I won a free 30 day VPN key from a Voat, sponsored give away provided by “Private Internet Access.” Here is my review I agreed to give at the end of the trial. Please read. it’s not good, unfortunately.
If you are not aware, about one month ago, a company, Private Internet Access, was willing to do a sponsorship give away here on Voat. https://voat.co/v/Voat/3235210 I was lucky enough to be on at the time, and got my submission in on time to win. The stipulation was that, whoever won would give a review at the end of their trial period.
Let’s make something clear, I did not want to give a bad review to this VPN. They are (were?) an entity willing to take the risk of paying for advertisement on Voat. So it sucks it isn’t something I can endorse. I will try fail at being brief.
WHEN it works, it works well. “When” obviously being the important word to take away from it’s capitalization.
I thought saying that it “only worked %50 of the time” was a slight over exaggeration for the first two weeks of use. Nearly 30 days later, I am convinced it is an extreme under exaggeration.
Lets start with the good:
The API (what the user sees/uses too interact with the program) is simple, easy to use, and strait forward. I like that.
When it worked, it worked well, transmitting data at a very nice speed. I would, for most browsing, forget it was on. To include torrenting*. Those connections would also last hours, the entire time it was connected, without flaw. LOVED THAT.
They have a lot of servers all over the world, with at least 6 that were close enough, to be under 100ms.
When a connection failed, the application does not let data through, which is good if you don’t want a failure to expose you.
That’s it for good.
The Bad:
THE SHIT DOESN’T WORK FOR MORE THAN HALF THE TIME, AND EVEN ONCE CRASHED IN WAY THAT POSSIBLY EXPOSED ME.
Lets break down the normal experience. I try to connect to a server; EVERY time it would say I was connected, but only half the time it would give me an IP. Of that half success rate that would give an IP, only half of THAT time would it pass data. Why the fuck should anyone pay for a service only working %25 time they try to use it? This wasn't just a single server issue, it was a problem trying to connect to multiple servers in search of a working connection.
*Torrenting... This fucking VPN would slow down the moment a torrent port was used, even for Bitchute! Fuck me if I tried an actual torrent. this would be after using it normally for a decent time. To be fair, once it decided to accept torrent connections, it would work fine, but go ahead and roll that dice, chances are, your connection was fucked and you get to start all over.
The one, and only one time it crashed, it was while I had torrents running, and the connections defaulted to my actual IP. My ISP already warned me once when I didn’t use a VPN, and that was for all of 3 torrents. I don’t torrent, and really did it again to stress test this VPN. Now I get to wait around to see if I get fucked because of it.
DO NOT PAY FOR “Private Internet Access” (PIA) VPN. It is garbage.
I plan to repost this again tomorrow (Friday) at a better time, as well as Saturday. Verbatim (nearly.) I don’t care about the up/down voats, I care that Goats are informed about this shit.
I tried contacting @Puttitout via PM before this business week, attempting to get a rep to fix this shit, and again yesterday; Nope ( and I get his shit if flooded but it was a reply to his PM, I would think it would stick out.) I also submitted a help ticket with PIA to get a hold of me via PM (through Putt.) Nope. I really didn’t want to give a Voat sponsor a bad review, but if Putt wont do a quality check on a sponsor that he himself shilled, than why the fuck should I, or any Goat trust any other sponsor?
Again, I wanted for this too be good so I could encourage the sponsor to stick around with a good review, but I wont lie for that hope alone.
EDIT: I said the "%75 normal experience", rereading, that doesn't completely make sense. I guess I meant that %75 or the %100 experience was bad, which is better explained after. Removed the %75 part.
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RustyFender1 ago
I used to use them then became aware of 14 eyes. Being located in America they are part of the five eyes. However I always had good service from them.
ConservativeDev ago
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Armpit_and_Ass ago
I've been running PIA since early 2016, and while your problems with it aren't invented, There are ways to fix almost every single one of them.
Some servers work better than others. Just because a node is at the top of the list with the shortest ping time doesn't mean it's the best one to use. You're not the only one using the service; if it's the fastest connection for you, it's also the fastest connection for hundreds or even thousands of others. There are times when you may want to settle for a ping time in the high 80s or even 90s over the 60s or 70s, just because that node will run more smoothly than a busier one.
