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WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

mullvad.net

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Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#111

Post by nodja »

throwanem wrote: post #3

I use (and really like!) Mullvad, but have never tried the app, preferring to use my existing OpenVPN clients with the profiles Mullvad provides. This isn't because I have any reason to mistrust their app, but just because if I've already got a perfectly serviceable client on my device, why add another binary to do the same thing? But I would be interested to hear, from folks who have used the app, what you like and…

I don't use OpenVPN but wireguard, but I do use split tunneling and my setup is a bit complex but not hard to achieve.

I wanted to have a VPN up 24/7 but certain sites apps don't really like VPNs. I basically have steam and privoxy set as my split tunneling apps. Steam because it seems their website's CDN breaks half the time and privoxy so I can access specific websites without a VPN.

For privoxy to work properly I use a browser extension called SmartProxy[1] which lets me setup a proxy and then I can quickly add/delete sites from using that proxy, I just add 127.0.0.1:8118 and I can basically have any site either use the VPN (default) or whitelist it so it goes through my home connection.

[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/smartproxy/jogcnpl...

Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#112

Post by wraptile »

daqhris wrote: post #104

I'm a happy Mullvad user. But I have one concern. Recently, Instagram "tagged" my account as either based in Russia or using Russian currency. I'm based in Western EU and set up the VPN to connect to the same country or neighboring ones. I'm trying to figure out if some endpoints belonging to Mullvad have been shadowbanned by Meta/Instagram. Is there someone else who uses Mullvad to surf on Meta products whose accoun…

I use Mullvad and I constantly run into things like ASN bans etc. For example, cloudflare often bans whole ASN making many websites not accessible through Mullvad.

Seems like mullvad is being used by a lot of bad actors and they're not really doing anything about it.

I like their software and monetization but their IPs are probably the lowest quality IPs in the VPN market.

Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#113

Post by wolverine876 »

postingposts wrote: post #85
DenseComet wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't want to switch to the Mullvad app, it's still worthwhile to switch to their wireguard profiles. Connections seem more stable and wireguard is far easier to configure.

Hey I’m curious about the terminology you guys are using here. Is there a manual or a page which I can read to learn more about wireguard profiles and what mullvad has done for them perhaps?

Search HN re Wireguard. It's a much more secure, efficient, and very widely respected. Linus has integrated it into the kernel, for example.

Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#114

Post by TameAntelope »

Thorentis wrote: post #106
daqhris wrote: post #104

I'm a happy Mullvad user. But I have one concern. Recently, Instagram "tagged" my account as either based in Russia or using Russian currency. I'm based in Western EU and set up the VPN to connect to the same country or neighboring ones. I'm trying to figure out if some endpoints belonging to Mullvad have been shadowbanned by Meta/Instagram. Is there someone else who uses Mullvad to surf on Meta products whose accoun…

I suspect that "Russian" will be the new pejorative that Big Tech is able to throw at anything they feel like banning. Want to ban a user for using a VPN because it's harder to track them? Accuse them of being "Russian linked" and bam, no further justification needed.

You probably don't even need to lie, it's likely Russian hackers are using every major tor/VPN available commercially.

Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#116

Post by wolverine876 »

cpressland wrote: post #39

This thread seems to be full of people that use a VPN, I personally don’t as I find DoH + HTTPS to be enough. Why do so many of you use VPNs?

> I find DoH + HTTPS to be enough. / Why do so many of you use VPNs?

They solve different problems, and can be used together.

HTTPS encrypts the contents of packets between your browser and the server. Therefore it reveals to your ISP what service you are using and when, which also indicates where you are at that time (e.g., in front of your computer at home). And it reveals to the Internet service (e.g., Facebook, etc.) identifying information about your computer. That metadata - knowing what people are doing and when, and identifying information - is generally considered to be as valuable as the contents of their transactions.

VPNs encrypt everything between your computer and the VPN provider. That hides from your ISP and other intermediaries everything you do, other than indications of activity (though traffic could be your computer downloading an update, or example, without you being home). It hides some identifying information from the Internet service, such as your IP address, though your computer may communicate much more that identifies it. However, a VPN reveals to the VPN provider everything that would have been revealed to the ISP; you are merely shifting your trust from one vendor to the other (which is why HTTPS and VPNs are used together).

In a sense, a VPN provider becomes your ISP, including determining the apparent location of your computer - you can look like you are in a different country, which might change what DRM-controlled media you can access. (VPNs also are used for secure tunnels, for example by remote workers and by security-concious network administrators.)

Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#117

Post by panick21_ »

Have been using them off and on for years. Met some people who work for them at some conferences. Company makes a great impression in general.

My favorite thing they do is trying to make server infrastructure transparent:

https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2022/1/12/diskless-infrastructur...

Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#118

Post by neurostimulant »

throwanem wrote: post #3

I use (and really like!) Mullvad, but have never tried the app, preferring to use my existing OpenVPN clients with the profiles Mullvad provides. This isn't because I have any reason to mistrust their app, but just because if I've already got a perfectly serviceable client on my device, why add another binary to do the same thing? But I would be interested to hear, from folks who have used the app, what you like and…

Why not use a wireguard client instead? Connection is instant (unlike openvpn which can take a few seconds to connect) and drains less battery as well. Their app uses wireguard as well, and you can use other wireguard client too.

Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#119

Post by neurostimulant »

clsec wrote: post #67
mft_ wrote: post #2

Tangential, but I recently discovered Mullvad. For years, I've used whichever mainstream VPN provider had a good deal on come renewal time, and cycled through a few of the usual suspects. Recently, I was with Surfshark, and was really struggling to get download rates above a few hundred K/sec - and sometimes even worse. I didn't even suspect the VPN at first, but ultimately tried a different provider as a diagnostic…

That's strange. I've had the opposite experience. I was with Cyberghost and, after 3 yrs of good speeds, almost overnight it basically became so slow that it was unusable. I then tried out Surfshark and have been very happy with the speeds that I've gotten for the past year+.

In the end, it depends on how your ISP peers with your VPN provider's network. VPN companies tend to host their servers on networks with cheap bandwidth, which don't necessarily have great peering with many residential ISPs.

Re: WireGuard multihop available in the Mullvad app

#120

Post by neurostimulant »

cpressland wrote: post #39

This thread seems to be full of people that use a VPN, I personally don’t as I find DoH + HTTPS to be enough. Why do so many of you use VPNs?

I have shitty ISP that's slow when accessing many sites. It has great connection to mullvad servers though, so I can work around my ISP issues with VPN.

My country is also blocks many sites and requires ISP to transparently route all DNS traffic to DNS servers that implement the government's block list. DNS over https is also really slow with frequent timeouts. I suspect they mess with popular DoH servers to discourage people to use it. Again, VPN solves this.

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