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I'm sure you're all aware of the latest so I won't bother getting into it here. (Apologies for the Reddit link.) I cancelled my account and joined Express VPN for a 30-day trial. The Linux setup is via command line which is easy enough. The connections are also handled via command line - at least as far as I can tell. I've only been poking around on it for an hour.

My browser of choice, Iridium, works just fine. I just tried to use Dissenter and failed spectacularly. I'll dig into it later.
I also just downloaded and tried Firefox, which also failed spectacularly. I'm not going to bother troubleshooting FF because I don't intend on using it. I only mention it here because some of you might use it and I wonder what your experience is.

I haven't tried streaming or video sites like YouTube or the others yet, either.
More to come.

EDIT: Thanks for the Achive link.

I'm sure you're all aware of the latest [PIA VPN news](http://archive.ph/ntxhU) so I won't bother getting into it here. (Apologies for the Reddit link.) I cancelled my account and joined Express VPN for a 30-day trial. The Linux setup is via command line which is easy enough. The connections are also handled via command line - at least as far as I can tell. I've only been poking around on it for an hour. My browser of choice, Iridium, works just fine. I just tried to use Dissenter and failed spectacularly. I'll dig into it later. I also just downloaded and tried Firefox, which also failed spectacularly. I'm not going to bother troubleshooting FF because I don't intend on using it. I only mention it here because some of you might use it and I wonder what your experience is. I haven't tried streaming or video sites like YouTube or the others yet, either. More to come. **EDIT:** Thanks @picman for the Achive link.

(post is archived)

[–] 3 pts

I've been using ExpressVPN for over 2 years now.

Pretty much any VPN will work if you are in a place that doesn't fuck with the internet: ie. CHINA. Here is my review.

Reliability is the main reason I initially chose ExpressVPN, despite it being one of the most expensive, it has worked MOST of the time. However, in China at least, it can take anywhere up to a few minutes to establish a connection to the some servers; others won't work at all. Sometimes longer with the connection is unsuccessful and it has to keep trying; and that's when they're working properly.

There have been no less than 3 significant occurrences where it didn't work at all for periods of two whole weeks. The latest being during the PRC's 70th year anniversary . The eventual "fix" was to release a whole new app. The linux version came out a few days after the Android one, so I was stuck using my phone as a hotspot for that time.

When it's working. I can connect to a few key locations; HK, USA, UK, Singapore, Japan. But specific countries (they have servers all over the world) will fail. I can't connect to Australia to access government/taxation websites for example.

As of writing, it is down, and has been down for a few days now. If you want to know exactly how long, check my voat activity (voat is blocked in China), as I'm active on both forums. There is a link for "updates on the situation in China" on the app, and now not even that's working (that's never happened before). It's anyone's guess when it will be up again.

I will be purchasing another VPN, and having both at once, simply because I need open internet (specifically gmail) enough that it justifies the expense. At this stage it'll probably be Nord, because I figure that the bigger providers will have the resources to constantly battle the chinks, but I'm very open to other suggestions (for android and linux, not IOS).

My final verdict: if you don't live in a commie shit-hole, shop around, and get the cheapest one. They should all work fine. If you need it for specific reasons in a hostile environment, then it justifies the expense of multiple VPN providers. You also have other options such as shadowsocks, that are very cheap, but I haven't used those.

[–] 2 pts

Thanks for the excellent response.

[–] 1 pt

I live in China as well, and use Astrill with good success. ExpressVPN and Astrill together are enough. Astrill is my main.

What about Tor?

[–] [deleted] 2 pts

Tor browser is compromised. Maybe use the network with diff browser with scripts blocked

Says who? How is it compromised?

[–] 1 pt

I don't know how to use it (never tried).

It's on my list of things to do though because the way things are going, the normal content I like (metokur and other "edgy" streamers and vids) will only be available on the dark web.