From the problem you describe
Sounds like you are (or were) running with the default setting of using UDP instead of TCP, and that your ISP blocks or throttles UDP traffic because it's indicative of nefarious activity. (Looking at you, Comcast.) This would seem to be confirmed by your statement
It's not about the port, necessarily, it's about what's going in and out of that port. You can change the used port in your torrent program. The default torrent ports in many torrent programs (6881-6889) are monitored, blocked, or throttled by many ISPs. (Looking at you, Comcast.) I always go for something way up in the list - 46573 or 51835 or something, since most of the Chinese and Pooinloo bots that roam the internet won't bother scanning that high.
Of course, all this assumes that you have opened your selected port in your firewall.
I will say that torrenting is the main reason I use a VPN, and PIA performs well enough for me that I've been using them for over three years now, and while it's not as fast as my bareback connection, it's fast enough for my tastes.
This, again, is something you need to handle on your end. In QBitTorrent, for example, you go into the settings and configure the client to run on the network device that PIA created when it was installed. That way, when the connection is dropped or lost or resets for any reason, torrents stop running (since it's configured network adaptor is unavailable) until you restart the program. PIA even has a built-in "kill switch" that shuts down all network activity if and when the VPN connection is lost. Why would you not use that if you're using your connection for less-than-scrupulous activities?
AFAIK, PIA shitcanned their user forums like six months or a year ago, but you can always put in a support ticket and get help. They're friendly enough. Some documentation still exists or has been archived if you take the time to search for it.
TL;DR: lrn2internet
Brush up on basic networking.
Explore the settings available in your VPN client and in any programs you may be using with it.
Stop being such a faggot
Adminstrater ago
Thanks for putting in this much work. You are the MVP for sure.
Crensch ago
PIA worked for me for quite a while. Used it all the time.
OP must have a very particular setup that doesn't mesh well with it.
Chap ago
I use ProXPN. I have it on my Windows 10 Pro custom made pc and my iPhone and iPad. I just don’t use it anymore.
I’m an adult, and don’t hide what I do and say online.
matthew-- ago
It's not about being an adult. It's about where you live. Call it what you will, but when you get taken away to the Gulag for having a copy of Anarchist Cookbook (from 10 years ago) or having a copy of Tarrant's shooting... you get the idea.
And I'm not fucking around. In the UK at least, simply having material that may be "useful" to terrorists is enough to get you 10 years in prison. The law is so loosely worded and they have no qualms about abusing the justice system to lock you up for wrong-think.
SharpSliceOfMango ago
It works perfectly for years now. I use it on a Banana PI router to put my whole outgoing traffic through PIA VPN. I use the Netherlands and Polish VPN exit servers, they work good.
They have OpenVPN config files on their website. I use the config files with:
openvpn --daemon --mute-replay-warnings --config Netherlands.ovpn
I changed the config a little bit, deactivated compression etc
LordOfTheRope ago
I've gotten a month trial too and I haven't had any hiccups. I've only ever used it on mobile, though.
observation1 ago
Anyone else notice the shill responses?
DrSelfAppointed ago
To your comment about me saying API and calling me a retard; You are confusing/conflating an acronym error in someone's speech with an inability to use a program who's GUI(which is what I meant and should have known to say) is well designed to work for the most simple users. Sucks to be catching dumb shit from you, considering I normally agree with the arguments you have to say.
The reality is, the program didn't work, nothing of my settings prevented connections when it would choose to work. I don't have some outrageous settings with firewall or antivirus that should in anyway prevent it working. The program shows a connection, claims I have a new IP, and just doesn't pass data; and this is the best case scenario that didn't include actually working.
I never used auto anything, and would manually choose my servers, hopping around multiple connection sources across the globe, just trying to get anything to work. The program was updated, and to this very moment, I can not secure a connection that will pass data. I might not be a top level power user anymore, but I aint the average jack hole you find on the street either.
HitlerDinduNufin ago
Ive used express vpn for about two years. Usually ok, often it makes the internet too slow and frequently unreliable.
matthew-- ago
I use it too.
It's slow (streaming 144p can be a challenge), expensive as fuck and there have been moments where it hasn't worked for a week at a time... but then again, I'm in China, so they're probably actively working around the clock to circumvent whatever bullshit China throws at them.
