shit, you don't have anything that they want.  however, there are several people in your isp, cell provider, etc who have access to all of your data within their network.  probably the same for engineers who support google chrome and microsoft browsers.  bored dudes with little supervision can get nosey.

i mostly always use vpn out of habit.  just don't like the idea of any more people than necessary seeing my shit.  some people seeing your shit is almost unavoidable.

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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2821

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Let me ask another question, I saw that NordVPN is the top rated service but it's capped at 6 devices. I'm going to probably want more that right? I am going to be running 4 firesticks, a Roku my personal laptop and my work laptop all just in my home office/media room. I guess maybe I don't need to protect my work laptop or Roku as I don't think I would have anything illegal coming through there. Or is it one of those things that if I have the service, I want to protect everything in my house because chrome shares my CC #, passwords, etc.

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rage-a-holic

rage-a-holic 4462

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12 minutes ago, Baboontyme said:

Let me ask another question, I saw that NordVPN is the top rated service but it's capped at 6 devices. I'm going to probably want more that right? I am going to be running 4 firesticks, a Roku my personal laptop and my work laptop all just in my home office/media room. I guess maybe I don't need to protect my work laptop or Roku as I don't think I would have anything illegal coming through there. Or is it one of those things that if I have the service, I want to protect everything in my house because chrome shares my CC #, passwords, etc.

I use PIA. They have deals all the time and I think I pay around $25/year.

The thing you need to keep in mind here is how you're accessing your VPN. If you just use a laptop/desktop, it's not a big deal, since most major providers have an app that runs in the background, connecting you to their servers.

Using devices like Firesticks/Roku/Smart TVs is a different animal. For those devices to use a VPN, you need to have the VPN set up on your router, and you need a newer, high end router with plenty of CPU/RAM on board. VPN encryption/decryption is CPU intensive and your speeds will suck if you have a slow router.

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rage-a-holic

rage-a-holic 4462

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42 minutes ago, Baboontyme said:

Interesting, I figured I would be able to download an .apk or something for each firestick. 

This is my router. http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/datasheet/en/R6250.pdf

Will this be good enough?

 

 

Some VPN providers have apple/android apps you can install, but then your Firestick/Roku/SmartTV is going to be using a lot of CPU to run that app. That will affect your stream speed and quality.

The best method is to have one central device doing all the decrypting (your router).  The one you posted looks to be 3-5 years old, so it may work, but a newer one will be better. You'll need to read the manual and use google to see if it supports VPN.

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23115

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1 hour ago, Baboontyme said:

Let me ask another question, I saw that NordVPN is the top rated service but it's capped at 6 devices. I'm going to probably want more that right? I am going to be running 4 firesticks, a Roku my personal laptop and my work laptop all just in my home office/media room. I guess maybe I don't need to protect my work laptop or Roku as I don't think I would have anything illegal coming through there. Or is it one of those things that if I have the service, I want to protect everything in my house because chrome shares my CC #, passwords, etc.

That's 6 devices in use at the same time. You can have VPN installed on 20 devices, only 6 at one time can use the service.

 

There are pros and cons on installing VPN on the router.  Rage touched on the router hardware issue. Just know that ALL of your traffic on that router with be encrypted. It will have the IP location as the address location.  So any website determining location based on IP address will think that you are in that VPN IP's city. And some sites simply do not work with VPN host IPs. For those reasons I don't have VPN on my router. YMMV.

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rage-a-holic

rage-a-holic 4462

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2 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

That's 6 devices in use at the same time. You can have VPN installed on 20 devices, only 6 at one time can use the service.

 

There are pros and cons on installing VPN on the router.  Rage touched on the router hardware issue. Just know that ALL of your traffic on that router with be encrypted. It will have the IP location as the address location.  So any website determining location based on IP address will think that you are in that VPN IP's city. And some sites simply do not work with VPN host IPs. For those reasons I don't have VPN on my router. YMMV.

