Free VPN

[GeoffF100]

My broadband contract ends in December. It would be cheaper for me to use mobile broadband, but there is an issue with Santander online banking. The cheaper mobile broadband services use 3's network, which keeps changing the IP address while you are logged onto Santander. That spooks Santa, and you get kicked off. The suggested solution is a VPN. I found an article on free VPNs:

https://www.techradar.com/vpn/best-free-vpn

Proton VPN appears to be the most solid option. Would that do the job with Linux Mint? Or is there a better solution?

[Urbandreamer]

On a personal basis I would question using a Free VPN for finance at all. Your article does sort of suggest that it might be worth paying.

That said I do think that a VPN would be likely to provide a stable IP while you were logged onto the bank. The IP could however change between sessions.

Of course if you are willing to pay, then you can have your own IP assigned by the VPN.
https://nordvpn.com/features/dedicated-ip/

Obviously a dedicated IP has a dedicated country location.

[Infrasonic]

The IP issue is more likely to be a 'listing' issue for the CGNAT IPv4 addresses used (due to abuse by spammers et al).

I've had a SIM only contract with Three since 2015 and used to run into that issue all the time whilst trying to access my online bank accounts via the wifi hotspot and later the banking apps. Checking the CGNAT IPv4 addresses showed they were listed...

You can run into the same issues with VPN IP addresses, notoriously TOR which will get you challenge alerts or blocks pretty much all the time.

Many of the big web players run dual stack IPv6 and IPv4 these days, internally resolving IPv6 to IPv4 via CGNAT often to make it easier to interface with for the WAN side and also to preserve IPv4 addresses which are a finite resource (hence IPv6...). One of the reasons IPv6 hasn't universally taken over as planned and fully replaced IPv4 is the extra complexity has led to legacy compatibility issues. I know people who switched fully to IPv6 and then after issues that didn't go away switched back.

I ended up using Cloudflare as my encrypted DNS provider (1.1.1.1) on the basis that as they are the biggest CDN host there would be less issues with websites and challenge alerts, dropped/blocked connections etc. and that is the way it has played out.

I've got a paid package account with Proton (E2EE email/calendar/cloud storage/ password manager/notes/VPN) and run the VPN split tunnel in conjunction with Tailscale across all my client devices.
There's a definite speed/latency differential with VPN on versus off - I only run Proton VPN when I need country proxying really, otherwise Tailscale on its own suits my needs without such a speed/latency hit.

YMMV

[GeoffF100]

That does not look encouraging. The extra cost of fixed broadband is about £10 per month, i.e. £120 per year. I could use the Santander mobile phone app, but I could easily hit problems with a financial firm that does not have an app. I am not keen on using mobile phone apps to access financial accounts, for security reasons, especially with a phone that does not get security updates. Perhaps it is worth paying for fixed broadband.

[JonE]

That does not look encouraging. The extra cost of fixed broadband is about £10 per month, i.e. £120 per year. I could use the Santander mobile phone app, but I could easily hit problems with a financial firm that does not have an app. I am not keen on using mobile phone apps to access financial accounts, for security reasons, especially with a phone that does not get security updates. Perhaps it is worth paying for fixed broadband.

I'm not quite sure how you define 'fixed broadband' but I have no landline and use 'Home Broadband' from 3 which is 'fixed' to my home location rather than truly mobile. In practice it is faster than the 'super fast plus' which had been the fastest offered to me to my rural abode (though I believe that 'full fibre' is now available in this area at a price - perhaps there's no longer any analogue provisioning). I encounter no problems with Santander or other financial sites from my desktop.

My allocated IP addresses aren't totally consistent geographically but are always on South coast when I check - with IPv4 often seeming to be in Gosport and IPv6 in Brighton while I'm actually in Devon.

Cheers!

[GeoffF100]

That does not look encouraging. The extra cost of fixed broadband is about £10 per month, i.e. £120 per year. I could use the Santander mobile phone app, but I could easily hit problems with a financial firm that does not have an app. I am not keen on using mobile phone apps to access financial accounts, for security reasons, especially with a phone that does not get security updates. Perhaps it is worth paying for fixed broadband.

