VPN - Which one and how?

[tgood]

Hi all!

So, going to get a VPN provider for my Vero4k and have a few questions.

I have installed the openvpn Addon from the Brian Hornsby’s repo. Is it just a simple as putting in your username and password from your subscription chosen VPN in the settings or is there more involved?

Knowing how things change constantly, which VPN is considered best value/workability around at the moment?

Ideally, I would have it installed on my Mac and Vero 4k. I have also installed DD WRT on a spare router and was thinking of installing the VPN directly on that but that may be more involved for my tiny tete…

All comments appreciated.

Thanks,
M

I

[Tom_Doyle]

Hi,

@tgood

I have installed the openvpn Addon from the Brian Hornsby’s repo. Is it just a simple as putting in your username and password from your subscription chosen VPN in the settings or is there more involved?

https://discourse.osmc.tv/search?q=Brian%20Hornsby%20order%3Alatest

@tgood

Knowing how things change constantly, which VPN is considered best value/workability around at the moment?

I’ve been using PIA for a few years, I’ve found them to good value and stable:

Private Internet Access: The #1 Best VPN Service For 10+ Years

Thanks Tom.

[tgood]

Thanks Tom…good info. Just hoping it’s ‘plug and play’ that was all.
I have a free Windsribe account (10gb per month max) but that doesn’t work with the Addon…I think I need the premium version…is there a free one I can test within the Addon?..only need 10 mins or so to test it out…it’s just I’m worried my terrible bandwidth (4.4mb) together with a VPN might make my viewing experience pretty poor!

Thanks,

Michael

[Tom_Doyle]

Hi,

Looks like windscribe will work with the Zomboided vpn addon:

Install Any VPN, including Windscribe

I know there are numerous mentions of “install VPN” in the General Discussion, Help and Support and How To sub forums. I have read most of them. I also tried the “Brian Hornsby” method. However, I cannot get past this common error as reported by a fair number of community users: “An error has occurred whilst trying to connect OpenVPN. Unable to connect to OpenVPN management interface.” Admittedly, I am not an advanced user. My skills are limited to some familiarity with Linux commands, SSH…

Thanks Tom.

[thansen_dk]

I am using Zomboided VPN manager with PIA, and it very easy to use, and is configured via the Kodi user interface.

After it is installed, just input your user and password, and follow the guide.

Home

[tgood]

Thanks Hansen-dk…this is the info I was after.

M

[Bialykot]

I’ve used PIA, Nord and finally chose Express VPN (using Zomboided) and all worked well. Express was just a bit faster in throughput after encryption, so settled on that).

[tgood]

Sounds good…I can’t activate any of the free ones on the Vero…just get errors…like Hide.Me and Windscribe without subscribing to the proper paid full service…I guess I am going to have to just dive in there…PIA looks a good bet…with Express VPN in second place…just hoping it works straight out of the box…

M

[thansen_dk]

My experience is that the free VPN’s is no good.

[Bialykot]

You can always purchase one month initially as a trial, and see how you get on with it.

[tgood]

Thanks all…I’m going to try PIA on the yearly package at €3.10 p/m…and if it doesn’t work within the first week I’ll cancel and get a refund. Just more concerned about my feeble bandwidth being reduced even further this end…currently at 4.2mb…which is borderline for most stuff…and that’s before you introduce a teenager into the mix!

M

[Bialykot]

Well vpn definitely drops the speed somewhat. Mine slows down to about 1/3rd of no VPN on the Vero 4K+.

[tgood]

Oh no! this is not what I want to hear…is his all VPNs or just some?
M

[sam_nazarko]

We don’t have an opinion on which VPN provider should be used. If we were to take a stance, it’d probably be that you don’t need one.

Keep in mind that VPN services aren’t necessarily more safe or more secure. All they are doing is shifting who can see your browsing; in this case, from your ISP to a third party company.

Their main uses would therefore only be beneficial for avoiding geoblocking (not guaranteed) and not necessarily in maintaining anonymity.

Any provider that implements the OpenVPN standard (pretty much every provider) will be compatible. Wireguard support will also come too in the future, and should theoretically be easier to setup.

Sam

[Bialykot]

Dependent how implemented, vpns usually require some processing power for encryption etc. So the more powerful processor you have in your streaming device or computer, the better it is for throughout and speed. You’ll need to try it and see. I get around 300 Mbs without VPN on my Vero and about 70MBs with VPN.

[dillthedog]

@tgood

my feeble bandwidth being reduced even further this end…currently at 4.2mb…which is borderline for most stuff

I assume this means 4.2 megabits per second. With any VPN, there is likely to be a small drop in bandwidth, simply due to the longer path the data must take, but the CPU load at this speed will still be very low. (FYI the 4K and 4K+ both support hardware-based encryption, unlike the RPi.)