What are
/r/surfshark's
favorite Products & Services?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
The most popular Services mentioned in /r/surfshark:
Surfshark
BrowserLeaks.com
OpenDNS
DNS leak test
Google Analytics
FreeTube
Privacy Redirect
Driver Store Explorer
Windscribe
The most popular VPNs mentioned in /r/surfshark:
The most popular reviews in /r/surfshark:
Surfshark is decent, but lately I've been having better speed and connections using NordVPN. I feel like the customer service is better too
> Basic billing information and order history.
> We collect only the basic billing information (e. g. payment amount, currency, date of the payment, card expiry date) and order history to process your orders and to comply with applicable legal requirements. We also support anonymous payment methods (you can purchase the Services with cryptocurrency). If you make payments using our third-party payment service providers, all payment data you provide will rest with them. To understand what personal information the payment service providers collect and store, please refer to the respective provider’s terms and privacy policy.
To process payments they need to hold onto your payment information as according to their local laws. You always could use Crypto as your preferred payment option if you’re that concerned.
Surfshark One is a package that includes the vpn, anti virus and other security oriented services. If you are interested in those then it is the deal offered. https://surfshark.com/one
The vpn service is the same for the bundle deal. Personally I would only get the vpn service as it is good.
If you have your real IP exposed most likely it is a WebRTC leak. Basically WebRTC is a technology which allows your browser to connect directly with other browsers via IP used on sites like Discord or Google Hangout to get better connections. Surfshark has a guide about how to disable WebRTC on your browser.
Additionally maybe even after solving the WebRTC leak, you can still have a DNS leak which should not expose your real IP but it's still a privacy and security risk because it may give access of your online activity to your ISP. About this problem I'm not very sure how to solve it apart of installing the Surfshark app on your computer and connect to the VPN again on your PC.
Thanks for the reply. Before surfshark I used ExpressVPN and had no problems with that either. The ovpn file is the one generated by the provider, so I'm not sure the settings. My general upload and download speeds are also slower with Surfshark compared to the others. I think the Melbourne server is just slow, but don't know if it's possible for Surfshark to do anything about it (or even if they care)..
My Nas is a Synology 918+.
Ok- I bring news! So my sister was digging through some info about this and after clearing the cache, then you should restart your computer (or tv situation?). It worked for me just now! (With NordVPN- I used to have SurfShark and it kind of stopped working for me) I’m located in the US and use my computer, but thought this tidbit might be able to help. Good luck!
My Nord subscription is also ending in a couple of weeks and I have started to try SurfShark as a replacement for Nord. So far so good. Pros - cheaper than Nord - unlimited devices to use with your account - app clean and simple - speed is okay (only when using the WireGuard connection) - works great with Netflix, Disney+ and AmazonPrime
Cons - OpenVPN speed is slower than Nord - less servers around the world than Nord
Will see how it goes on the long run. For now I will keep SurfShark and drop NordVPN when my subscription ends.
From my understanding, Surfshark is better than Private Internet Access. Also, "Private Internet Access was acquired by Kape Technologies." Kape used to make malware under the company Crossrider. I also don't trust any VPN headquarters located in the U.S. because this country has been suing VPNs. I also read streaming sites have been blocking their servers. Pricing does sound reasonable though.
I switched to Surfshark from Private Internet Access based on the incessant recommendations from Troypoint, I have to say there is good and bad but I think your correct about server location issues. Many US servers are overloaded or simply don’t work even though they show low usage. I’m switching servers way more often.
I had to give Mullvad a try because it’s a crowd favourite here on Reddit. The last few months I had Surfshark, I keep getting errors on Netflix, but I haven’t had errors on Mullvad yet. Then again I don’t use Netflix a lot…
My two-year subscription ended a while back, and while Surfshark’s pricing is among the best, I don’t think it’s worth through all the trouble. I’ve been using Mullvad for a few months now and haven’t had any problems so far.
In short, they used to go by another name and their business was literally to create malware. Not my idea of a security company.
'According to the Justice Department, ExpressVPN CIO Daniel Gericke and two others worked as hackers for hire for the UAE to develop “zero-click” attacks capable of breaking into internet accounts and devices, including those in the US. '
In the past I've used Nord, PIA, and ExpressVPN, and I had no problems (that I can remember) with those. I'm having a few issues with SurfShark. Connections have locked up (even with the Kill Switch off,) there are web sites that seem to block connections from SS addresses... I haven't thoroughly tested LAN visibility, rotating IP address, or NoBorders. Frankly I'd rather not get any more annoyed than I've been.
