Thank you all for the comments.
sp5it- does that mean you have your own hardware, as opposed to connecting to a service?
I was not aware of those sites on VPN’s, so those links are appreciated. Thanks!
Yes, I have router with VPN set up at my home. I use it when abroad or on insecure connection.
Mike
I have Mullvad and really like it. Servers all over the world that you can select from at 5 euro’s a month. I pay with paypal and it converts it to US dollars for me. I did a lot of research on VPN’s a while back. If I recall correctly:
- NordVPN is extremly slow
- Private Internet Access says they don’t keep logs but they recently had to prove in court that “don’t keep logs.” Apparently there is confusion on whether they do or don’t keep logs.
- BlackVPN has a ton of fake reviews out there
- Mullvad is more expensive, but it’s the most cost effective, fastest, no logging VPN I found. Plus the interface is super easy.
nord user here… it’s actually not so bad as long as i’m connecting to a nearby server (same / neighboring country).
mullvad sounds interesting. do they have a free trial period? three hour trial period on signing up.
Mikrotik?
I’ve been using NordVPN for a couple of years with no issues.
I switched from Private Internet Access. I can’t even remember why I switched, but at the time it made sense and I’ve never had a problem with NordVPN.
Do the hardware (router) versions work as well as (or better than?) the various services? If so, would be less expensive in the long run to buy one?
Where I have a specialized DSL modem/router (for the paired/bonded DSL) could you use a VPN router in tandem with my DSL modem?
Or, would using both a VPN service and a VPN router make things even more secure?
I believe the hardware routers mentioned in this thread are the reverse of what you’re looking for. There are router manufacturers that have a VPN service, but it’s for connecting to your home network while away from home. What I assume you’re looking for is connecting from your home to the internet through a third party tunnel.
sb56637- that is correct. This is new to me, so my questions might seem pretty basic.
Thanks!
I use PIA also… Not bad, I believe it reviews well…
I’ve been getting great speeds with NordVPN: 125Mbps down, 25Mbps up but I’m having trouble connecting to Amazon.com which is really inconvenient for me. I had been looking at ExpressVPN as well. The only thing holding me back are the speeds.
That is usually the case but not always. The ASUS router line is a good case in pint.
Third-party open-source firmware exists (ASUS "Merlin") which includes a full-fledged OpenVPN client capable of storing 4 separate configurations. This firmware is so good that ASUS eventually started rolling some of its improvements into the factory firmware.
I am using a T-Mobile CellSpot 1900 (cause they were essentially free) flashed back to the ASUS stock model and then Merlin as a wired, dedicated VPN hardware appliance for PIA, sitting between the router and my computer. With the Broadcom chipset at 800 or 1000 MHz clock, you can get download throughput of about 90% rated speed up to 60 - 75 MBPS.
The caveat (for the beginner) is that the OpenVPN setup, while GUI-driven, is definitely not trivial. You may think it's working, until you discover you haven't taken protections to block non-VPN traffic or "out in the open" DNS requests including IPV6.
After going without a VPN for over a year, I resigned up for FrootVPN.
It turns out that they do not allow Port Forwarding, so I am lucky I only signed up for one month.
I decided to sign up with PrivateVPN (also in Sweden.)
They offer Port Forwarding, and a seven day free trial.
If you decide to buy VPN service from them, follow a link from proprivacy.com to get a better deal.
Here's their review:
https://proprivacy.com/review/privatevpn
It's currently $1.89/month if you sign up for 24 months.
Assuming I like the seven day free trial, that's what I'll sign up for. 
I have been using Express VPN for the past year but it’s pricey and not sure if i’ll be renewing.
I’m using Nordvpn just over 1,5 year and there are times that none of their servers work or are really unreliable. In the beginning I had no problems with their servers but since they advertise all over the internet (and also Tv) theirs service went downhill. When my subscription ends I will definably pick an different VPN provider.
I use Mullvad, but it's not something I run full-time. Only for activities where I don't want to be tracked. They are very privacy minded, to the point that they will accept payments of cash shipped with the relevant account number, and apply the payment toward the account. Like, you could send 5 Euros in a plain white envelope with no return address and just write the account number inside it. (They also accept more traditional payment methods.) They have servers in the US and EU, and I haven't looked elsewhere. Using a nearby server, I don't lose any of the bandwidth I normally have from my ISP. They have useful setup guides on their website for various things, like OpenVPN on android, setting up a router VPN for your whole network, etc. I will note that certain services like hulu or Netflix will block the Mullvad IPs, this is because those services don't want to allow people to bypass region restrictions on content, and because the Mullvad proxy servers have relatively static, known external IPs.
i think i’m nearing the end of my 3 year Nordvpn deal, and i’ve never had speed or connecting issues. but… for certain games (where everything happens on the server and the game locks up when lagging) it’s not ideal, but i’m not sure any VPN is to be honest.
But that’s not what i use it for anyway… when my sub expires i’ll most likely get another x year deal from Nordvpn.
It’l probably differ from country to country how reliable a VPN service is too.
Sometimes PrivateVPN is really slow, so I do not recommend it.
Once my subscription almost expires, I'll sign up for something else.
I use windscribe, but I mostly use it to play a game whose servers aren’t running in europe anymore…so I get by with the free version.