ExpressVPN user considering switching to ProtonVPN

VPN
1

Hi all

I have been using expressvpn for a while and so far so good to be honest. However, I have just found out about the issue with expressvpn being owned by Kape technology which I read used to be a former malware distributor. Also regarding Daniel Gericke, their CEO (IIRC) helping UAE hack human rights, target Americans, etc. Edward Snowden also advised against using expressvpn. In light of these, I am considering switching to protonVPN, especially since i already have protonMail.

A few questions:

  1. I will be traveling to Indonesia soon and I noticed there is no server there. Is my only option to connect to Singapore? If so, how slow will it be? With express, there is one server in Indonesia and the speed was good, no problems.
  2. What exactly is securecore? it is a secure network by protonVPN, right? But surely i dont need to choose which network I want to connect to, yes? All I need to do is just press “connect” like i do with expressvpn?

That is all for now. If theres any more info i need to know please share it here. Gonna go to bed now. Thanks in advance for your help.

2
  1. Super hard to tell you how slow your network will be. In the past I’ve done some things where I’ve connected outside of the US just to see and speeds are still “Good”. Things like how many hops to get there, etc. I’ve found with the service as long as the server you are on is not overloaded, the speed is good.
  2. Secure core will slow your VPN down pretty noticeably. But what it does is almost like a Tor situation, where it will do multiple hops before it leaves the network. Makes it harder to track. But secure core servers are only in Switzerland, Iceland and Sweden where the privacy laws are really solid.
3

Have a look at this article, apparently EVPN’s ID server is virtual/fake and routes to their server in SG. It seems half of their servers are fake :joy:

https://blog.windscribe.com/virtual-or-physical-windscribe-has-the-most-server-locations/

At least Proton is honest about this and clearly indicates if smart routing is applied.

4

I have been using Proton VPN for about a month now after using Express VPN for a few years. It is just as fast if not faster for me.

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Secure core just runs the vpn through another country before going to your destination country. There may be more to it but it does that.

5

Depends on which part of Indonesia, i could get up to 300Mbps with Proton using Singapore server.

6

FWIW, I made the switch from EVpn to Proton a little over a year ago and it was fine. Speeds initially were a bit sluggish (as PVpn was beta then) but the service is far more polished and speeds are easily as good as I saw with E now…

7

Used express for a bit before moving to Proton. PVPN Speeds are as fast, if not faster in some situations. Have experienced less captcha.

I can connect to a server in Europe (I live in US) and speeds are still fast, for the most part. You’ll still have some issues in some websites (for example, Imgur, I had problems with Nord, Express, and Proton).

8

I was wondering what Secure core was. It blocked my ability to do certain things- that’s all I remember.

9

Just going to be in Java island.

10

For me, I notice more issues if Netshield is on rather than secure core. Secure core is slower tho.

11

Yeah, NetShield is what blocks your ability to access certain sites. I recommend you read through the help section on Proton’s website. It’s quite informative. And then it wouldn’t hurt to look up a few YouTube videos about what certain things are, like Split Tunneling, MTU Size, WireGuard, etc.

12

Yup, it should not affect you. Well i don’t know which part of Java you’re going to, my concern would be the internet speed provided by the ISP itself that sometimes sucks. I guess it would not be a problem if you’re in Jakarta metropolitan area or other big cities in Java, but if you’re planning to go to small cities in Java i guess you could expect bad internet connectivity.

13

Thank you, mostly just the big cities