I find the app to be poorly designed. The last one seems pretty easy to address, but I don't know what their priorities are. Time after time I have to wander through config sections to turn something on or off--that couldn't be too hard to fix. Aesthetically, I find their app to be a bit backward, but I'm a lot more concerned with function than appearance.
It works for torrenting, though oftentimes the speeds are mediocre. I bought a 28-month plan, and it was inexpensive. At times I wish I'd cancelled within the 30-day window, but I didn't.
On the other hand, they do have some creative features. Location spoofing on Android is nice, and is very effective. (You can do that yourself for free, but still,) the Kill Switch has a few methods to choose from, and it's been very effective. I really like that they allow stock WireGuard connections--ExpressVPN & Nord (if I recall correctly) created their own, proprietary versions of WireGuard. Not ideal, but not a show-stopper for me.
In all, I'm satisfied, but there's definitely a lot of room for improvement. Having an unlimited number of connected devices is amazing, and $60 for 28 months is very cheap. If I had more income, I'd prefer ExpressVPN. For connecting my devices to one-another, a free TailScale account is just amazing.
I recommend it. Despite of I've created the kind of hurting post about their privacy policy recently here.
I investigated (in this comparison that the NordVPN uses the same 15-minutes logs, the same as SS. You know? So, for much cheaper price of SS you actually get the same as NordVPN provides. Not less.
But if you can afford Express I'd recommend it. Or MullVad. But I'm not sure about how Express prevention of service abuse works actually. Maybe they save kind of ID while you are in and delete it as you disconnect too. Maybe not. But they should do that somehow.
I'm still hate the "15-mins logs" policy. That's crap.
I noticed that different websites show different geo info about VPN providers IPs. Some websites show me it's Argentina, some GB etc.
Would you try to open the in chrome incognito window and tell me if there is price in ARS currency appear for you? If you got it then the problem may be on my side somewhere (but on each IP changing I always cleared all browsing data).
BTW, the same happens with Turkey servers but ... oh, okay. I actually need it 1 or 2 times per year. But it drawback. Tried ExpressVPN today, which is don't have the such issues. But it is more expensive.
I am going to add my voice.
Surfshark on my iPad and iPhone constantly have this issue of disconnecting my internet connection. Everything works after I disconnect and reconnect to Surfshark.
This is not an issue on Android phones. This is an issue ongoing for years. Is there a reason nobody there can figure it out? The issue existed before they were bought by NordVPN and they still cannot fix these problems.
Great. Now please fix the many glitches in the core VPN service. I must say, absolutely nothing else has done more to make me appreciate ExpressVPN, PIA, and Nord than using SurfShark for a few months.
What's been truly amazing is reading back over those many "reviews" comparing SS to other services, and seeing how uniform the language is. SS's app is better (no way,) speeds are higher (nope,) reliability is better (hah!!) they have better features, etc etc. There's is no way that anyone could use SS for a week or two and honestly believe that it beats the other big name services in any significant way.
The only points where SS is better are: price, spoofed GPS location on Android (something that can be done with free tools,) and an unlimited number of devices. Their Kill Switch seems to work better than some others I've used. Oh, I do really like the fact that they support non-proprietary Wireguard connections.
Most of my interaction with SS at this point is shutting it off after discovering some new issue. I wish I'd just stuck with my old service.
I prefer Surfshark over Mullvad personally for a few factors. One of the reason is the 5 device limit and no option to buy more devices, I would have to pay twice. I use it for 3 computers, 1 cellphone, and two virtual machines.
It never works? As in, the app won't connect, and the taskbar icon doesn't change from gray to blue? I have difficulties with Surfshark that I never had with PIA, Nord, or ExpressVPN, but the app always connects to a server.
This sounds to me like something else might be interfering. Your ISP, a firewall, etc. Are you able to install the SurfShark app on a mobile device? Try it on the same network your Windows PC is on.
>All I see on reddit page is : “complaints”
This is the nature of the internet, online forums and often review websites. 99% of people that have no problem will not come to the internet, reddit, forum and tell about how good a product or service is. Only if something goes not as expected people run to the internet to make a big deal out of it.
Look at it from the other side. What do you think how many user Surfshark has? 500'000? 1 Million? Multiple Million? And how many complain threads do you see? It is very obvious that not all have the problems that others report about. This can be hardware related, composition of hardware and software, incompetent users who have no clue what they are doing, and so on. There are many reason for problems, but obviously it is not universal and only a small percentage has serious problem.
