How do you go about this? (Librespeed appears to be more or less an open equivalent to speedtest[dot]net, does that mean you manually check each servers speed every few hours, or is there a way that you have automated this to make it more useful/convenient?)
I’m doing it manually. I did see, however, that speedtest-CLI exists and is based on Librespeed. Not sure if this could be used as part of an automated tool.
1 Like
I’m wondering whether it’s a good or bad idea to use your own country as the VPN exit server, especially if you can choose another country as an entry server (Mullvad now supports double-hop on all platforms).
Pros:
- you can be fingerprinted by your language (in the HTTP headers your browser sends) and time zone so you might blend in better if your IP matches the same country
- you get more relevant websites e.g. if you search “restaurant in London” then Google or DDG will make an assumption whether you mean London, England or London, Ontario. Or when a company website or shop automatically redirects you to their national website.
- you’re less likely to get flagged as suspicious when you log in to your accounts e.g. for online banking
Cons:
- not suitable for all users, especially those in very restrictive countries like China or Iran where VPNs don’t really exist
- potentially you’re a more attractive target for law enforcement, e.g. if you go on a British website and post an illegal opinion, they might try to find you if it was posted with a UK IP but would not bother if you posted with a US IP (due to 1st amendment) or an Albanian IP (because nobody cares).
This is under the assumptions that 1. you use a trustworthy VPN provider and 2. you use double-hop with a different country for the entry server (to prevent a government actor just logging the whole country’s traffic).
Thoughts?
When you have to login to stuff, it makes sense to me to use the same country VPN.
When you don’t have to login and just do browsing, then it makes sens to me to use a different country and Mullvad Browser.