If you need a casual VPN in a western nation, there are better options. If you're stuck somewhere where they really try to fuck you over, spend the extra cash and go with express.
HitlerDinduNufin ago
Yup. Im in China too. High five.
matthew-- ago
High five I guess.
It's not where I'd rather be, but these are the life choices I made. Could be worse.
HitlerDinduNufin ago
I hear you. Pretty miserable existence in many ways, but I have a nice apartment and paid off all my debts.
matthew-- ago
Fair enough. If you're ever in Nanjing, give me a call. We can go out for a burger or something. Blue Frog have fairly decent burgers.
HitlerDinduNufin ago
Im in Beijing. Bluefrog is great!
Corpse_washer ago
I like honest reviews.
DrSelfAppointed ago
It isn't perfect, but I am trying to be honest, thanks.
GumbyTM ago
You're system has a problem. Used them for years, never had anything remotely like the connection trouble you describe. (I use their keys but run connect with openvpn not their client)
Torrent speeds will top out about 3M, this is the nature of VPNs and encryption.
Lock your torrent client to your vpn interface.
bman0321 ago
I've had PIA for 4 years now, never had problems. I run a the torrent proxy through the VPN and I still max out my isp speeds. I run the kill switch and check for least periodically and never had it leak my ip.
smackdownfletch ago
It's worked well for me for years. It would crash on occasion, but my it'd just kill my connection and I'd have to reset it. No big deal. That hasn't happened once since they changed to the newer client.
theshopper ago
I won a free 30 day VPN key, from a Voat sponsored give away, provided by "Private Internet Access." Here is my review I agreed to give at the end of the trial. Please read it. Unfortunately, It's not good.
FTFY
DrSelfAppointed ago
I couldn't use correct grammar because of the 200 character limit. It's maxed as that title is.
lordv1ldemort ago
I've been using it constantly for 2 years, and recently heavily on my phone.
CaucasianWhiteBoy ago
Just use Nord. They always do 3 year deals for like 80 bucks. Can't beat that price. They have servers all over the world and they are based outside of the U.S. It's a solid VPN imo
TheGrandMaster ago
Based where exactly?
CaucasianWhiteBoy ago
They are based out of Panama.
CaucasianWhiteBoy ago
Switzerland
DrSelfAppointed ago
Ty
derram ago
I've been using PIA for a few months now and havne't had many issues.
So far the only things I can complain about are: I've found one website that seems to be blocking the IPs of the vpn and captchas seem to get really paranoid when I have the vpn on. Oh, and the Linux version exploded in memory usage once, ate up 10 gigs of ram, and crashed my pc.
If you're having connection issues, try disabling the auto connect and choose which server to connect to. There's been occasions where the app connected me to servers that were pretty far away. Didn't really notice much difference myself, but that might cause some connection issues.
DrSelfAppointed ago
Hey derram! Your one user I always like to hear from. To your suggestion, I never used auto, it was always a manual search for servers. Seems like plenty of people have had no issue with it. I would think if it was total hot garbage, there would be users coming to say so.
475677 ago
I have PIA and it's great for general browsing but it definitely shits the bed when I try to download anything and outright fucking dies if I torrent on it.
MyNameIsMud ago
I switched from PIA to NordVPN and never looked back. I really like the killswitch function which will disconnect the wifi if the VPN disconnects.
DrSelfAppointed ago
Well, if I can just download it and have it work, might be a better option.
WatchListMe ago
Dude I think you’re a moron, I’ve had PIA for 4 years and so love it. Never once has a torrent not worked- if it’s slowijg down it’s because you’re to incompetetant to use data encryption in your torrent client. RSA
ADDITIONALLY- if you got warned for using your own IP then you aren’t connected to the VPN. Simple as that. I feel so sorry for PIA because you’re dumb inconpetetant ass is giving thek a bad rap and it’s only because you’re a moron without any basic knowledge of how ISP detect torrenting.
You need to encrypt, every 68 IQ nigger knows that but not you apparently.
