VPNs

[Hannibalistique]

That was for their email service, not the VPN. They collect and store the information you provide. You can’t blame the service provider for compromising your anonymity when you’re handing over your Gmail account and credit card, which is the same as giving out your ID card. Proton has free plans and supports anonymous payments using cash, they also allows sign-ups over Tor, so you’re not required to deanonymize yourself. I don't see any claims that their service is anonymous on the website, either.

They could strengthen user anonymity for their VPN by using a random identifier like Mullvad and IVPN do, but from the VPN side there isn’t much to criticize about Proton. They provide one of the few free VPNs that isn't compromised, which is a nice community service.

Proton is still at fault for availing themselves to law enforcement and not being able to deliver the anonymity that is basically their whole sales gimmick.
We have no idea whether they are better with their VPN service, we have no reason to believe so (unlike mullvad).

 

[Irregular Expression]

We have no idea whether they are better with their VPN service, we have no reason to believe so (unlike mullvad).

I'd say it doesn't matter if their VPN is perfect as long as they continually bundle it with their email suite in sales. It introduces the gmail issue, where if you get banned for posting wrongthink on YouTube, suddenly you lose access to your calendar and bank account.

Except with gmail, it's "just" losing your entire digital life. With Proton, it's that, plus the fact that the moment you lose your VPN is the exact moment you've pissed someone off and need it most.

 

[Rekeita's Kidneys]

AirVPN is a little better because you can open ports. I think it might be the only one with permanent port opening (others you need to sign in to say you want to keep it every now and then etc) anymore? Which makes it the only one suitable for torrenting basically.

If there are others that allow it and give you the OpenVPN and WireGuard details I would definitely be interested to know.

Mullvad used to but I remember it wasn't possible when I tried some time ago and emailed their customer support expecting it to be in an option I couldn't find.

Bingo. Port forwarding is an absolute requirement for the vast majority of private trackers.

 

[Zyklon C]

Has anyone experienced longer than usual waits for Mullvad's VPN to connect to a city in the past week or so? My issue coincides with a new router from my ISP, but I'm not sure why it would be causing it. The speeds are unaffected, just takes up to 20-30 seconds to connect where before it was generally pretty quick.