Is Surfshark still a good VPN?

Is Mullvad better than Nord?

I don't know. I've used both. Mullvad is more expensive, but it's fast and easy to use.

Quote: Originally Posted by jj. If you want to use a VPN service, it is probably better to use a VPN service than to buy a router that offers VPN capability. This. I've got an ASUS RT-AC66U (and a DD-WRT v4.0.1 build on it), and it's fantastic for streaming Netflix, etc. But I can't stand having a VPN on all the time. I set up my laptop to use Mullvad and it works great. I just need to set it up to use Mullvad when I'm on my laptop and NordVPN when I'm on my desktop (I keep my router in my office).

Also, Mullvad is free to use for 10 GB of traffic per month. Yes, I did. But Mullvad only allows traffic through when you are connected to WiFi.e. When you are connected to a VPN, the traffic is blocked. I don't know if NordVPN allows this, but I would assume they do.

As for price, Mullvad is more expensive. NordVPN is free, but if you want to use their paid services, you can.

I will say this though: It's not hard to set up a VPN with your router, so it's not a good reason to buy a VPN router. I have no idea what kind of bandwidth these routers provide, but I don't think it's anywhere near what the big boys provide. The ASUS RT-AC66U has a download rate of 5.6 Mbps and a upload rate of 2.8 Mbps. It's not a fast router, but it's not bad either.

You can also buy a router that provides VPN capability. I've used Linksys and Netgear routers that have VPN capability. I had no problems with them.

Is Mullvad still the best?

I am considering buying a VPN service for my desktop and laptop. I want to know whether Mullvad still remains the best choice, or if they have improved? I want to be able to use my desktop at home, and my laptop on the road. I want to be able to access the US Netflix on my laptop without getting a warning, and be able to access the US BBC iPlayer from my laptop without being blocked. I want to be able to access the American version of Facebook without being redirected to the UK version.

I don't think anyone can really give you a 100% reliable answer for that. Mullvad has always been one of the better services out there, but there have been instances where they were blocked for no reason, just to mention a few. Their performance is also not perfect. Some of their servers do drop packets (quite a lot), and sometimes their performance suffers. And you can change the country of your account at any time.

What is your budget? What are you looking for? If you need fast and cheap, then Mullvad is probably not the best choice. They offer an unlimited free plan, which is great, but it is also very slow and sometimes you get a "Sorry, we are currently experiencing technical difficulties" message. If you want to change countries at any time, and you are willing to pay a bit more, then Mullvad might be the best choice for you.

If you are willing to spend some money, then you should probably look into ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, NordVPN, IPVanish, and CyberGhost. The big advantage of these services is that they have a lot of servers around the world. You can select a server which is close to where you are, or even close to where you want to connect from.

This is something you will want to think about, as most VPN services have servers in the United States, the UK, Canada, and Australia. And they usually all offer a free plan, but it is usually limited to just a few hours a day. So if you are only using a VPN on your laptop, then you will be limited.

Should I get NordVPN or Surfshark?

There are a lot of question on the internet about NordVPN and Surfshark, so here I'll sum up some points to make an informed choice. Let's start with the basics first: So where do they come from and how are they built? Surfshark uses your PC for the network traffic encryption and thus needs its own hardware. On the other hand, NordVPN encrypts the traffic through the internet using servers, so it's in the cloud. You download all the software on the device you use (usually your smartphone), when you install it on the device it creates a connection and starts encryption instantly.

Both vendors also maintain strict policies regarding your anonymity. How is Surfshark different from NordVPN? The VPN tunnel created by NordVPN consists of lots of nodes connected to the internet. For Surfshark the tunnel is formed in two stages: The first stage is to connect the router or home computer to the ISP. There the ISP will encrypt all traffic that passes between you and the ISP in order to protect your IP address. When you do the initial download/installation, you actually install the software on your computer, which will route the downloaded Surfshark VPN software to the ISP over which your web browser would use the internet.

That might be good for a fast startup but this method is not suitable if you need the best privacy. For example, your ISP could keep a logfile of IP addresses to and from a given source. Your computer will not necessarily know, so it will not create a VPN tunnel to it. Furthermore, Surfshark requires a specific application to start the VPN tunnel which means you must run the software on the client machine - not what you want in a simple setup.

If NordVPN encrypts the traffic through the internet, while Surfshark only encrypts it through your router, one might wonder how Surfshark protects the users traffic, especially after downloading it, since your router's firmware is open source? The answer to that is that Surfshark is creating a secure link between you and the ISP in your particular case. Surfshark has not been found to be storing user-identifying information or sell this to 3rd parties.