I'm not quite sure how you define 'fixed broadband' but I have no landline and use 'Home Broadband' from 3 which is 'fixed' to my home location rather than truly mobile. In practice it is faster than the 'super fast plus' which had been the fastest offered to me to my rural abode (though I believe that 'full fibre' is now available in this area at a price - perhaps there's no longer any analogue provisioning). I encounter no problems with Santander or other financial sites from my desktop.

My allocated IP addresses aren't totally consistent geographically but are always on South coast when I check - with IPv4 often seeming to be in Gosport and IPv6 in Brighton while I'm actually in Devon.

That is interesting, but that service costs as much as fibre. Perhaps the cheapo services that run on 3's network are not configured in the same way.

[formoverfunction]

I use the paid version of ProtonVPN, but the free version, which just has limited server choice, works perfectly on Linux.

You get the choise of gui or cli. Mostly straight out of the box and you can also genertare a profile to work with wireguard or OpenVPN. I've pretty much used all flavours.

Ive used it on Fedora, Arch and Raspeberry OS without issue, and my present and new Star Lab device with Manjaro installed (and Fedora as VM on my MacBook Pro) as well as on Mac OS.

There's also a version that runs in the browers only, and they work together, so you can have a different IP on your device/browser.

I still have a Pi set up with the free version that's associated with an implementation of change detection io, and that's been up for ages without a reboot or restart of the free VPN.

You can also get a limited email account with them as well, I have one as well as my paid account.

Proton have just formed a relationship with StandardNotes https://standardnotes.com/ that looks interesting to go with the vpn, email, calendar and cloud storage.

[GeoffF100]

Thanks for that. I need to check my understanding here. Am I right in thinking that the free version of ProtonVPN will give me an IP address that stays the same while I am logged into Santander? If I log out of Santander, reboot and log back in, will my IP address be the same as when I last logged in? Can I easily turn ProtonVPN on and off?

[GeoffF100]

Will the free proton VPN give me a UK IP address? It says "247 servers across 5 countries". Is the UK one of the 5 countries?

[Stompa]

Will the free proton VPN give me a UK IP address? It says "247 servers across 5 countries". Is the UK one of the 5 countries?

Not according to this:

https://protonvpn.com/support/how-to-cr ... id%20plans.

[formoverfunction]

Thanks for that. I need to check my understanding here. Am I right in thinking that the free version of ProtonVPN will give me an IP address that stays the same while I am logged into Santander? If I log out of Santander, reboot and log back in, will my IP address be the same as when I last logged in? Can I easily turn ProtonVPN on and off?

With the free version, and dependant on how you set it up, it will give you the opportunity to select from one of the 5 servers. Whilst using a server you will have a constant IP, unles you allow the connection to sleep and then reconnect, (there's also a kill switch that block all traffice when you aren't using the VPN) or until you switch to another server or reconnect to the server you are using.

As far as I remember the UK was an option when I last used the free version.

As far as testiing it, if you use the "kill switch" make sure you deselect it if you decide to stop using the VPN or uninstall it.

The process for installing it should be quite simple, it might already be in your repo, in the fist instance I would use the gui, the cli would be my second choice, although it is really solid when using wireguard I've found. I use all 3 versions at the moment. gui on Mac OS, wireguard on a PI and cli on Arch.

Here's Proton's guide to installing on Mint. https://protonvpn.com/support/official-linux-vpn-mint/

On ProtonVPN's Reddit page, it suggests they move the free server locations around from time to time, there was originally 3 sites, from what I've seen on this thread it's now 5. So you might have to check with them or try it out to find out of there's still a UK selection.

If you want to find out without installing, you can create a free account with them for email/vpn and then try making a wireguard profile of the server you require before installing anything on your machine.

There's a broad selection of options, including do you want to double hop, push your traffice across 2 servers, I mostly use UK Via CH, and if you want to also block malware, trackers or ads befor they reach your browsers - I believe the double hop option and junk blockers might also be available in the free version.

[formoverfunction]

Yes you can witch it off and on, but if you set the kill switch to on unless you use the vpn, it will kill all connections to the www.

