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Best VPN?

C

CTay

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2013
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Any recomendations out there for a VPN? Looking to free myself of the MLB blackout restrictions. Suggestions?

Was looking at Unblockus ... anything I should watch out for?

I saw an ad for Anonymizer but I haven't seen very good reviews about them.

Thoughts???
 
Unblockus is a good way if it works for your needs to watch mlb. It's not really a vpn it just routes DNS hiding your location that way so you should get no slowdowns. This is a good way to watch streams.

A full vpn service that is popular is privateinternetaccess which for a one year plan might be cheaper than unblockus but vpn can slow things down. This is better at hiding your traffic and where you are going.

Really for the prices, try each for a month and see how it goes.
 
PrivateInternetAccess is widely recommended as a VPN. However, for location-based restrictions where data privacy is not a concern, such as streaming MLB.tv, I believe a smartDNS solution is better.

No point in sending the MLB.tv streaming data halfway around the world and using processing power to encrypt and decrypt it. Those just decrease speed. smartDNS makes it appear to the server like you're somewhere else, but still maintains a direct connection, thereby maintaining regular internet speed.

Unotelly sells both a smartDNS and VPN services packaged together, and they specifically advertise as supporting MLB.tv unblocking. This way, you can use VPN where you need data security, and use smartDNS where there is a location restriction.

Full disclaimer: I'm not actually a customer of either service, I learned this information from lots of research in this area.
 
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Thanks for the help everyone. Both of the replies were very informative.

I believe the smartdns is the best option. I like the idea of the smartdns paired with the Vpn. I will definitely give it a look.
 
I would look at PureVPN or VyprVPN. PureVPN is cheaper, however i found that it is often gets blocked by hulu and netflix when watching TV.

Did not have such experience with VyprVPN, however it costs more and has more limitations over accounts, so i cannot use it on all my devices.
 
I think if you go with free VPN after few time they will track you and block you again though there are many free vpns you may try such as Tunnelbear, Spotflux, TOR or Zenmate also good option but if you frequently access MLB.tv then buy a vpn at cheap cost if you can afford few VPNs I would recommend to read PureVPN Review.
 
Last edited:
Matthew Barkle said:
I would look at PureVPN or VyprVPN. PureVPN is cheaper, however i found that it is often gets blocked by hulu and netflix when watching TV.

Did not have such experience with VyprVPN, however it costs more and has more limitations over accounts, so i cannot use it on all my devices.
Click to expand...

What kind of limitations did you face?

----------
gregrose said:
Privateinternetaccess.om
$40 a year it's awesome
Click to expand...

Did you see a difference in speed when using Privateinternetaccess.om?
 
Best value and privacy: PrivateInternetAccess
Best speeds and privacy: IPVanish

IPVanish is the only tier-1 VPN service out there. That means they own their VPN servers as opposed to leasing them like all the other VPN providers.

I've tried out many VPN providers. IPVanish had the best speeds by far. Currently I'm with PIA because it provides great value and privacy. However, IPVanish does have the occasional sale that brings it's price close to that of PIA.

If privacy is very important to you, you can check out Torrentfreak's extensive break-down of the best VPN providers for privacy and security.
 
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Here is a slightly related question I was wondering about:

If i have a VPN (privateinternetaccess) set up on a mac mini on my LAN, could i have a different machine (windows 7) send DNS requests through the mac mini in order to have my location faked?
 
DaveNinja said:
Here is a slightly related question I was wondering about:

If i have a VPN (privateinternetaccess) set up on a mac mini on my LAN, could i have a different machine (windows 7) send DNS requests through the mac mini in order to have my location faked?
Click to expand...

Yes.
You would pretty much set your VPN up, and share your "internet".
PS: You would need to connect your "primary" device to the internet via an Ethernet cable first.
From there, it's pretty much like "hotspotting" your Mac Mini internet.
 

