Is there some way to check the status of the Proxy machine? I seem to be getting quite a few connection errors in the past few days without any changes on my end. Thanks!
Is there some way to check the status of the Proxy machine? I seem to be getting quite a few connection errors in the past few days without any changes on my end. Thanks!
You could ask Support to look into this for you. Also what program are you using this proxy with?
I might be missing something here, but if a VPN offers comprehensive privacy, why use a proxy?
Many reasons such as: 1: Some people prefer using the proxy instead of the vpn, ofcourse this depends on people's need. 2: No one can tell your real IP address or identify your locality. 3: Caching process makes browsing and accessing networks fast and easy. For example, let’s suppose User A has opened site xyz, and it takes 12 seconds for it to load. When User B tries to access the same site, the server will give him the cached page which means it will take hardly 5-6 seconds for the site to load, and it will not use any bandwidth.
Both will lead to the same anonymity, they are good to protect your IP from the destination server. VPN is usually encrypted, normal proxy servers are usually not encrypted. Authorities can still track you when you use a private proxy or vpn, keep that in mind when doing stuff. Don't break laws or cause damages that might fall back on you.
If you connect to the proxy, that counts as 1 login toward the 3 login limit. 3 Logins is much higher than the industry standard of 1.
I didn't say it wasn't high. I just wanted to get it clarified. Thanks, and I am very happy with a limit of 3! Not that I wouldn't be happier with an even higher limit, but it will do.
Hello Autumnwalker, the SOCKS 5 Proxy was originally designed to mask IP and not encrypt. If we see more demand in the future, this is something we may add.
Hello Autumnwalker, the SOCKS 5 Proxy was originally designed to mask IP and not encrypt. If we see more demand in the future, this is something we may add.
would love to see that because encryption would be another huge plus, b_____d happen to have a tool which encrypts their proxy's traffic.
I just want to say how pleased I am with the speed, reliability, options, and service that I consistently receive from PIA. This new proxy service is effing wonderful!!! I no longer feel the need to run my entire computer through a vpn, hence my reason for trying the proxy service. I fired up utorrent to do some legal filesharing tonight for the first time in a few weeks, and to my surprise, I was instantly maxing out my 50 gigabit (us) connection. That's somewhere in the neighborhood of 5.6 megabytes per second!!! Y'all are just awesome! Don't tell the finance department or the cfo but I would gladly pay double or even tripple for this kind of service!!! I just can't say near enough good things right now! Happy downloading!
Just curious—why would you want to use this instead of VPN? Sorry if that seems like a dumb question...
Simply put... I no longer need to run the data from my entire computer through a vpn that I originally purchased to mask my identity and maintain my anonymity while file sharing. I feel secure knowing that my online banking is no longer running through server's somewhere over seas yet my utorrent traffic is. It also keeps my ping down for things like online gaming but here again, utorrent is running silently and stealthy in the background, like a ninja!
I'm currently using the proxy server for uTorrent and get better performance than I do using the VPN client.
I would also like to see a US-based proxy for streaming US content; I could set one browser to use it and another one to connect normally. I don't want to have to tunnel everything on my computer through the VPN, as this seems to degrade performance.
Simply put... I no longer need to run the data from my entire computer through a vpn that I originally purchased to mask my identity and maintain my anonymity while file sharing. I feel secure knowing that my online banking is no longer running through server's somewhere over seas yet my utorrent traffic is. It also keeps my ping down for things like online gaming but here again, utorrent is running silently and stealthy in the background, like a ninja!
I am struggeling over the benefits of the Proxy, in only directing some traffic through it, and the encryption of VPN. But, when we are talking utorrent traffic, isn't that the important one to keep encrypted?
I am struggeling over the benefits of the Proxy, in only directing some trafficl it, and the encryption of VPN. But, when we are talking utorrent traffic, isn't that the important one to keep encrypted?
As of this moment use the vpn for encrypted traffic on utorrent, proxy is not encrypted. There are ways PIA could encrypt the proxy, however, that's down to the support.
I have been using this service for almost a month now, and considering sign up for one year. There are a few things I would like though. Sense I don’t need to be anonymous in every application on the pc, I would really like a proxy for browsing. I use the Socks5 proxy a lot, so if you add an encryption I would feel much safer. thx
I have been using this service for almost a month now, and considering sign up for one year. There are a few things I would like though. Sense I don’t need to be anonymous in every application on the pc, I would really like a proxy for browsing. I use the Socks5 proxy a lot, so if you add an encryption I would feel much safer. thx
+1 this request. I had love to be able to surf the internet with the proxy knowing that the traffic was encrypted!
The SOCKS5 protocol does not natively support encryption. Stuff could be done with ssl wrappers, but that would make things way more complicated, and I don't know of any existing software for that on windows.
Use the proxy only if your application encrypts or you don't need encryption.
ADDITIONALLY, and I can't stress this enough, your username and password get transmitted in plaintext when connecting to the proxy and can be sniffed (especially on unsecured wireless networks).
ADDITIONALLY, and I can't stress this enough, your username and password get transmitted in plaintext when connecting to the proxy and can be sniffed (especially on unsecured wireless networks).
Is there any way to prevent that because that is a serious concern for me.
I have seen some draft proposals for challenge-response authentication mechanisms in Socks 5, but I'm not sure if any software implementations exist. There is RFC1961 which specifies a GSS-API authentication method for Socks5, but I don't know how that works. Standard Socks5 is RFC1928 and RFC1929. Those are what most Socks clients support.
PIA could offer SSL wrappers like stunnel for the proxy, or a lite VPN config for an PIA-internal network. But I think this defeats the purpose of the proxy, so the only option for unencrypted wireless or other untrusted networks remains the full VPN.
Comments
1: Some people prefer using the proxy instead of the vpn, ofcourse this depends on people's need.
2: No one can tell your real IP address or identify your locality.
3: Caching process makes browsing and accessing networks fast and easy.
For example, let’s suppose User A has opened site xyz, and it takes 12 seconds for it to load. When User B tries to access the same site, the server will give him the cached page which means it will take hardly 5-6 seconds for the site to load, and it will not use any bandwidth.
Both will lead to the same anonymity, they are good to protect your IP from the destination server.
VPN is usually encrypted, normal proxy servers are usually not encrypted.
Authorities can still track you when you use a private proxy or vpn, keep that in mind when doing stuff. Don't break laws or cause damages that might fall back on you.
This is something we had in the past but removed due to low demand. However, if demand increases, we will consider re-instating.
I would also like to see a US-based proxy for streaming US content; I could set one browser to use it and another one to connect normally. I don't want to have to tunnel everything on my computer through the VPN, as this seems to degrade performance.
There are a few things I would like though. Sense I don’t need to
be anonymous in every application on the pc,
I would really like a proxy for
browsing. I use the Socks5 proxy a lot, so if you add an encryption I would
feel much safer. thx
Stuff could be done with ssl wrappers, but that would make things way more complicated, and I don't know of any existing software for that on windows.
Use the proxy only if your application encrypts or you don't need encryption.
ADDITIONALLY, and I can't stress this enough, your username and password get transmitted in plaintext when connecting to the proxy and can be sniffed (especially on unsecured wireless networks).
Standard Socks5 is RFC1928 and RFC1929. Those are what most Socks clients support.
PIA could offer SSL wrappers like stunnel for the proxy, or a lite VPN config for an PIA-internal network. But I think this defeats the purpose of the proxy, so the only option for unencrypted wireless or other untrusted networks remains the full VPN.