I want to find a budget VPN that can bypass censorship and works on a WiFi Router (Mi AX3200)
Also preferably under $3 a month, but feel free to suggest stuff even if it doesn’t fit my budget
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The specifications for your router doesn’t say anything about support for VPN.
However, it says that the operating system is based on OpenWrt so if you don’t mind working with a terminal you should be able to install support for VPN.
When you do, you should choose the WireGuard protocol instead of the OpenVPN protocol.
As for a VPN provider I suggest you go for Mullvad VPN. The monthly price is 5 Euro, that’s about $5.21 USD. The good thing with Mullvad VPN is that the monthly price is the same no matter if you pay for 1 month, 10 months or more. That means you can start paying for only one month to see if Mullvad VPN is a good choice for you.
Windscribe custom plan starts from 3 USD per month. You can install their app on a phone, computer, or VM first and use it for free. If it works to bypass the censorship that you experience, you can then pay and get configuration for your router. It is also possible to snatch OpenVPN configuration from the app and use it on a router for free, but note that user name and password are different from those that you use on their web site.
If you want to go with OpenVPN, you can also use one of free VPN services to see how well your router supports it before paying.
It also supports OpenWRT so that’s an option as well, unfortunately $5 usd is out of my budget but I appreciate the suggestion! I’m also wondering if NordVPN can be installed on a router or not because their website isn’t really specific and just leads to random articles
Thank you I will try doing that
Update: I tried using freeopenvpn.org and vpnbook.com but neither of them worked on my Android phone (I havent bought the router yet because its only purpose is a VPN and i wanna see if theres any good VPNs that work before investing in it)
I have never tried NordVPN, but I assume it should work on a router.
However, if you find $5.21 USD to be too expensive you can not go for NordVPN. The cheapest plan is $12.99 USD for one month. If you sign up for a one year plan you can get down to a monthly price of $4.59 USD, but you must pay for the whole year upfront. If NordVPN doesn’t meet your expectations you have lost a lot of money. With Mullvad VPN you only lose $5.21 USD if you don’t like the service.
Update: I forgot to write this but I tried windscribe and it didn’t connect (I logged into Windscribe using another VPN because I couldnt even log in, but when I tried connecting it didn’t connect)
That’s kinda scary, I thought nordVpn was $3 per month but apparently that’s not true. I almost fell for a scam. I’ll buy mullvad if I don’t find a cheaper alternative, I really appreciate the help!
Interesting. Then keep looking for a service that works for you. And another option is renting something like VDS/VPS and setting up your own VPN or proxy server.
If you are willing to pay upfront for 27 months for their Basic Plan the average monthly price is $2.99 USD.
That’s what they show you in their advertising.
What happens if you after 2 months are unhappy with their service?
The answer is that you have lost 25 months of payments. That’s a really expensive lesson.
If your budget is $3.00 USD a month, in a situation like that you will have to be without VPN service for the next 2 years and a month.
Or you can sign up for another service promising you a low monthly price if you are willing to pay in advance for 2-3 years. If you are unhappy with that service you face losing a lot of money.
Do your math. Two or more of such services and you end up paying a lot of money for nothing. That will break your budget.
To be fair to NordVPN, they are not the only VPN provider using that kind of shady advertising. Almost all providers do that.
The only exception is Mullvad VPN where the monthly price is the same no matter how long or short time you pay for. That’s honest marketing.
Never ever pay for more than one month at a time unless you are confident that the service will be good all the time you paid for.
Hotspot shield works for me on Windows but it’s too expensive