Good points. I have a mesh system that most stuff in the house connects to wirelessly, but a separate router just for VPN. Only the devices that need VPN are connected to that router.

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23115

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19 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

Good points. I have a mesh system that most stuff in the house connects to wirelessly, but a separate router just for VPN. Only the devices that need VPN are connected to that router.

That's actually a really good idea.  Hadn't thought of that.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31534

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2 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

Let me ask another question, I saw that NordVPN is the top rated service but it's capped at 6 devices. I'm going to probably want more that right? I am going to be running 4 firesticks, a Roku my personal laptop and my work laptop all just in my home office/media room. I guess maybe I don't need to protect my work laptop or Roku as I don't think I would have anything illegal coming through there. Or is it one of those things that if I have the service, I want to protect everything in my house because chrome shares my CC #, passwords, etc.

Simpler answer, get rid of fucking Chrome.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32426

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10 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

This falls under the umbrella discussed above, but some people use them to "mask" their true geographic location.  This can be useful if one wants to, say, access a streaming provider's content in another country (i.e., use a VPN to make their servers think you are coming from that country) or to get around geographic blackout restrictions for products like MLBtv.  

VPN user here for when I need it (public wifi).  But....another neat feature of a VPN is getting different rates on hotels on cities you will visit, if there is a VPN endpoint in that town.  Case in point; I was pricing rooms in Vegas recently.  From home I had one price; fired up the VPN, set the endpoint in Vegas, cleared cookies and cache, and the room became $50 a night cheaper.

YMMV, but it's worth playing with.

 

Oh, and PIA user here.  Rock solid.

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2821

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Thanks guys for everything here, seriously. I'll get some reps around. I bought Nord because the reviews are solid, the pricing is good, and they have an app in the Amazon store. Does not seem to be affecting performance.

I am streaming 4 TVs no problem in my media room/office. Plus I think my kids are streaming upstairs. Bandwidth is not an issue.

Got you tube TV working, the guide is good enough for me.

The foil to my plan is that it appears the service I was going to use to stream multiple NFL/college/NBA games only works on one device at a time with a single account. It works for like a minute on multiple (which I tested) but then freezes. So I guess I have pay for additional subs of that or come up with another way to watch multiple streams at once. Even if I have to buy two more subs and stream from the main TV on YTTV only, still way cheaper than what I've been paying with Dtv.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31534

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34 minutes ago, Baboontyme said:

Thanks guys for everything here, seriously. I'll get some reps around. I bought Nord because the reviews are solid, the pricing is good, and they have an app in the Amazon store. Does not seem to be affecting performance.

I am streaming 4 TVs no problem in my media room/office. Plus I think my kids are streaming upstairs. Bandwidth is not an issue.

Got you tube TV working, the guide is good enough for me.

The foil to my plan is that it appears the service I was going to use to stream multiple NFL/college/NBA games only works on one device at a time with a single account. It works for like a minute on multiple (which I tested) but then freezes. So I guess I have pay for additional subs of that or come up with another way to watch multiple streams at once. Even if I have to buy two more subs and stream from the main TV on YTTV only, still way cheaper than what I've been paying with Dtv.

That you are futzing with the amazon store tells me your firesticks aren't running Kodi or some non-stock software.  In that case, and with your Roku, not sure I would bother VPNing those connections.  Amazon, Roku, and their services are getting the info anyway, and it's not unlawful.  Nor would I VPN Youtube tv.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31534

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38 minutes ago, Baboontyme said:

Thanks Twice. Appreciate your input but that's not correct. I have Kodi and another app that is paid that I'm planning on using to stream live content.

At one time, you had to install straight android on a firestick to get operational Kodi, I thought.  Apparently not?

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31534

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11 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

Not for many years. Must have been prior to 2016, because I had Kodi on several sticks then and all it took was sideloading an apk.

Yeah, my knowledge of them dropped off shortly after they came out.  I even want to say it was still called XBMC.  Tempus fugit.

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