So talking about "all I see…" makes no sense, when you have no context of actual numbers.
Look at all the people praising ExpressVPN for example. I wonder why, didn't they read any news and know that it was acquired (together with other VPNs and VPN review websites by the dozen) by a company that has a long history as malware distributor (injecting ads into website via malicious browser addons to generate money via these ads)? What do you think is worse, a couple of hiccups that often can be fixed with some knowledge or blindly trusting a (allegedly former) malware distributor that now controls all your traffic and has proven for years that it can not be trusted yet people do it?!
You may need to enable "MSS Clamping". Google it up with these keywords: "postup wireguard MSS Clamping"
.... Or better yet, switch to a better VPN provider like Mullvad. I jumped ship several weeks ago. Never looked back. Mullvad is plain a simple a more stable and reliable service especially when it comes to Wireguard.
Since my original rant post I have gone ahead and switched to Mullvad even with one full year left in my Surfshark subscription. Happy to say streaming is now butter smooth. Will never go back to surfshark.
Was a Surfshark user, now switched to Mullvad even though my Surfshark subscription still has a year left, for a plethora of reasons.
Just checked for you, as of this moment I can enter , login, browse its pictures, without any problem.
>All VPN companies have their IP addresses known and can be blocked easily, so I guess that is just a constant. There are even services that specialize in identifying and blocking VPNs and they are damn good at it.
Ye the thing is like between SS and Mullvad is mullvad lists them openly in a list on their website aka it can be easily scraped which isnt possible with most other VPN which dont list them that way.
Got it working finally, but it was an absolute nightmare to set it up properly, partially because of lack of documentation and partially because of Surfshark's Wireguard implementation.
In the process I actually switched to Mullvad. Even with Surfshark working now eventually, I don't think I am switching back (because of a plethora of other issues).
Yeah I have 6 months left after subscribing for 2yrs + 3 month bonus, SurfShark shutdown my account, by some miracle I was able to reactive it online, I don't think I'm going to be renewing with SS, I'm already researching competitors, NOT NordVPN as it's owned by same company as SurfShark.
Best of all was when Defender started identifying the Surfshark app as malware! I dunno man, I just don't think these guys know what the F they're doing since they were taken over by Nord. I switched over to Mullvad. Yes, they're more expensive but thankfully 5 bucks a month doesn't overly concern me for now, and after several months on Mullvad I haven't found one single thing I can find fault with. Their software has worked for me with no problems or concerns whatsoever. If you want to check them out you can try it for a single month for the 5 bucks to see if you like it. Good luck!
I never trust Mullvad they based on Sweden i live in Sweden i know how things works here , in Sweden there legal websites provides everyone’s information location you can find every single information just search the name also u can pay around 3-4$ to the website they giving people salary and income information, so in Sweden privacy is sucks and mullvad mentoring they follow country rules
I got it working partially with Opnsense. Wireguard does the handshake with server. I cant get the DNS resolution work though :(
Mit Mullvad a similar wireguard setup works just fine.
Anyone had luck with Opnsense or pfSense?
If you can’t figure out to configure your router then it might be much easier for you to just change the DNS settings on your Apple TV. What I do, but I have to use a different service because Surfshark is useless now and their customer service is horrible. I use Unlocator was using it for years and now back because Surfshark doesn’t work. Everyday it gets more obsolete
So the other night, I tried the hard stop and clearing the cache on my Fire TV stick upstairs and it didn't seem to work. Still got the Network Error. I've been thinking about giving up on SurfShark. I gave it a shot tonight on my family room tv. Got the Network Error on the Nats game. Switched to another game and found a Commercial Break. Went back to the Nats and it worked. So... I guess MLB hasn't cracked down on the VPN as I get to thinking. But... I guess it just kind of just doesn't work sometimes. I don't know. Definitely thinking about Unlocator again, though.
OP is right. There is a major issue with kill switch and the VPN as a whole, at least on Android. For a few weeks now, I've been having random drops in connection, but the app and Android are both showing as connected. There is no way to tell when this drop occurs unless you periodically check your ip or notice you are not forced to complete as many captchas. My traffic is NOT being routed through Surfshark servers. It is not an issue with me or my app configuration or my device. It is a bug that needs to be patched IMMEDIATELY.