I've just signed into my free Proton email account and had a look at the free serveres if i wanted to use the free VPN as an alternative my paid subscription.

In the wireguard profile creation area it's showing 3 countries available and mutiple servers in each location and the load on each server, the lower the better.

As of today the coutnry selections are: Netherlands, USA and Japan. There's no "secure core" connections available, that adds a second server to your traffic to further hide your original location. Without creating a profile I can't see what other oprions are available for junk blockinging.

Netherlands has a low load level. The UAE is very busy. So you might be out of luck if you need a UK IP address.

[stevensfo]

Yes you can witch it off and on, but if you set the kill switch to on unless you use the vpn, it will kill all connections to the www.

I've just signed into my free Proton email account and had a look at the free serveres if i wanted to use the free VPN as an alternative my paid subscription.

In the wireguard profile creation area it's showing 3 countries available and mutiple servers in each location and the load on each server, the lower the better.

As of today the coutnry selections are: Netherlands, USA and Japan. There's no "secure core" connections available, that adds a second server to your traffic to further hide your original location. Without creating a profile I can't see what other oprions are available for junk blockinging.

Netherlands has a low load level. The UAE is very busy. So you might be out of luck if you need a UK IP address.

If you're prepared to pay for 3 years, you can usually get a cheap subscription to NordVPN or Surfshark. Per month, it's peanuts. I chose the latter. One advantage is you can install on as many devices as you want. Another is there's an option to spoof the GPS location to match the IP location, which may be useful for a smartphone. Some bank apps may want access to this! You can also double hop across two servers, though it's overkill for me.

I also have the free Proton VPN and yes, it's limited to Netherlands, USA and Japan, though it did once take me to a 4th country.

I use VPNs a lot with banks and brokers and never had a problem.

Steve

[Infrasonic]

Just stick Tailscale on your Linux boxes - free...https://tailscale.com/kb/1031/install-linux

https://tailscale.com/kb/1151/what-is-tailscale

[Urbandreamer]

Just stick Tailscale on your Linux boxes - free...https://tailscale.com/kb/1031/install-linux

https://tailscale.com/kb/1151/what-is-tailscale

Just to clarify: Would that help the OP who is changing their home internet service?

You seem to be suggesting using a self hosted VPN so that all your traffic seems to come from your home internet, regardless of where you actually are. The OP's problem is with his preferred home internet service.

[formoverfunction]

It looks as if Proton won't be supporting the cli app on Arch, I set up openvpn and wireguard up this morning...usual struggle stop ipv6 from leaking. I guess I'll be seeing how that works out.

[modellingman]

Possibly not a solution for the OP's problem but certainly consistent with the thread title is the free VPN solution based on GLi-Net routers, so it might be of interest to others.

I use GLi-Net's Mango Router. It plugs into my ISP's router and provides access to its own downstream LAN via ethernet or wi-fi. I'm not based in the UK, but a similar set-up at a relative's house in the UK allows the two to be connected via a VPN. With me as the client and the UK end as the server, I can, for example, use a Roku box to get TV services (such as iPlayer) that are normally geo-blocked, without having to play the game of VPN cat and mouse involved with commercial VPN providers (eg NordVPN).

Both WireGuard and OpenVPN are supported and built into the Mangos. I've used both. My VPN download speed is of course restricted by the ISP's upload speed at the relative's end but since that end is FTTP it is not a practical problem.

Set-up of the two Mangos as client and server, respectively, is fairly straightforward and GLi-Net bundle in a solution to the problem of a non-permanent IP address at the server end.

modellingman

*There is a hardware cost. The routers can be bought for around £35 each but after that there are no subscription costs other than a few drinks for the relative when we see each other.

[formoverfunction]

I see lots of people use those, I believe they are OpenWRT "ready".

There's a whole thread on the PFSense Reddit thread about using them in conjunction with a home PFSense Netgear router.

If I wanted one, I might be tempted to go down the route of a Slate or Opal. I belive those come with OpenWRT installed.

[formoverfunction]

The Mango is on sale on Amazon UK for £25 at the moment. Tempted.

[Infrasonic]

https://docs.gl-inet.com/router/en/4/in ... tailscale/