Some questions regarding VPN (before purchasing)

Lately more and more sites are getting blocked in India. So i thought of subscribing to a VPN. However i have some questions and doubts.

1. Opera browser has VPN features which lets me access sites blocked in India. However, the speed is extremely slow. If i subscribe to VPN like NordVPN or ExpressVPN, will the speed be as slow as Opera's VPN?

2. I looked at the various purchasing options in all these VPN sites. Unfortunately they accept only Credit Card. Is there a VPN which i can buy using my HDFC Debit Card or HDFC net banking?

3. How are the VPNs provided by Kaspersky, Avast, AVG and other big names? They are cheaper too.
4. I tried buying SurfShark VPN using Google Pay but it says invalid card. I have been using my HDFC card for google pay for years why cant i use it?

If there is paypal option, you can use that.
may be your card is blocked for international payments. you need to ask your bank to unblock it or if there is a facility, you can check in your bank app.

thanks

Most welcome

Id highly recommend trying free tier of their services before paying... Try TunnelBear, NordVPN and hide.me

I bought Windscribe after trying their free tier, which offers a generous 10GB per month (sufficient for just browsing). The free tier gave me decent speeds, better than Opera. The paid one was giving me 10-30Mbps usually depending on the server & proximity. It was as low as 2-4Mbps when I was connected to their Indian servers sometimes from the US.

I'm pretty sure my Axis debit card was working without issues for most online websites to pay in a different currency. Its possible that your HDFC card doesn't have international transaction enabled.

Usually found VPN from big companies to be pretty expensive. Tip- Buy from websites like stacksocial or Android Authority's techdeals (seems to be a tie up with stacksocial). You get discounts & discount coupons over that. I bought a 3-year Windscribe subscription for $20, had been pretty useful in the US. Look for relatively smaller companies which have good reviews (check reddit & other forums) & has high chances of becoming big, these usually offer great deals for initial customers. That was Windscribe 2 years ago, now their plans are like 3x expensive on sales.

My Axis debit failed only once for an international transaction, which later went through when I tried a CC from ICICI. So might be a rare issue on seller side if international transaction is enabled in your debit card.

This looks decent, dig more about it:
Protect Your Online Activity & Browse Without Restriction for Life
Use coupon "24HOURS" for 15% off.

Nerevarine said:
Id highly recommend trying free tier of their services before paying... Try TunnelBear, NordVPN and hide.me

NordVPN got hacked
NordVPN confirms it was hacked – TechCrunch

McAfee acquired TunnelBear (linus had them as long time sponsor)
McAfee acquires VPN company TunnelBear – TechCrunch

anupam_pb said:
I bought Windscribe after trying their free tier, which offers a generous 10GB per month (sufficient for just browsing). The free tier gave me decent speeds, better than Opera.

Is it cross platform? I might need to use it on phone as well. Currently using TurboVPN.

SaiyanGoku said:
NordVPN got hacked
NordVPN confirms it was hacked – TechCrunch

Is it cross platform? I might need to use it on phone as well. Currently using TurboVPN.

Yes, works well in Win10 & android, supports Mac, Linux & iOS as well.

My favourite is definitely hide.me.. Gave best ping to singapore believe it or not when i had crappy connection.

mikael_schiffer said:
1. Opera browser has VPN features which lets me access sites blocked in India. However, the speed is extremely slow. If i subscribe to VPN like NordVPN or ExpressVPN, will the speed be as slow as Opera's VPN?

Opera is majority owned by come Chinese company, if you are okay with giving them your data, then go ahead.

mikael_schiffer said:
2. I looked at the various purchasing options in all these VPN sites. Unfortunately they accept only Credit Card. Is there a VPN which i can buy using my HDFC Debit Card or HDFC net banking?

If you have international transactions enabled on your debit card then it will work. Ask your bank about this.

mikael_schiffer said:
3. How are the VPNs provided by Kaspersky, Avast, AVG and other big names? They are cheaper too.

I think best VPN provider is Private Internet Access, I tried Express VPN but I felt it was too expensive for casual use.

mikael_schiffer said:
4. I tried buying SurfShark VPN using Google Pay but it says invalid card. I have been using my HDFC card for google pay for years why cant i use it?

I think you should ask your bank.

W

Always prefer paypal option & it will work with any card as long as international transactions are enabled on the card(debit or credit). Directly entering your card details should be done only on major sites like amazon USA,aliexpress etc. Also,never try banking sites/apps with vpn while still in India as bank system will most likely detect it as online fraud & may result in temporary blocking of account. Google pay for national & international transactions are different in nature so may not work with all sites.

mikael_schiffer said:
Lately more and more sites are getting blocked in India. So i thought of subscribing to a VPN. However i have some questions and doubts.

1. Opera browser has VPN features which lets me access sites blocked in India. However, the speed is extremely slow. If i subscribe to VPN like NordVPN or ExpressVPN, will the speed be as slow as Opera's VPN?

2. I looked at the various purchasing options in all these VPN sites. Unfortunately they accept only Credit Card. Is there a VPN which i can buy using my HDFC Debit Card or HDFC net banking?

3. How are the VPNs provided by Kaspersky, Avast, AVG and other big names? They are cheaper too.
4. I tried buying SurfShark VPN using Google Pay but it says invalid card. I have been using my HDFC card for google pay for years why cant i use it?

1. Speed depends upon the quality of the vpn servers and your ISP's peering with foreign countries you'll experience better speed when connected to servers within India or nearby countries like Singapore, China etc.
2. HDFC Visa or Master Cards works Internationally. So it will work
3. Currently Mullvad vpn is popular among redditors, costs about 5 euro this might be a good option
4. Use paypal if available

There are a lot of VPN deals going on right now, u guys bought any ??

W

Nerevarine said:
There are a lot of VPN deals going on right now, u guys bought any ??

Windscribe already give $2/month plan with build your own plan option(1 country server+ul data) which is most likely the cheapest regular vpn plan currently from any major/good vpn provider.

whitestar_999 said:
Windscribe already give $2/month plan with build your own plan option(1 country server+ul data) which is most likely the cheapest regular vpn plan currently from any major/good vpn provider.

I think Techdeals was selling Windscribe (full) 3 years for $60 + other discounts, I think there was a $15 off as well. I bought it for under $20 about 2 years ago.

Purchased WindScribe thanks to whitestar's recommendation. speeds are fine. thanks a lot bro

W

Nerevarine said:
Purchased WindScribe thanks to whitestar's recommendation. speeds are fine. thanks a lot bro

That's good,which plan you got.

The 2 USD plan u mentioned

Is the $2 USD per month billed anually?

its billed monthly man, thats so great about windscribe unlike other providers..

W

Build your own plan,nice.I am also thinking of getting one in future though currently I have their 50gb monthly free plan(not available for new users) but I rarely use it.

How good is buying a VPS and setting up OpenVPN ?

Nerevarine said:
its billed monthly man, thats so great about windscribe unlike other providers..

A 3 year subscription would have been cheaper, it was going for like $60 & with coupons on top, maybe another $15 off. Its the full Windscribe.