I've used Surfshark for two years now with 0 complaints and no problems, but if this isn't fixed soon I'm canceling my subscription and switching to ExpressVPN.
When was the last time you checked that? Can you confirm it once more and see if it is working as of today? I am using split tunneling on NordVPN for Apex Legends but it throws an error "Failed to Allocate a Network Port" when I run the game, no EA game is working for me with split tunneling enabled. I only want you to confirm if you can run the game or not. No need to play and check, just run the game with split tunneling on for Apex Legends only, where you add the main game exe under split tunneling. If it works I will purchase SurfShark then as NordVPN doesn't work with split tunneling.
Your first makes sense yo an extent. If theres a will theres a way. You know I once heard that if theres a system designed to iperate with humman interaction. Than the human is the vulnerability. The atticle is pretty clear, it might be someone at the company itself compromising cuustomers information. Whats even more disturbing is 2 companies have been buying all the major VPN's for the past decade. NordVPN just got bought and now Im worried!!
If you are still in your first month you can get your money back from the guarantee. There are much better antivirus available, I even think AVG free is a world above this junk.
If you still need a VPN, I think ExpressVPN and Mullvad have been the most reliable for me.
I searched about it, and this issue already has been highlighted but no fix for it yet. :/
If I find anything about it I will update here.
I haven't yet tested it without tunneling on SurfShark. I have tested it with other VPNs though. It isn't about playing in another region. It has to do with lag/rubber banding/connection issue, character in game stops moving, at some point it will kick me out with server cloud errors etc, if I ALT F4 and reconnect back before it throws me out it is fine for 20 seconds but after 20 seconds same issue, no packet loss, ping is fine too. Something to do with my ISP. VPN fixes it for me. But I don't want VPN to be enabled on my entire PC and just Apex Legends hence split tunneling, NordVPN failed to run the game at all through that as it throws the failed to allocate network port error.
Private Internet Access split tunneling won't work either as I tested, it just doesn't enable it on Apex Legends. And even it won't connect to game on some servers at all with that VPN even if split tunneling is not enabled.
I never discovered this issue happening to me cuz my surfshark stopped working since mid april and i switched to Mullvad. Yes they did fix it but after one and half months but it was already too little and too late for me. Sucks though that i subscribed something that broke after 3 months of usage and after bugging for a whole month was solved a month later. Subscribing to surfshark was probably my biggest mistake. I'll stick to Mullvad for the time unless a new competitor appears.
I have never had to complete as many capchas as when using SurfShark, and the official solution to this is to manually change VPN locations.
NordVPN never had this issue.
Also, hiding the cancel auto-renew button is against EU law, but seemingly the SurfShark team didn't get the memo and force you to contact support in order to cancel automatic renewal. Scummy.
I prefer PureVPN with the trial honestly. Surfshark used to be good back in the day but that is no longer the fits my budget, it has lots of servers in every country, and a bunch of people on other reddit subs recommended it. I went with the best deal so I used this LINK to get almost 82 percent off
While in Spain I used Express VPN for ESPN+ and FUBOTV to access sports geo locked to USA with ZERO problems. It was my first VPN experience, so I did their free month trial and loved it. I explored some more others since I was there for 6 weeks, found Surfshark and did their free trial. In Spain, there was constant problems with ESPN. I reached out to Support 3 times, all with similar advice and saying it's new ESPN technology that they hope to get around soon. FUBO worked pretty well, just slower speeds, but no stream interruptions.
The pricepoint for ExpressVPN is higher, so maybe they know they are better, but I had no problems with them, overseas. I still have Surfshark now, in the US, and it is fine for what I use it for now. Slightly worried when I visit Europe again. :(
Good luck!
They were purchased by NordVPN late last year. Not sure if that’s why they went downhill.
I have my subscription until August, but I have been using something else instead. SS hasn’t been working well for me lately.
OMG! That doesn't sound very pleasant! I agree because sometimes I run some tests and see my IP address all exposed.
After extensive research and testing, I have settled with Windscribe. They are also working on a mind-blowing DNS service that can be used instead of a VPN called "Control ID." They offer me a free month. I could access DAZN Canada with just the Control ID private DNS on my phone (something that Surfshark could never achieve. Even when I called, their employees kept saying you cannot access DAZN unless with you in the geographic location, which has proven to be wrong by some other VPN services, such as PureVPN and, of course, Windscribe). They are awesome!
