Here are my notes on VPN and Usenet services:
General Use VPNs
- Private Internet Access (USA) offers 10Gbps connections, a network of 35,000 Servers in 83 Countries. This is a configurable service, that offers port-forwarding – owned by Kape Technologies — 40 USD annually, accepts Bitcoin
- SurfShark (USA) has conducted a full white-box infrastructure audit, offers unlimited connections but no port forwarding, accepts Bitcoin — quite speedy — good if you don’t mind some pop-ups and marketing — owned by Nord Security (Tesonet), 50 USD annually
- TunnelBear (USA) – multiple recent security audits, user-friendly app, unlimited devices – 60 USD annually
Privacy-Oriented VPNs
- Mullvad (Sweden) is praised for its strong commitment to privacy and security. It has independent annual audits. Mullvad has a limited server network compared to the VPNs listed above. However, it requires no personal information or email address to create an account. It is based in Sweden, which is known for its respect for privacy.
- OVPN (Sweden) is verified to be no-logs in a court case.
- Perfect Privacy (Germany) was verified to be no-logs in a court case.
Usenet Providers Based In the USA
- Newshosting is a Usenet provider with servers in the USA, Netherlands, and Germany. It is owned by a provider that dominates the Usenet provider landscape. It does offer reliable service at a good price via the Newshosting service.
- NewsgroupDirect is a U.S.-based Usenet provider that now offers an independent Usenet feed. This company has good customer support. They are known for inexpensive block accounts (accounts that don’t require a subscription).
- Giganews is a relatively expensive Tier 1 Usenet service provider headquartered out of Austin, Texas. They have servers in North America and the Netherlands. Giganews has fast download speeds and offers 50 simultaneous connections.
Usenet Providers Based In Europe
- TweakNews is a Dutch Usenet provider with some of the fastest connections in Europe. They also have one of the best completion rates.
- Frugal Usenet is a popular inexpensive provider with servers in the USA and Europe. The backbone is provided via Omicron with a backup server from Usenet.Farm. The Usenet.Farm backbone is tier-1 and independently owned by Frugal.
- Usenet.Farm is a Dutch provider that only offers anonymous accounts. For registration, only a non-disposable email address is required. Bitcoin accepted.
- Eweka is a reliable Dutch Usenet provider that offers a hassle-free Usenet trial. It asks for an email address, but I discovered they allow disposable email addresses.
- ViperNews is based in the Netherlands and it primarily serves users in Europe. The back-end was built from scratch in 2018, and ViperNews is now a fully independent Usenet platform.
