FINISHED - Looking for VPN recommendation

[40hz]

Does anybody here have any particularly able VPN service they can recommend.

Cost is not that much an issue for this. It's for business use for a friend. He's just set up his own operation and he's an army of one who's now responsible for his own IT (with a little help from yours truly) now that he's quit the big corporate world.

I'm veering towards NordVPN for its ease of use and good throughput. The person that'll be using it isn't a techno-geek although he's a pretty quick study. But there's a lot of options out there and I trust the collective wisdom of DoCo users over the published reviews. So any feedback or war stories based on your own hands-in experience would be greatly appreciated. I've only used a few myself, so I have some ideas. But I'd like to hear from the rest of you what you think is a good service or services.

***We're finished. What he selected can be found in the last post. Thanks everybody for your suggestions. -ed

[laughinglizard]

You could check out the review of paid VPN's over at Gizmo's Freeware:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-vpn-services.htm
It's the only review of paid software on the site, because a good free alternative couldn't be found.

Hope that helps.
Rhiannon
(disclosure: I'm one of the editors at Gizmo's)

[eleman]

I use these guys' services:
https://www.hideipvpn.com/

And I'm happy with it. The P2P package does the job.

[questorfla]

The only VPN I use is the one we host for ourselves.  It is a "Free Product" from SoftEther and has proven extremely reliable for our needs.  I have seen a service called 'Total VPN' that got some of the highest marks for a Free VPN but I have never used it so cannot say more.  That and another called 'Incognito' is all I have seen lately but there are surely others out there.

[Stoic Joker]

What will it be used for? G2G, C2G, C2C... Their may be other option depending on how they need to access what.

I've been playing with a Microsoft RemoteApp server which uses an accessible from anywhere SSL tunnel -(TLS version whatever you like )- that can make virtually any application available to pretty much anything. I even got our internal LOB application to run on my cellphone acceptably for quick stuff in a pinch. It leverages (desktopless) RDP for the delivery mechanism so iOS and Android devices can be used to access internal resources as well.

[40hz]

What will it be used for? G2G, C2G, C2C... Their may be other option depending on how they need to access what.

I've been playing with a Microsoft RemoteApp server which uses an accessible from anywhere SSL tunnel -(TLS version whatever you like )- that can make virtually any application available to pretty much anything. I even got our internal LOB application to run on my cellphone acceptably for quick stuff in a pinch. It leverages (desktopless) RDP for the delivery mechanism so iOS and Android devices can be used to access internal resources as well.

He's a consultant. Helps companies come up with their sales commission schedules and policies. Interesting business to be in because it's as much art and politics as it is science. He doesn't need much in the way of file transfer/P2P although he has an Office 365 Pro Biz account so he has all the cloud storage and access he needs.

I'm mostly concerned with him accessing the web, reading email, etc. when he's on the road. Some of his text files and communications are sensitive. And the only point of vulnerability he still has when using his Surface is that on ramp to the big bad web. Hence a purely mobile VPN solution. I've already got his home office network secured nine ways to Sunday. If he's behind the router I've done up for him, he's as secure as he's ever gonna be. And that's pretty damn secure.

No need (at this point) for RDP or RA. He's not going to be hosting anything himself. He's got a budget and he knows about running a business. So we're not going to be getting into any science faire or homebrew guerrilla networking for this guy. (Which is nice for a change if ya know what I mean.  ) If he needs something, he willing to pay what's needed to do it right and without the need for him to keep calling me for explanations or assistance on day to day things.

More precise requirements for the VPN:

• Very secure
• Known provider with good rep
• High availability and decent throughput
• Cost not a significant factor - he expects to pay for it (which always simplifies service selection  )
• Fairly easy to use. (As I said, he's very smart and a quick study - but he ain't one of us. He's more interested in the solution than the technology driving it.)

@ Everybody who's made suggestions so far: Thanks! I will look into your suggestions and recommendations.

[Tuxman]

I've been using Perfect Privacy for a couple of years now. VPN, Squid, Socks5, SSH, even allows cascading of multiple servers. Also, they don't save your logs - they've been raided without success.

You can't be more secure than that. Well worth the price. 

[Jimdoria]

My Subscription for Private Internet Access lapsed back in February, and I did a quick survey to see if I could find a better option. Didn't turn one up, but I was partly shopping price. I've been happy with their service so far, and a lot of the reviewers I checked confirmed that they are in the top 5 even when compared to more expensive providers. YMMV.

[40hz]

Hey guys. Thx for your input. He tried PIA but eventually went with TunnelBear. So we're all set. 

[Tuxman]

Booooo!