After extensive research and testing, I have settled with Windscribe. They are also working on a mind-blowing DNS service that can be used instead of a VPN called "Control ID." They offer me a free month. I could access DAZN Canada with just the COntrol ID private DNS on my phone. They are awesome!
I'm starting to think Surfshark is a cheap ass VPN with good marketing. It's easily blocked. It's often detected. It doesn't work for many platforms without having to try a ton of servers (still doesn't work for me, but just in case it did for someone).
But.. It does have decent support. So that confuses me. If they can help they do, but it's usually blocked again.
I think a cheap lesser known VPN might have better results. I tried Hotspot Shield Premium for free recently using the Ukraine promo (still available) And I cannot get over the difference. - YES- HOTSPOT SHIELD.. I cannot get over that either.
Admittedly, I am not using Windows. Ubuntu and Android. So ymmv.
I appreciate the transparency in showing which server is virtual; I got a refund from r/VyprVPN because 70% are virtual and they won't tell you which. But I'd like to know where each virtual server is physically located.
I liked the sound of the level of control over split tunnelling CyberGhost had too, just a bit unsure of the KAPE association. I was an ExpressVPN customer for two years before ditching that over similar complaints, SurfShark was an almighty mistake, so I'm wanting to make a careful choice before jumping in again.
Cloudwards between Surfshark and NordVPN: The goal of the merger is a “more focused market diversification, sharing of technical knowledge and the ambition of becoming the largest internet security company.”
Interesting take from 9to5mac to flame Surfshark among others AND promoting NordVPN but not even mentioning the business between the two companies that’s been going on for almost a year now.
Looking at either Private Internet Access or GyberGhost here, I think.
Leaning towards GyberGhost at the minute - just be aware that like ExpressVPN they're both now owned by KAPE Technologies also (adware/malware peddlers) but PIA at least have put out a statement saying their infrastructure remains independent of KAPE's properties.
It automatically changes to a p2p server when you start torrenting. It could at least give a warning, took me a while to figure this out.
There is no kill switch for Linux, you need to configure it with UFW.
I’m not sure if I will renew my subscription. CyberGhost seems to have good linux support.
Had other issues with newer version it kept launching different and new processes in the background triggering Norton. Tried older build now and this shows occassianly. Used ExpressVPN before and never had any issues. Dunno what they are playing. My licence is almost expired might switch.
ExpressVPN had issues with the software at times and could be slow - but connectivity-wise I found the experience to be better than I've had with Surfshark. I paid SS for two years but I will very likely be cancelling recurring billing and switching to another soon, I am not impressed.
Nord was going to be one for consideration but after reading they're the same parent company, I'm likely going to shop around and read 2022 reviews before making a decision.
The good thing about Mullvad is you can buy a month or two to try them out. I did that initially but now buy in three or so month blocks. That way, should they ever start having issues I’m not looking at 1 or 2 years loss of subscription.
Mullvad is by far the best VPN I've ever tried, and I've tried the "big" names in the vpn world, the last of them (and most disappointing) being Surfshark.
Mullvad is "just" a VPN with very few, but very well implemented extra features. Plus it has native implementation with routers, which is a very big plus in my opinion. I also love their "It's 5 bucks, deal with it" policy, no annoying ads all over the internet offering 80% discounts if you order for half your life.
>not WHY they changed it.
The killswitch was very unsafe and failed randomly on log outs they did probably rewrite it or parts of it and probably needed to make this behavior happen to get the killswitch working.
or simply decided for that.
​
Mullvad and cyberghost and a few others allow you to either have the killswitch only active during connection or allways , would like to see such toggle here too.
​
>I tried to ask Surfshark support this question but they only wanted to explain how a kill switch works, not WHY they changed it.
Surfsharks support outside of explaining blog posted / knowledge base stuff is sadly very hit & miss.
>I just purchased surf shark so I could watch streaming services in other countries and at first, it didn't work. But after disconnecting and reconnecting to a different IP in the same country, it worked and now everything is streaming with good quality.
Thats good , its sadly a cat & mouse game between VPN and streaming services they randomly ban IP so VPN companys need to exchange them and stuff.
​
> I had been using ExpressVPN for a while and it was amazing but it's pretty pricey... about 4x the cost of surf shark.
Good express VPN is actually shady good for you that your gone of them.
Explanation Express VPN was bought a while ago by Kape technologies , which was before they renamed to kape technologies known by the name "Crossrider" which used their software to spread malware.
