ProtonVPN - Initial Thoughts and Experience

The team behind ProtonMail just released publicly their long awaited ProtonVPN - https://protonvpn.com

This is a VPN that has been in Beta for some time and you had access to it if you paid for a certain level of plan with their ProtonMail service. Their encrypted web browser based e-mail service has been running for many years - https://mail.protonmail.com

I’m not going to cover the installation process because that varies platform to platform, I’m just giving my initial thoughts after I’ve been using it for a few hours.

My previous Free VPN I have used for some months now is Avira’s PhantomVPN, I really like this VPN, the client is native on Mac and connects to their servers fast. The speeds are very good and consistently so, I’ve based this initial use of ProtonVPN comparing it with my experience with Avira VPN too. Avira PhantomVPN does NOT tick all the boxes I would like for a VPN but with 500mb free per month and 1000mb more if you register with them it was perfectly enough for internet banking/shopping online.

This list of VPN services - https://www.vpnspy.net with everything ticked only shows NordVPN and Private Internet Access as the services that go above and beyond to protect privacy. So if I’m in a position in the future then these two would be my preferred VPN’s. We’ll have to see how ProtonVPN compares though.

Once you’ve setup your account you can change the password for OpenVPN if you want, I did. I am just using the free VPN plan and it states “Speed - Low” but I actually get faster speeds than with it not active, more on this later.

So once you’ve installed the native client for your system or configured it using TunnelBlick or some other OpenVPN software then it’s easy to connect to the server.

It connects fast to the servers.

It passes the DNSleaktest.com test as you can see from these before and after screenshots.

Before:

After:

I played a movie trailer from trailers.apple.com and on the statistics with no VPN the speed is consistent (I am having issues with my network connection however and not getting full speeds)

With ProtonVPN

With Proton VPN enabled the speeds would burst to over 4mb, but normally stayed consistent around 3mb/sec. Again I’m having problems with my line at the minute so the consistency should be improved when I test again once these issues with my line are fixed.

Still, with ProtonVPN active I can get faster speeds. The response time is very good when loading pages, as good as with PhantomVPN if not a bit better.

A Whois of iomart revealed in the DNSleaktest reveals the following information.

I’m not sure who this company are but some further investigation will have to be conducted to see what logs they keep. Being as they are based in UK then it’s likely they’ll retain a ton of logs and give them to any old Tom Dick and Harry that asks for them. Something of concern here, but some digging should confirm what ProtonVPN and their partners logging policies are.

So Far I really like this VPN, it has no limits so it can be left on at all times which already sets it apart from other ‘free’ VPN services. Obviously if you have the cash or crypto currency to pay for the better plans and have a very fast internet connection then the quality of the service should be better. You also get access to the other features of the VPN like their ‘Secure Core’

Some problems I’ve noticed so far.

The VPN doesn’t seem to like Transmission, the BitTorrent client for Mac. Once it’s opened the VPN just completely locks up and nothing loads. Not a major issue but seems software trying to access certain ports triggers something that cuts off the connection. Maybe there are some options in TunnelBlick or something or some conflict there which is causing it. The Mac client isn’t out yet but maybe it’s release won’t show this problem.

I’ll stick with this ProtonVPN for a while see how it goes. In these times of censorship it’s more important now more than ever that we fight it on all fronts and continue to use that right were all born with, the right to freedom of speech and expression.

Be safe and be prepared

Geordie Prepper

*any third party images used are purely for reporting and education purposes, they retain the rights of their owners