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I've been using TunnelBear off and on, but it messes up iMessages. They don't come through, so my Mac, my IPhone, and my iPad get out of sync. Is that a Von problem, a TunnelBear proble, or something else?
 
chabig said:
I've been using TunnelBear off and on, but it messes up iMessages. They don't come through, so my Mac, my IPhone, and my iPad get out of sync. Is that a Von problem, a TunnelBear proble, or something else?
Click to expand...

No idea, but having spent several years on PIA, I can confirm that I haven't had any "major" issues except Craigslist, Hulu, and Economist.com.
 
DaveNinja said:
Here is a slightly related question I was wondering about:

If i have a VPN (privateinternetaccess) set up on a mac mini on my LAN, could i have a different machine (windows 7) send DNS requests through the mac mini in order to have my location faked?
Click to expand...

PIA allows 5 devices to be connected through one account....so you don't need the Windows machine to go through your Mac, just connect it to the VPN too.

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CTay said:
Did you see a difference in speed when using Privateinternetaccess.om?
Click to expand...

I don't notice any slowdown.....however, if you do happen to get a slow server, just choose another on the list.
 
CTay said:
Any recomendations out there for a VPN? Looking to free myself of the MLB blackout restrictions. Suggestions?

Was looking at Unblockus ... anything I should watch out for?

I saw an ad for Anonymizer but I haven't seen very good reviews about them.

Thoughts???
Click to expand...

I have used Witopia.com for both my Mac and PC for the last four(4) years and a $50.00 per year well spent! Great Customer Service!
 
I used witopia for a couple of years and had no complaints. Good speed, no restrictions on how it was used, multiple locations and you can change at will.

Recently I've gone with airVPN and they have been very good as well. Good prices, good speed, no restrictions, multiple locations, easy configurations for routers, computers, etc. And the staff is very active on their forum and very responsive to user requests. Also, they don't log and respect user privacy.

witopia's interface was a tad better and a little more reliable.
 
I am currently using IronSocket. Their services are great. DNS proxy, VPN, P2P and others.... I use them to unblock places such as HBO, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, BBC, and others...
This not only hides your identity, but also makes it appear as though you are in the country where the server is.
 
Do any of the services mentioned allow the local blacked out teams on MLB on an iPad or iPhone? I've tried a unblockus and it worked on Apple TV but not on any iOS device. From what I understand because of location services they won't work on iOS.
 
Hookemfins said:
Do any of the services mentioned allow the local blacked out teams on MLB on an iPad or iPhone? I've tried a unblockus and it worked on Apple TV but not on any iOS device. From what I understand because of location services they won't work on iOS.
Click to expand...

In short, no these services don't help with the MLB blackout on iPhone and iPad.

On desktops, laptops, and TV streaming boxes, MLB uses the IP address to figure out the location for purposes of the blackout. Thus, using a VPN or SmartDNS works for those.

For iPhone and iPad, and I think Android devices too, MLB uses the devices location API to figure out location for purposes of the blackout. Thus, spoofing the location of the IP address does nothing.

If you Jailbreak, there is an app on Cydia that spoofs the location API, which helps to get around the blackout restriction.
 
Hookemfins said:
Do any of the services mentioned allow the local blacked out teams on MLB on an iPad or iPhone? I've tried a unblockus and it worked on Apple TV but not on any iOS device. From what I understand because of location services they won't work on iOS.
Click to expand...

What oneMadRssn has told you is correct.
Here is an alternative that requires no additional apps: If you have the thunderbolt/ethernet adapter, connect to the internet using that. Then, connect to PIA. Then, go to Settings - Sharing - Internet Sharing. For your own security/convenience, create a name & password for that shared internet connection. Turn on your Apple TV, connect to that network you just began sharing. Enjoy the MLB.TV app. Also, you can use the Watch ABC app by connecting to the Midwest server as Chicago is one of the supported cities where you can watch the channel "live".
Sharing.png
 
Vypr is garbage and logs your IP address. It's not really anonymous. By far, my favorite has been BTGuard, which is Bit Torrent's VPN service. I love it, if you connect to it through network settings rather than their configuration program, and it logs nothing about you or your usage except your username.
 
I'm using Unlocator for mlb.tv for the second year in a row and I'm pleased with the price and results.
 
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