It's because Berlin Servers use M247 (exclusively?) as ISP and this ISP get blocked quite a bit by Cloudflare and flagged by Google (CAPTCHA). Frankfurt, which i sometimes use, uses M247 and DataCamp Limited. When connected to the latter i'm yet to see a single CAPTCHA or Cloudflare block. Same goes for Switzerland (that additionally also uses Hydra Communications Ltd as ISP) that i mostly use because i live in Switzerland. I have also tested other countries in EU and some in North America and had no issue so far. It seems the bad boy is M247, at least when it comes to servers located in Europe.
I usually have VPN running whenever my computer is turned on. Upon first connection i check the IP address (over time you know which one are good and which one are not) and reconnect if it's not a DataCamp connection. Then the connection runs all day (or night) smooth without any issues and this since months. Never had issues with logouts, disconnect or other problems many people seem to have.
Easy and fast way to check the ISP you are connected to is browserleaks.com and it's also good to also check for DNS leak before you use the internet. Another check would be to visit HLTV (most popular CS:GO site) which gets Cloudflare blocked 100% of the time when connected to M247, at least it does for me.
It's not the fault of Surfshark, it's just that this ISP (M247) seem to generate heavy traffic or was used and abused by others in the past.
My own experience has been a lot more positive. It's fast on multiple devices and I've never experienced leaks. I've only been using it for ~3 months, so hopefully it's because they've cleaned up their service a bit!.
The general consensus on Reddit has been that Surfshark is still reccomended: https://surfshark.com/compare
A feature like Wireguards "Robert" feature , aka Block lists / filter lists you can adjust Like gambling , porn and whatever or simply different adblock lists , social block lists and more.
https://windscribe.com/features/robert
( sorry for the link but i guess its too hard / big to explain and a link simply explains it all )
i dont trust wireguard but this feature is pretty nice.
People do care about their VPN provider being operated by Tesonet and NordVPN - the same company that got hacked and hid it from their customers for months before publicly exposed. They then owned up and played it down.
Sure, you're free not to care - you're just ignorant and have poor taste.
>Surfshark was part of the Tesonet Group for the first two years of its operations.
>
>In the interview, Vytautas Kaziukonis described Surfshark and Tesonet’s
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>current relationship as “close friends” who share “market insights and
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>forecasts”.
>
>Separately, NordVPN told us, "While Nord Security is a creation of
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>Tom Okman and Eimantas Sabaliauskas, through the Tesonet business
>
>accelerator they helped many founders to grow their startups or even
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>turn their ideas into viable businesses. Nord Security team has always
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>been independent and autonomous, even while still a part of the Tesonet
>
>accelerator in the very early days."
I've read the thread 3 times already.
Where's the link to NordVPN and Tesonet?
This threads just about how they've sourced from HIBP without proper credit, and have promised a wider array of sources of leaked credentials in the future.
If you're referring to the Drama starting comment from WeVPN asking why NordVPN would like Surfsharks comment, the this entire post chain is ridiculous.
No, the problem is your poor understanding to understand other people needs. People just don't subscribe VPN based on your philosophy/theoretical/academic reason "that has never been the purpose of VPN". Screwed that philosophy and look at this: https://surfshark.com/use-cases/vpn-for-streaming
"Stream award-winning shows and movies safely regardless of where you are."
It was advertised to make people believe streaming is works on surfshark. but it is not. some people purposely subscribe vpn for this reason.
Let me explained bit more - In order to watch a Netflix show on my computer, VPN needs to be turned off. The show is even meant for my region and my subscription. Hence, I need to close my browser and all others internet applications to ensure my real IP does not leak except to Neflix. How is that purpose of VPN according to your philosophy?
Hi there,
The CleanWeb ad-blocking feature isn't designed to block YouTube ads. There's a disclaimer about this on the features page. And here's a support article that goes more in depth about its functionality.
Cheers!
The article does allude to the fact he used his laptop - if the gateway fails there should be a smooth transition to this new gateway without a leak or there should be no connectivity at all until a gateway is reached and 2 black hole routes protecting each gateway, the way Torguard do it, they do it right.
Still consistently leaks DNS for me across all protocols and even running the OpenVPN GUI client connecting to Surfshark's servers.
Makes zero difference whether all the Windows 10 services that interfere with DNS are disabled, adapters are set to IPV4 only, OpenVPN DNS servers are manually added to the router/interfaces, and torrent clients set to bind to the VPN adapter. It either cuts off net access altogether until you close the torrent app completely and reconnect to the VPN, or it leaks the DNS. Those are the only two outcomes.
