VPN questions & recommendations

Lemur21 · 2024-11-27T02:07:33.032Z

About a month ago, I (and two friends whom I helped with their IPTV installations) – all ended up getting ISP blocked. Only using a VPN (right now, we use Proton - free), enables us viewing channels.

None of us enjoy turning on the VPN every time we want to watch live tv; and off each time we head to Stremio. I since learned about “Split-Tunneling” - which sounds like it’ll do exactly what I want.

Additionally, I’ve noticed that with Proton (at least), despite my speed still being around 800/900 mbps; there are times when I’ll get such bad buffering, that checking the speed on the firestick shows about 1.68mbps. Awful.

And, even more annoying, once I turn off the VPN to head to Stremio – about 3-8 minutes in, Stremio will freeze, requiring me to force quit and relaunch. Every time.

So - my questions:

Are all VPNs known to severely curtail the speed/non-buffering of the IPTV service? I wanted to use a free service for now, to see what worked/didn’t work; but I need to pay for one to have access to split-tunneling.
Has anyone else (who maybe used a VPN before) - found that turning off the VPN would auto-freeze Stremio? And/or is that resolved with a paid VPN?

Finally - I constantly see “Save 80% on xxxxx” VPN. I’m assuming that’s a first-year promo; and after that, you’re back to full price? Is the solution then to fundamentally rotate through a set of different VPNs?

Assuming I can get this all to work (functionally log in to a VPN, leave it there, using split-tunneling to tell it to disconnect for non-live TV); and with no notable reduction in performance … which VPNs are the best recommended for this type of use-case (installed on the firestick itself; not the router).

Apologies if this is dis-jointed … had a lot of thoughts and wanted to ensure I got them all down!

Throttlejockey · 2024-11-27T04:33:12.446Z

Definitely want to use a VPN when using Stremio! Leave it on unless you’re speed suffers. I use paid Proton, works great. Cleans up a lot of stuff

MikeN · 2024-11-27T04:40:13.192Z

Have you tried changing to private dns server?

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Miki · 2024-11-27T12:10:00.726Z

The problem is, you are using a free VPN. Proton being a top of the line dedicated VPN and security site gets a lot of attention and the free servers get overloaded with users and that degrades your speed, a lot. I have had Proton for 3 yrs now and bought their full suite of stuff for 2 yrs. With their VPN accelerator tech I get faster speeds than my ISP service rates my service at. Never a problem, although on streaming devices you can’t access the entire spectrum of config options.

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MikeN · 2024-11-27T12:20:24.268Z

Miki:

With their VPN accelerator tech I get faster speeds than my ISP service rates

That is impressive statement.
Best I have seen is coming close to ISP service speed

Miki · 2024-11-27T12:34:18.062Z

Just a fact. I pay for a 150Mbps down and constantly get 160-170 down. This on a 2019 Shield Pro.

davies678625 · 2024-11-27T13:41:21.958Z

Yes you need to use a payed service like surfshark.I have an internet speed of 1GB which can reduce to 120MBS.so you need high speed internet and a quality VPN.hope this helps.

Cryptical64 · 2024-11-27T19:47:27.911Z

I’m having an issue with my Surfshark. Every time I go into Kodi to look for some links to watch my vpn disconnects after a minute or two repeatedly. Doesn’t matter what build/addon I use, it just keeps happening. I’ve been using SS for over 2 1/2 years now and never had this problem before, just started a couple of months ago. I’m just wondering if U might have any suggestions or ideas on why this is happening? I meant to try to post this question in open forum but I haven’t been in here in so long I forget how. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated

Lemur21 · 2024-12-02T01:00:11.295Z

I pay for 1.5 gpps and - there are times when the speed will decrease down to about 2.5 mbps … it’s noticeable.

I knew I’d have to pay for a VPN to get split funneling … I just wanted to ensure that the buffering was due to the free version and not all VPNs.

You paid for two years (usually there are great sales) … when that period is over, do you get the same sale price? Or do you have to bounce to another VPN provider (and rotate through all the different ones).

I’ll have to take a look at the thread I bookmarked on best VPNs for IPTV, I think … there are a number of well-known names, obviously.

mthr1 · 2024-12-02T04:46:12.567Z

This depends on the vpn provider.

For example, surfshark allows for you to stack promo pricing packages onto your existing sub.

(e.g. You can purchase the current black friday promo (24 months + 4 free months (or better with other promo codes)) and stack it onto your existing promotional sub.

elvin210 · 2024-12-21T18:01:26.370Z

I just want to give thanks to those who recommended Proton VPN in this thread.

I’ve subscribed to PIA for probably more than 5 years and I recently subscribed to Surfshark since its highly recommended on here. But I’ve had the issue where my IPTV would not play when having either PIA or SS connected and if I ever tried playing any 4K streams on Kodi or Stremio, the speeds were so slow that they would never play.

After finding this post and seeing the Proton VPN suggestions, I went ahead and subscribed to test it out and MAN, THANK YOU!!! I connect the Proton VPN and my IPTV works perfectly and I’ve already watched about 10 4K streams on Kodi and Stremio and they did not skip a beat!

It’s been about two weeks since I’ve been using Proton VPN and I would highly recommend to anyone who is experiencing the issues I was having.

THANKS AGAIN, FOLKS!!!

Kicker543 · 2024-12-23T03:26:32.761Z

Nord vpn has a 74% off for 2 years if anyone wants that one. Like $86 after tax

billyboy · 2024-12-23T18:37:30.489Z

I subscribed to Surfshark and then to Nord VPN just to see which of the 2 gave me faster speeds. With Surfshark I get an average speed in the 80’s. With Nord my speeds are constantly around 110. So I unsubscribed from Surfshark and keep Nord as my go to VPN.

Nonya_Biz · 2024-12-25T00:22:03.262Z

Change protocol?
WireGuard?

Hawki · 2025-04-19T15:20:25.677Z

Hey guys, just wondering if you all have preferred or tested protocols that you prefer?

Or do you just use the default “best location” and let the app decide?

While I’m at it - is there a way to find out if the server that you connect to, or which servers have 10 GB’s as opposed to 1 gbs?

Tia!

Timwort · 2025-04-19T17:53:16.907Z

Probably not the answer your looking for, I use a VPN for obfuscation of my IP address only and only for certain apps to watch TV series and movies. I don’t bother for sports.

I usually use wireguard but if I am experiencing issues I might try others. I have to say I usually stay with wireguard.

Most people do not understand how personal VPNs actually work and I have talked about it before, much of the use of a personal VPN is security theater.

I taught security courses and wrote security courses for Sun MicroSystems also wrote certification test questions. I mention this only to establish I am not pulling my opinion out of my arse.

More importantly I am not invested in anyone else’s use of a VPN, it’s your money and system, do as you wish.

carlbs · 2025-04-22T20:25:13.025Z

I’ve heard some here say that choosing your protocol (in your case wireguard) works better than letting SS for example choose it for you automatically. Seems you concur.

I’ve also recently tried “STATIC IP” and “MULTIHOP” locations with SurfShark and even though I only have a rudimentary understanding of what they do, I don’t seem to have any loss of performance. In fact, static IP (New York #3) seemed to clear up a rare disconnecting problem.

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