[yawnbox]

Here's a quick review of the VPN service provided by IPREDator. Updated: 16 December 2011

Website: https://www.ipredator.se/
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPREDator

Some general information:

• Here is some good, general information about why using a VPN is a good idea: Top 5 Reasons to Use a VPN Account (http://www.gotrusted.com/top-5-reasons-vpn.php)
• Here are a couple of good articles explaining how this specific service came about: IPREDator, the Terrifyingly Awesome Privacy Tool Prepares to Launch (https://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ipredator_the_terrifyingly_awesome_privacy_tool.php) and Pirate Bay Announces IPREDATOR Global Anonymity Service (https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-announces-ipredator-global-anonymity-service-090323/).

Some words of warning:

• Ipredator, since launch, has only supported the PPTP protocol. In the future it is supposed to support OpenVPN. Please review the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) protocol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-t...eling_Protocol). PPTP is one type of VPN technology, and it is not the strongest. It is very easy to setup and use. It is highly recommended that you use a strong password. Currently I am using a 32-bit random password with numbers, upper/lower case letters and special characters. I strongly suggest the use of PC Tools: Secure Password Generator (http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/) for creating your password. Whatever password you create when you sign up for your IPREDator account is the password that you will use when starting up your tunnel. You can change your password once you create your account.

• VPN "tunnels" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network) bypass the devices between your computer and IPREDator's servers. (Unless of course you are using a different VPN service, in which case it will be between your computer and their servers). Because of this, the protections (SPI, etc - http://www.overclock.net/networking-...all-guide.html) that your firewall normally takes care of DOES NOT APPLY to the traffic that is encrypted.

Payment

In 2009 there was only one option for me to pay for the service, and that was with AlertPay (https://www.alertpay.com/).

The statement on my bank account looked something like this:

Quote:

AlertPay 021-703-4830

But as of December 2011, you have all of these options:



As soon as I submited my payment with AlertPay, I was redirected back to ipredator.se, and with my service immediately available.

IP address

The images below show an example IP address that you will have when you start your VPN tunnel with Ipredator.

This below image shows an example IP address if you disconnect and reconnect. As you can see, each time you connect to IPREDator, a new, random IP address is given to you, and you keep it for as long as you are connected to IPREDator. I rarely lose connection with Ipredator, as I can go days at a time while using the same IP address.

Speed test (via SpeedTest.net)

Depending where you are in the world, and your throughput via your Internet Service Provider, your speeds with the Ipredator service will vary greatly. Below is one example speed test. This benchmark is from Seattle, WA to Malmo Sweden.



Here is a speed test from Seattle, WA, through Ipredator in Sweden, and back to Seattle, WA:




Download performance

Here's some torrent action. The above speed test results do not match up with the obvious performance: 4.8 MB /sec download



Cheers!

 

[andyhollin]

I got this VPN service about a month ago. It's very reliable and the only bottleneck in regards to speed is my home connection. Of course I'm just a little ways away from Sweden anyway. We'll see how it is when I'm back in the US.

 

[beers]

Looks okay I guess.
PPTP isn't exactly secure, though, therefore you kind of lose the whole 'privacy' benefit.

Something like using a squid proxy over SSH would be more secure and you can do it with a $1/month VPS with your own bandwidth chunk. Mine does something like 50 mbit down and ~30 mbit up.

Quote:

205ms from Washington state, USA to Sweden, when playing Counter-Strike: Source, is playable.

Likely not pleasant.

Does it have any WAN entry points that aren't in Sweden?

 

[yawnbox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beers Looks okay I guess. PPTP isn't exactly secure, though, therefore you kind of lose the whole 'privacy' benefit. Something like using a squid proxy over SSH would be more secure and you can do it with a $1/month VPS with your own bandwidth chunk. Mine does something like 50 mbit down and ~30 mbit up. Likely not pleasant. Does it have any WAN entry points that aren't in Sweden?

No there are no other entry points. And no, it is not as pleasant as a <5ms ping to servers in downtown seattle.

PPTP is incredibly secure versus whatever people are not using. MS-CHAPv2 is supported by ipredator.se, and http://www.schneier.com/pptp.html outlines the general insecurities; but like i said above, use a strong, random password and you'll be fine. it isn't as insecure as using WEP for your wireless routers, but it is, technically, crackable. For ease of use, this service is outstanding.

I do agree that an SSH service would be superior. I would not use anything else for business matters. but for general web browsing, pptp (using ms-chapv2) is just fine in my opinion. it's also hard to find services that do not store or track what you do. ipredator doesn't.

 

[yawnbox]

just updated this.

 

[Milamber]

Any updates on which one is preferred?

 

[tt-Prodigy15]

Im currently using HMA (Hide my Ass) speed is good, but have had thoughts of going to iPredator for security reasons. One thing that makes HMA attractive is there Pro Vpn client; its very well done.