Whitelisting websites such as Primevideo, Disney+ or Netflix doesn't do anything, they still won't load correctly when the VPN is connected, so in order to stream without interruption I need to disconnect it.
Two major reasons why you would use a VPN that it is not fulfilling purpose for, so I concur with the OP, it was not worth a two year plan purchase at this point. It's possible they may get their act together with further software updates but as a paying customer I'm not a fan at this point in time. I moved from ExpressVPN due to the change in ownership and shady background after looking at comparisons and reviews, but the actual experience has been poor.
Not only Netflix. I hardly do Netflix. I usually use Canada because I pay for services that are not available in the US. Surfshark messes things up every time. After paying for 2 years, I had to pay for NordVPN as well since Surfshark wouldn't work effectively. I use both VPNs, but NordVPN seems to work better.
this was exactly the reason for me to cancel.
The product itself is good, but that's an absolute no-go.
and now that I have cancelled the subscription the programm annoys me with a re-occurring pop up to turn auto-renewal on again - another no-go.
After NordVPN and ExpressVPN Surfshark was the 3rd VPN provider I was testing and after giving ghost VPN a try next month I plan to choose my permanent solution.
guess what which product disqualified itself already;)
Netflix wouldn't work. Also, Dazn was working fine, but it stopped working today. If I choose Canada, the streaming service sees it as USA. I had to switch to NordVPN and beg for login from a friend. I have the 2 years subscription; it's making me wonder if I wasted my money.
Well I had success with surfshark so far, if that is what you are asking, they have a pretty good article explaining it here https://surfshark.com/blog/geo-blocking
Hey! Hope you’re doing well!
Surfshark would be right up your ally! All you would need to do is setup an account here (with a promo code) and advise your students to visit the Chinese version of the Surfshark site here (Some times the normal site will work as well).
Surfshark has no device limit, so all your students can work off of one account and are offered a plethora of servers in which they can use!
Reading this article Surfshark supports Wireguard, OpenVPN UDP & TCP, IKEv2 and ShadowSocks, unfortunately if you read this article PPTP is outdated and obsolete,
> Why PPTP is considered obsolete
> PPTP is a direct predecessor of PPP, an even older Point-to-Point Protocol, and is built on its outdated framework. It can use three authentication protocols, out of which two (PAP and CHAP) are known to have been breached and exploited before, and only supports MPPE (Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption) encryption keys of up to 128-bits.
> 128-bit keys are usually not that easy to crack, but MPPE is infamous for being extra vulnerable to bit-flipping attacks.
> Ironically, however, PPTP’s downfalls are also its only saving grace – bad encryption means small overhead, which directly increases speed. So because of its abysmal security, PPTP actually remains, by a small margin, one of the faster VPN protocols to date.
> It is also easy to set up, which, when paired with its speed, might make it seem like a viable VPN protocol.
> However, the PPTP ice is thicker than that. Aside from its lack of security, the protocol also struggles to bypass firewalls and can have compatibility issues with routers.
I don’t believe Surfshark natively supports the PPTP protocol.
I have used -
Cyberghost - I left them when they sold to Kape Technologies (they were called Crossrider back then but changed their name to Kape in an effort to hide their shady past).
ExpressVPN - worked great but I couldn’t receive email via my ISP due to them blocking the IP’s being used by Express. I could enable split tunnelling for my email but enabling that in Express’s settings resulted in a DNS leak that every third party DNS test showed. My actual ISPs DNS was leaking whilst split tunnelling was enabled. Interestingly, ExpressVPN’s DNS leak test was the only one that said there was no problem and showed an ExpressVPN DNS.
Nord - Was fast to connect and had great speeds, but didn’t offer split tunnelling and I still encountered issues with receiving email. Their fix was to try a plethora of different servers / locations but none worked.
Surfshark - I’ve been using them for 2 years now and TBH, I’m very happy. Everything just works and most of the time, I forget I’m even running it. Their support has been fast and friendly. I’m yet to actually have any major issue. I had a couple of minor hiccups early on but these were quickly sorted out with supports help.
Their shift to the Netherlands bothers me though and as with Cyberghost, should they ever sell to a dodgy company, I’ll bail on them straight away and never return. For now, I’ll keep using them and see what happens when my subscription comes up for renewal.
If I do switch to a different VPN, I think my first option would be Mullvad. Everything I’ve read about them seems to point towards them being trustworthy.
