[spacefight]

I don't get why people are pushing folks towards VPN. If you use one, you shift your endpoint from Provider A to Provider B. And you have absolutely no guarantee ever, that the upstream link of provider B or that provider B itself (accounting, user association etc etc) is not rigged...

True, a VPN in hostile environments might be a good idea. If the termination endpoint is secure, is another question.

[mbreese]

I think it has more to do with the network peering arrangements of the VPN host more than privacy. At least that would be the benefit from my point of view.

If my ISP has a poor path to (for example) Netflix, but my VPN provider has a good (unsaturated) path, it could be advantageous. But this requires my ISP to have a good connection to my VPN provider.

[johnpowell]

I have a Plex server in Canada with OVH and on my local connection it worked fine for years to stream movies and TV. Even 1080p stuff worked fine. Then it appears that CenturyLink started shaping port 32400. So I got a 5 dollar droplet on Digital Ocean (SF) and now use that for a VPN. Plex works fine. I can switch the VPN on and off and it makes a huge difference. Without the VPN it is constant buffering.

[Havoc]

I had a discussion about this with one of the guys from PIA VPN...you can pay via bitcoin and the info required for sign-up is kinda uhm spartan.

No chance of pushing any serious traffic through a VPN though unless you control it.

Unfortunately, in my case a VPN would probably put me on weaker legal ground. My ISP is not legally entitled to monitor my traffic...once it hits the VPN provider the local laws apply & I can do without US laws on the privacy front.