A while ago I stumbled across IPREDator the new VPN service from the guys at thepiratebay.org, I had no real use for a VPN back then but it looked pretty cool and therefore bookmarked it “just in case”. Well fast forward 4 months to the present day and Ive finally got myself a laptop. Being able to use it in labs and lectures (epically to play peggle) is great although when ever using the university network their user policy, is always at the back of my mind.
“The University’s electronic communications systems (including the voice and
data networks, email, web servers and Internet connections) automatically and
routinely log their usage. The University reserves the right to intercept, monitor
and record electronic communications for lawful purposes as specified in the Act
and Regulations.”
As well as this, its an open network. If i have sat at the back of a lecture watching traffic flow through the air, I can guarantee that at least one other person has. This lead me into thinking about using a VPN and IPREDator immediately jumped to mind.
IPEDator provides a secure connection to their servers with 128-bit encryption, and at only €15 for 3 months, I thought why the hell not and signed up. The setup is incredibly easy, utilising the pre-built VPN connection utility with in windows, it was completed in a few minutes. They also promise not to store any data, on me or the traffic that I put through there service, which is a major bonus.
As for the drop in speed, that the overhead of using a VPN always entails, i was pleasantly surprised. I ran a few test to put some numbers to it. After running the standard speed test at www.speedtest.net 3 times I took the average.
I was amazed at these results, both the down and up speed weren’t affected as much as i thought and as for the ping well that’s understandable, after all my traffic is going all the way to Sweden and back . As for real world stats I downloaded a 143Mb creative commons CD from a torrent.
All I can say to the above numbers is wow, I always suspected my ISP throttled torrents but i don’t often download them and wasn’t 100% sure. I can now conclusively say that Tiscali do indeed throttle torrent data, and as IPREDators VPN encrypts traffic the ISP have no idea that it in fact a torrent and therefore can not throttle it.
The only real problem with IPREDator isnt really the developers fault, that is their servers are located in Sweden not the US which means you cant watch Hulu or listen to Pandora which is possible with many US VPN services.
In conclusion if your privacy aware or a heavy torrenter with an ISP that throttles your torrent data, IPREDator is perfect for you. At only €15 for 3 months you cant really go wrong.
Ipredator review – 213