I'm sure people made the same offer when it comes to ProtonMail will never ever log IP addresses or Surfshark will never ever leave their safe haven location right before they announced the move to the Netherlands an I9 country with a history of logging and to seizure servers from providers or the other customers of ExpressVPM and CyberGhost right before they were sold like a trade good to the dark side.
See, money rules the world and nothing is safe or granted. Especially not in a market that it so hard fought over as ISP, VPN, and so on. Not saying it will happen, but it would came at no surprise if it did.
This is exactly my thinking. ExpressVPN sold for nearly 1 billion. Those sorts of figures would be hard to turn down. I don’t know what Surfsharks actual valuation would be, but I’m sure Kape Technologies have very deep pockets.
The move to the Netherlands bothers me too. Surfshark have glossed over it, making everything sound hunky-dory but as you’ve said, the Dutch seem quite happy to go around seizing servers.
Ultimately, this Netherlands move has caused me to lose faith and trust in Surfshark. I’m no longer confident using their product. I’m like most VPN users. I don’t do anything nefarious online but our government logs our use here (metadata only, apparently!), and I really don’t like having someone “reading over my shoulder” so to speak. It’s why I don’t have social media accounts (except Reddit, obviously). If I have no trust that a paid service is protecting me from this, then I’ll no longer pay for that service. There‘’s other VPN providers who won’t have me second-guessing their motives. I’ll move on to one of those and enjoy my peace of mind again.
Thanks again for your answer and willingness to help. Ok, I've opened the .ovpn files. What settings are you looking for? These are the first lines:
Surfshark:
client
dev tun
proto tcp
remote 1443
resolv-retry infinite
remote-random
nobind
tun-mtu 1500
tun-mtu-extra 32
mssfix 1450
persist-key
persist-tun
ping 15
ping-restart 0
ping-timer-rem
reneg-sec 0
remote-cert-tls server
auth-user-pass
#comp-lzo
verb 3
pull
fast-io
cipher AES-256-CBC
auth SHA512
client
dev tun
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
persist-key
persist-tun
verb 3
remote-cert-tls server
ping 10
ping-restart 60
sndbuf 524288
rcvbuf 524288
cipher AES-256-CBC
tls-cipher TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-256-GCM-SHA384:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-256-CBC-SHA
proto udp
auth-user-pass
reneg-sec 0
tun-ipv6
fast-io
remote-random
remote 1194
remote 1194
remote 1194
It's one of the better VPN's I'd recommend right up there with cyberghost. However, I used the Nord VPN trial and just stayed with it. More convenient for my needs.
Has been for a while, now it's blocked on USPS and some of my banks. I went back to AirVPN and only use surfshark as a backup. Yes I can go through several of surfsharks ip's till one works but just to big of a hassle
I've just left NordVPN after abysmal service (unable to connect at all on iPad, intermittent issues on Android and MacOS).
So far, all devices connecting fine. I've had to change the connection type on Android to OpenVPN/UDP as the other connections tyoes are super slow when using cellular data - this was also the case with NordVPN so likely to be a quirk with my provider.
What I will say is that the Android app is far better than NordVPN's - it has more customisation options and it remains connected far longer. Before, my connection would drop quite frequently holding up notifications,etc.
I'll decide if it's worth sticking with it after the 30 days is up.
Nah man this is a terrible take. Obviously your experience may differ from mine, but I paid pea’s for this VPN compared to EVERY other provider out there. It’s worked every time for me, and I didn’t even have an outage before either lol. If you hate it so much then contact support and ask for money back and go and pay $120 USD a year or whatever it is for ExpressVPN 😂
Yea, I've read a bunch of other problems that people are having with SurfShark with all types of issues, not just this.
I ended up chatting with another rep for another 45 minutes. That's 1 hour and 45 minutes total. The second person ran every step he could think of with no fix. I asked for a refund since their program is faulty and they denied my request.
They said what they could do was send the issue up to a higher tech support team... which is what they should have done in the first place!!! I told them they had 1 week to get back to me, or I'm going on a smear campaign for not giving a refund when they are not able to fix their issues.
NordVPN wasn't the best VPN, but at least it worked! I wish I would have never switched. The cost savings ended up to be a bust.
Negative, was hoping to use the solution I had already dropped cash on lol…I cancelled my ExpressVPN when I switched over because they pulled everything but their proprietary solution from the iOS app. But if NoBorders doesn’t get me what I need I’m definitely open to trying Shadowsocks.