Some VPN questions

Vanilla · 6 Dec 2011 at 07:05

Hi all,

I'm a brit in Australia and looking into a VPN so I can watch some US services and also things like BBC iplayer, which I miss dearly.

I'm very new to the whole VPN thing and had a few questions.

1.) If I had a VPN from Sydney to London I guess my ping would suck?
2.) If the above is true do the bigger providers (like StrongVPN) have software that allows me to switch between servers? So that when I wanted to do some gaming I could easily turn it off or point it at a local server easily?

Any kids down with this sort of thing?

KIA · 6 Dec 2011 at 09:48

Ping would increase. You can disable the VPN after you're done watching TV.

marmalade · 6 Dec 2011 at 16:11

You have to have the vpn situated in the country whose programs you wish to watch ( UK for the BBC ) The vpn can be axed when you wish to disengage it.
The are a number of VPN providers that would be suitable and they are cheap enough to test out
Why not check out beevpn or Strong or somesuch

https://www.beevpn.com/
http://strongvpn.com/
http://vpnuk.net/shared-ip.html

The best means of connection is using Openvpn software which is what I use with
http://mullvad.net/en/services.php
situated in Sweden ( they don't keep records so even if asked can't oblige - good for journalist etc)

https://vpnuk.info/docs/setup-windows7-openvpn.pdf

https://www.ipredator.se/

Some of those Ozzie politicians are trying to model OZ on China - with Dental Surgeries winding up on the banned list!!

Ps you know that in OZ the nearest Mcdonalds is probaly your nearest wifi connection- its great in the toilet making a phone call via a netbook

In order to check how you are connected one can use this site - Go to the lefthand cullumn and choose "more info about you"
http://www.whatsmyip.org/more-info-about-you/

Vanilla · 7 Dec 2011 at 01:16

Thanks for the info.

So this OpenVPN software - is that the program that runs on the desktop and you can pretty much select from a number of different VPN servers in different countries depending on what you need? (or depending on which servers a VPN service provider offers?)

If so, that sounds easy and up my street.

KIA · 7 Dec 2011 at 11:35

Vanilla said:
So this OpenVPN software - is that the program that runs on the desktop and you can pretty much select from a number of different VPN servers in different countries depending on what you need? (or depending on which servers a VPN service provider offers?)

Yep.

AlexD · 7 Dec 2011 at 14:27

Get a VPN provider which allows you to do split tunneling and then you can route just specific traffic over the VPN and the rest bypasses the vpn.