DrSelfAppointed ago
Well, that warning came before I used any VPN, and never had problems with other ISPs in the past, but I don't really torrent much at all anymore. But hey, I must be dumb because I can't even connect to a PIA server using their own program? How about some big brain nibba like yourself explain to me how doing any encryption would some how prevent PIA from slowing down a bitchute connection? Bet a dollar you can't, and are just flopping your digital cock around for your own self gratitude.
WatchListMe ago
The API is NOT the same as GUI. Idiot
DrSelfAppointed ago
You are correct. GUI is what I meant. Also, fuck you niggerfaggot.
WatchListMe ago
This nigger faggot knows how to configure encryption in data transfers which everyone who torrents MUST do. So I guess that makes you a somilian nigger faggot wearing a “I’m with her” shirt.
DrSelfAppointed ago
And I am sure that knowledge has been bountiful for you. Is configuration of others work your limit, or do you actually create anything? Don't answer that, I really don't care, just as I assume most people in your life don't either.
WatchListMe ago
What the fuck did you jut st say to me you nigger faggot? I’ll have you know in ran the largest gas chamber in Auschwitz. I have personally killed hundreds of niggers from a dozen countries. I’m going to hunt you eh fuck it I’m to tired for this joke right now. Fuck you too gay fag
DrSelfAppointed ago
Love you too, you dark skinned gimp
Chiefpacman ago
Good review.
Just my two cents, it worked fine on my phone. Was surprised by the speed and never really noticed it.
DrSelfAppointed ago
When it works, it works great, I agree the speeds were fine. "WHEN"
Chiefpacman ago
Maybe it's location?
I'm not the best judge. I basically just use voat and pay some of my bills online. Not a heavy workload for any vpn
DrSelfAppointed ago
That isn't a bad hypothesis by any means, it's just the behavior suggests that it isn't, or at least, is only a small portion. I'm not in an area that is close to a hub, but I am only a few hops away. Also, if that were the case, anyone who has reported it working fine would have the same issues trying to connect to a server that was outside their country.
Gingercuntfirecrotch ago
I’ve been a customer for a few years and I’ve never experience those issues. The only time I had issues was with using the mobile app but they seem to have rewritten it since and works better since.
DrSelfAppointed ago
win 7 pro 64. I kept the API up to date as well. As I am typing this I am trying to connect to a server again...
1 min later...
I was connected to a server, given the same IP as my normal IP, and no data was passed.
Gingercuntfirecrotch ago
By api you mean their app right? It’s possible that you may have other issues causing connection issues. If you care enough, you should contact their support team.
DrSelfAppointed ago
Yes, that is what I mean. The API is what a user sees and interacts with, the visual portion of a program. Not an application, but that is semantics for most. To what I do know of this stuff, that isn't an impossibility, it is just a bit off as being the only culprit. But you are not wrong in thinking they SHOULD be able to help. If you scan a bit more, you will see that I at least tried to do that before this review.
Gingercuntfirecrotch ago
Sorry I stopped at dont pay for PIA. Funny enough, you mentioned it right below.
And as the other user said, it’s GUI, graphical user interface. An api is something a developer would use when accessing a 3rd party service, for example, a using a voat api to develop a voat mobile app.
Hope you get your issues resolved.
Rotteuxx ago
You sure you don't mean the GUI ?
My trial is up tomorrow, I'll post my review then
DrSelfAppointed ago
Yes, I did mean GUI. someone else just caught me on that too, and I don't doubt more will as well.
Charlez6 ago
It was funny how sure you were of yourself, even lecturing us on what an API is, but at least you acknowledged the mistake.
TopTierCIAShill ago
Dear PRIVATE INTERNET ACCESS.
I'm looking for a VPN and I don't give a fuck if you sell my data since all I'll be using you for is torrents for shit that is and isnt on Jewflix.
I'm willing to give you my shekels if you fucking fix your shit for fuck sakes hire white people and stop hiring pajeets to code yer shit.
cheers,
shekelmeister
Gingercuntfirecrotch ago
You might wanna read this and this
don’t quote me on this but iirc, PIA is a sponsorship of TF, so take that for what it’s worth.
DrSelfAppointed ago
That's good info
teamviewer ago
If they're telling you the truth...
ggolemg ago
Pia works great for me and has for years now. Literally always on, I have it set to autoconnect on my phone and I have a tasker task that launches it when the network changes, perfect.
