this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Piracy
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As has been noted, if you're not the customer, you're the product. You can't expect to get free, safe, and private. You'll have to pick what you value more.
is at odds with
Personally, I prefer to give my money to Mullvad than to Netflix.
I just didn't expect it to be this much. After all, two years of this would cost me €120. I expected it to be more like €50. So I guess in this case, it is about the money; after all, there is a reason why we pirate ;)
Don't worry, so would I. There is no way I'm supporting this company. It was just supposed to be a comparison.
Netflix starts at $6.99/month. That's their most basic service with ads. Yes,you pay Netflix and they still serve you ads. Want to watch Marvel movies? There's a Disney+ sub, too. $7.99 (again, with ads). Gotta rewatch Game of Thrones and catch up on The Last of Us, there's an HBO Max sub. $9.99. Can't forget Hulu, there's some good stuff on Hulu. Another $7.99/m subscription. Again, with ads!
That's a potential $32.96/month on subscription services that will still serve you ads. My point is this: the cost of a VPN subscription shouldn't be compared to the cost of a subscription streaming service, because 1) they serve two very different purposes, and 2) when you break it down the VPN sub always wins. 😉
The other commenter suggested Mullvad, and I do as well. It's what I use. It's $5, always. No holiday sales, no spring cleaning sales, no bulk discounts, nothing. And I view that as a positive thing. It has been $5/m and will continue being $5/m for a long time. It's predictable. It also means I'm not missing out by not buying in bulk. My sub is coming close but I can't or don't want to shell out the $$$ for a year? I can buy one month and not feel like I'm missing out on savings.
It's fast, reliable, I use it on my phone and my desktop. And most of all, its privacy centric. What if I told you that you could pay for your Mullvad subscription in cash?
You can put money in an envelope with your account id # on a piece of paper and mail it to Mullvad (mail does not require a return address, making this option completely anonymous) and since Mullvad doesn't keep any unnecessary personal data on your account... They just add the time to the associated account number and move on with their day. Though they recommend paying with Monero crypto if total absolute privacy is your goal.
I know, and you're right. It was just meant to serve as an expression of how surprised I was by the price.
So do I.
Apparently, people get upset when you tell them that you were surprised by something you didn't expect.
Anyway, let's not make that discussion about my view on the price of a VPN; I feel like this is kind of irrelevant.
What's more important, do you know if they blocked all those 123Movies websites? After all, this is the most important requirement I have.
Hmm. Less upset, more... Surprised. At your surprise. Lol! Surprised, and ready to discuss why it's worth it. Just out of curiosity, what price range were you expecting for quality VPN service?
That will depend. My understanding is that the VPN services themselves don't block those URLs (that would be really dumb on their part. Pay the VPN to limit what websites you can visit? Isn't the point of a VPN for many folks to get around web censorship?) but rather the website keeps a block-list of IPs that are known to belong to VPNs. I've seen a lot of sites that block Mullvad IPs... And a lot of times it's as simple as changing which location I'm routed through to find an IP that isn't yet blocked.
Haha, that's hilarious.
I guess I was expecting something between €50 and €80. But certainly nothing over €100. For two years, of course.
But you have to understand that I watch a movie maybe once a month, and I do not need a VPN for anything else. Tor works totally fine for all my other needs.
Also, I do not and never did pay for any other online subscriptions, so like many of you suggested, I would not be saving money by canceling them and spending money on a VPN instead. But I can see how it might be a great option in your case.
That's a good point; I've never thought about it this way. But if you say that one can easily find an IP that isn't blocked yet, I guess it would be fine.
Well, if you're considering any VPN service, I would recommend doing a search for that VPN + whatever services you'd be using it with. Mullvad is not great for streaming content because they don't aim to get around VPN IP blocks, and they aren't specifically trying to provide access to content outside your zone. I don't use it for streaming, so I don't run into those issues.
It's true that if you look elsewhere you can find better deals specifically if you buy in bulk. NordVPN's "Standard" package can be had for just over the upper limit you suggested, at $86.13 for your first two years before tax. No guarantees you can resub at that same price after that period is up, but they have sales all the time and if you're careful you can probably re-up at a good time. Worth looking if you're considering a VPN and price is a sticking point.