A big prob with the big VPNs like kape companies is their IP addresses are recognized. Does mullVad, ovpn and or ivpn suffer from the same?
We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
321–330 of 453 posts
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#322This leads me to wonder...
Is there an easy way for regular consumers to set up recurring payments in a "push" configuration (i.e. from my bank to someone else's) rather than "pull" configuration (i.e. most subscriptions where the service charges a credit card on an interval)?
I split a T-Mobile multi-line plan with a few friends where I'm the payer, and I remember looking into this a while back to help them pay their share on time and without hassle, but coming up empty.
Feels like it would be useful for paying for something like Mullvad too, but I feel like there are benefits to that model that reaches beyond the individual use cases I mentioned.
It'd allow me to manage money going out of my account from 1 centralized location, making money flow more predictable and less chaotic than the status quo where a random amount of money is pulled out of my account from various credit cards every month, and I have to log into each account separately to figure out how much.
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#323This leads me to wonder... Is there an easy way for regular consumers to set up recurring payments in a "push" configuration (i.e. from my bank to someone else's) rather than "pull" configuration (i.e. most subscriptions where the service charges a credit card on an interval)? I split a T-Mobile multi-line plan with a few friends where I'm the payer, and I remember looking into this a while back to help them pay thei…
Your bank/financial institution should be able to do this at least from a bank account to a bank account. I have "pull" payments for organisations I'm ok with and "push" for others. The only issue I have is the "push" amounts are fixed and must be renewed every two years. (Edit: I don't think this will work with the VPN though as it needs a domestic account to push to, otherwise fees are high)
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
At best, you can hope to make surveilling you more expensive or more inconvenient. But if Snowden taught us anything, it's that whatever you needed to do to get yourself tangled up in the 5/14 eyes trip-wire, you've already done, long ago, and continue to do. VPNs don't mean shit. You're leaking data everywhere you go. Browser fingerprinting, WiFi/BT signals, cell tower signals, GPS. If you own a smart phone and a cr…
There's a big difference between getting caught up in a 5-eyes dragnet vs some local police investigation vs a copyright subpoena. A VPN headquarted offshore that will only respond to local subpoenas with local legal representation is pretty good protection against the second two.
There's a difference for now, anyhow
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You can mail them cash with account info and they'll set you up If I wanted to self-host a VPN, I would still need to pay for a cloud provider. Is there an equivalent cash (snail mail) offering for hosting?
>I would still need to pay for a cloud provider. both google and oracle offer small, perpetually free VM instances.
You still have to pay for bandwidth. Free tier provides only 1Gb egress.
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#326Refunds and disputes can happen way after a week right? I've seen disputes 120+ days after a transaction. I mean, maybe they won't be affected by this but they sort of suggest after a few weeks you could dispute the charge and they would have no idea it was you.
They have a 30 day refund policy. Their credit card partner stores transaction information for 40 days.
https://mullvad.net/en/help/no-logging-data-policy/#payments
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really. See the trial against the founders of The Pirate Bay for example, and the controversies surrounding it. Also, the FRA surveillance. Also, according to the ISP Bahnhof, the police at least used to submit lots of data requests without a court order and for non-serious crimes. AIUI, Bahnhof and other VPN providers stay in the clear by avoiding storage of data in the first place. They can be compelled to hand…
Could you elaborate on the Australian laws?
Ass. Access Act.
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely there's cost to the business even if you don't use the service. There's marketing, salary, healthcare, leases, and any other number of expenses. Gym's pay rent regardless of you showing up. Netflix still has pay for content you don't watch. The entire point of a subscription model is that a business can offer a steeply discounted price vs. pay-as-you-go in exchange for predictable, recurring revenue. That'…
Sorry, I thought you'd understand I was talking about marginal cost. Yes, I understand that software companies have non-marginal expenses. And yes, gyms pay rent, but I clearly said I was talking about "service/software subscriptions". I also disagree that's the point of subscription models. If I'm on a month-to-month subscription, there's no legal guarantee the revenue is predictable more than 30 days out. That woul…
> I understand that software companies have non-marginal expenses.
For most subscription businesses and SaaS companies, non-marginal costs are most of the costs. The pennies Netflix saves if you don't stream during the month are a pittance compared to other SG&A expenses like headcount and content production.
> I also disagree that's the point of subscription models.
What do you think the point is? Why would Jetbrain's move to a subscription model? Why does Spotify stream music and not sell tracks and albums? A subscription model is a fundamentally different business than one offering standard transactional sales.
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I assume writing a check and mailing it is a fairly typical thing everywhere It absolutely is not. The only time I've seen a check was a gift from my grandfather in the 00s, and I don't think paying bills by mailing checks was ever a thing here. Checks also often become very difficult and expensive to cash when going cross-border. E.g. most banks here (Finland) refuse to cash foreign checks altogether.
So if you wanted to give money to another individual (not a company which offers card payments) and you didn't want to use the internet, is cash the only option?
You call your bank, or go into a branch, and transfer it to their bank account.
Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions
#330Wow. Hadn't heard of Mullvad before reading this, figured I'd give it a try. That is hands down the BEST onboarding experience for an app (let alone a VPN) I've had in I don't know how long. Took me maybe 2 minutes to go from no account to a working VPN connection. I love that everything is anonymous (down to the account credentials just being a randomly generated token).
I also like that they let you download the raw wireguard config files so that you can connect without having to use their client. You can just plop them onto your filesystem and use wg-quick to get going. Since I'm also a ProtonMail user and I considered switching to them for VPN as well but their python client doesn't seem to work correctly on my Arch Linux install and it doesn't give me anything useful to debug it…
I've read some articles online, but I still haven't managed to understand the hype around wireguard. It's lighter than OpenVPN, but has more obscure primitives? Doesn't seem like a great trade off...