DrSelfAppointed ago
You are the second one to mention your phone app working fine, I did not use it that way. I could postulate that there is a possible connection, or that you being a confirmed paid user gives priority. In any case, this was not my experience. Have you tried Bitchute or torrents in general? I can say without doubt, that those connections were met with a sudden change in the service behavior for me.
ggolemg ago
I have and it's worked fine. How fast is your internet connection? We're @ > 100mbs so that might mitigate it.
Gorillion ago
I use it on PC. And so far it's been pretty solid. The new interface is a big improvement over the old. On the old you'd occasionally get no response to right clicks when you wanted to jump to a new node.
Strangest thing I noticed was just yesterday, when I jumped to a Silicone Valley node and 4chan came up as blocked, lol.
Checked IPLeak to see if there was something going on there. But seemed fine. Came back when I jumped to a southern node.
Silicon Valley blocking it's locals from the Channed truth I guess.
IPleak is a good quick check to see if your ip and location are properly switched.
I'm not on a super fast connection to start with, so I don't know if your drop in performance is due to being used to some crazy big speed getting knocked down to what I usually get. I tend to download videos than bother watching them live as it saves stalling/freezing behaviors. Also I load fucktons of tabs, which kills video playback pretty good too.
Do you have some fucky overly aggressive antivirus on your system? Some pimped out custom firewall settings that could be attacking PIA? I know they have user forums. You could go see if you're experiencing a known problem.
Also on Win10. Don't know if Win7 is the issue, but you could check.
Note though: they've announced they're upping prices. So their success is not driving prices down at the very least. Worth looking for another cheaper vpn option anyway if you're getting shaky performance. It's essentially an Anonymous User Tax at this point. The more you can minimize it the better.
DrSelfAppointed ago
The slow downs I did experience were more like a total stop of data being transfered, web pages wouldn't even load once I would start a bitchute video. That wasn't an every time thing, but was a majority.
Nothing too crazy system security wise, though you might have a point on the ISP front. To be honest, I don't think I am going to look into it. If I were to be putting money into, I would rather just it work, fair or not.
One thing is for sure, you are right that they couldn't be that bad if they are able to up prices. Plenty of people here are defending it. My experience isn't changed by that, and I feel justified in my review of it. Thank you for taking the time to discuss it.
thelma ago
Did they at least flood your email inbox with penis enhancement ads ?
I miss those.
Gingercuntfirecrotch ago
Short story about my uncle that no one probably cares about.
My when I was younger, I convinced my uncle to buy one and they sent him a condom with a 3inch dildo glued to the tip, formed to fit your wiener.
thelma ago
once you speak in the past tense, I think we know that you were younger.
Look, all those Lit classes I went to finally paid off .. all 3 of them.
Gingercuntfirecrotch ago
You think I would come on the internet and lie? Who would do such a thing?
thelma ago
You do have a time machine.
WatchListMe ago
yah good scam. If penis enlargement worked every man on earth would have a 3 foot long cock
DrSelfAppointed ago
I will compliment them on not requiring an email for my trial or if I wanted to sign up. I will try to remember to add that as part of the good when reposing this tomorrow.
thelma ago
That's pretty much a requirement for VPN, yes?
Wonder how many do require an email ?
DrSelfAppointed ago
Not sure, I guess when you ask me to consider it, I would hope so.
thelma ago
My system if completly open.
Someone uploads/DL .. just say "wasn't me!"
Just don't forget to MT your recyle bin. And reformat your HD every day.
DrSelfAppointed ago
a daily format seems excessive, but not something I could totally argue against.
thelma ago
I do it 3x a day.
I guess it depends on how many threatening emails a day you send to the jews in the senate.
lordbastiat ago
This is why you should only use VirtualShield VPN, the only source I go to for my VPN content and needs.
http://i.4pcdn.org/pol/1502619390518.jpg
asdf23 ago
Uhh.. Maybe if you didn't user it for illegal and high bandwidth shit...?
DrSelfAppointed ago
Well, first, I would need to get a connection to do that. Getting a connection was a problem from day one. Also, Bitorrent isn't illegal and was just as much affected. Oh, and torrenting is one of the main selling points of the VPN industry; Along with just hiding your ip for anonymity.
What if I wanted to stream fully legal movies that are region locked, say from (((netflix)))? That would be pretty high bandwidth wouldn't it? It's a paid VPN service that, as far as I know, doesn't mention bandwidth restrictions, and didn't restrict it once it was excepted.
Your argument is moot, try again.
asdf23 ago
Uh huh
tlamatini ago
For what it's worth, it has worked well for me for about 2 years
ConservativeDev ago
Same. I use it every day on Android with both wifi and mobile data, and on Ubuntu with WiFi. I've had zero issues.
ruck_feddit ago
Same. In the weird event I torrent something, I use the proxy settings without fail.
DrSelfAppointed ago
How often do you use it? I suppose if always is your answer, a more important thing to ask would be how often do you turn it off and at a later time try to reconnect?
ruck_feddit ago
It's flawless on my phone. Sometimes on PC the client gets pissed off (technical terms here) if I exit without first disconnecting. With my linux machines, like Pi's, I've never noticed it doing anything it wasn't supposed to.
I've connected to server locations that had poor speeds at that moment, but switching to another fixed the issue. A long while ago, us-midwest shit the bed for a week or so forcing me to connect to Florida or Texas. With torrents (I rarely torrent because it's for niggers compared to usenet), I use the socks5 Netherlands proxy without issue.
I have had sites get shitty likely from shared IP abuse or something similar, but it's been so long I don't have an example for you. I also set it up to work on my entire LAN probably a year or so ago and it was a bad experience, but it was really more of an experiment than a necessity.
I'm not suggesting you're wrong in your review. I've simply never experienced problems beyond what I listed above in 2-3 years of use.
DrSelfAppointed ago
I defiantly tried multiple servers in and outside my region/country, that didn't seem to work for me. It's been working for you, that's good.
And as for torrents, I had a hard time trying to find anything I even cared to want. I really just wanted to test the thing. I have seen a bunch of new movies I have not seen. To be honest, it only reaffirmed my avoidance of theaters. Nothing has been missed.
ruck_feddit ago
I saw you're on win7. If you're going to torrent, put the socks5 proxy credentials into your torrent client.
I'm just wondering if there's some other underlying cause of your problems. I have a friend out in the boonies with 15mb adsl. He gets stupid speed tests while connected such as 1mbps all the way to 40mbps which the latter is physically impossible. I always assumed it was his isp's dslams being old school or maybe how they nat'd customers?
I just think it sucks you're having a bad experience with something you technically won. You might be outside the window now, but for anyone reading - use the proxy for torrents.
DrSelfAppointed ago
At this point, what ever damage done is done, and I really don't care to do any torrenting. Thank you for the tip, regardless. Honestly, I changed professions away from networking years ago, no ccsp or other certs for me anymore.
tlamatini ago
I just disconnected and reconnected on my phone a few times and it actually takes less than 3 seconds to connect
DrSelfAppointed ago
Well, to this, and the other response a few mins before this, I would say: I am happy that it has been working for you and your needs without flaw. I also wish I had the same experience, but I didn't. Also, that I am not maliciously trying to sink them by saying so.
tlamatini ago
I use it every day at work on my phone since I don’t get cell service and the hospital’s firewall is very restrictive. I used to encounter frequent drops in connectivity until the mobile app was updated a while ago. My music streaming service would stop buffering or a mobile game would disconnect. Doesn’t really happen anymore... I have noticed that when I’m connected on my phone and driving around I get disconnected often.
But the connection on my desktops is great. I’ll stream baseball games through mlb.tv that are blacked out locally without issues. That’s pretty much the reason I got it- i follow a local team but can’t stream the games through mlb.tv because of gay cable restrictions unless I connect through a vpn and it does well.
Steelerfish ago
Fair review. Keep us posted if you ever do end up with any resolution to the problems you experienced.
DrSelfAppointed ago
Will do
heygeorge ago
I imagine they will respond after hearing this.
DrSelfAppointed ago
I'm not sure I care if they do, why would I want them to play some back end games to improve just the squeaky wheel? I had 30 days of what should be the same service as anyone else.
heygeorge ago
I think it would be nice if Voat’s sponsor had a decent service.