O2

Pirate Bay Blocked? Try 4 Free* VPN Services

4 May 2012 7:50 AM

As you may be aware more than four million subscribers were cut off from www.thepiratebay.se/.org on Wednesday evening. The Pirate Bay has been blocked for Virgin Media after they cut Pirate Bay access for millions of users, (and soon many other Internet service providers such as Sky, O2, Everything Everywhere and TalkTalk) Virgin Media has taken the step of being the first ISP ordered by the High Court to enact the block order placed upon it and the four other big UK providers. Despite this however, the news and publicity generated by the story has caused the torrent linking website to have its biggest ever surge in UK traffic.

The block of TPB looks likely to make little impact in the overall scheme. There are many sites running proxies that allow a simple bypass and anyone serious about accessing it can simply take out a very affordable VPN service, or begin using Tor software. We’ve listed the top 10 free VPN services.

More news on The Pirate Bay being blocked by VirginMedia and shortly by Sky, O2, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and other Internet service providers can be found by clicking here.

“The Pirate Bay’s founders said that users can set up anonymous connections using a virtual provate network (VPN). Alternatively, they can use a closed private network of computers, known as a darknet, or change their DNS settings with OpenDNS.” – Read more on The Pirate Bay’s blog [Proxy Link]

2. OpenDNS – Free VPN
OpenDNS.com – OpenDNS is probably the best and easiest option, by changing your DNS settings follow How do I use OpenDNS and Manage Internal Resources and Virtual Private Networks? for more details.

2. OpenVPN – Free VPN
OpenVPN.net is a SSL/TLS based VPN, it provides high security and privacy. The biggest difference between PPTP VPN and OpenVPN is you need install OpenVPN client software to use OpenVPN service, and OpenVPN DO NOT work on mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and Android. But OpenVPN works on Windows and Mac.
5. CyberGhost – Free VPN service

3. CyberGhost – Free VPN
CyberGhost – is a free VPN service from Germany which helps you route you through a German IP. The free service is limited to 1GB traffic every month, which is more than enough for surfing on websites, chatting and email. The paid service is also affordable.

4. ProXPN – Free VPN
ProXPN – A free VPN service designed for use with Windows and Mac computers. ProXPN works by downloading a small free application from which to connect. The service is also compatible with the iPhone and other mobile phones that support VPN. Interestingly you can use the iPhone setup instructions to make a connection from your PC, useful if you’re a Linux user.

5. It’s Hidden – Free VPN
Its Hidden – Originally established as a safeguard for filesharers, Its Hidden offers a competitive free service as well as paid solutions offering better contention (less users per server), professional support and dedicated IP addresses. Registration is required, and once you’ve signed up you can connect to the service directly through your operating system by following the set-up guide, with no additional software required. The service is compatible with any operating system you happen to be using that supports VPN.

Free things are great, but they’re also subject to a lot of use by the community. If you’re encountering problems with any of the above then you’re just better off moving on and trying another.
If you’re really serious about security (and accessing your home PCs from anywhere) then you’ll probably want to invest in a paid VPN service.

Do you use VPN? Had any luck with free services, or have you gone paid? Let us know in the comments below!.

[LIVE] Theft knocks out O2 coverage in parts of South East (Updated!)

17 May 2011 1:38 PM

is racing to restore mobile coverage in parts of London, Kent and East Sussex, after theft and vandalism hit an East London operations site.

The mobile network operator put up a service message at 12:50am on Tuesday, reading: “We’ve got a problem that means you can’t make calls, use the internet, or send/get texts and emails in parts of East London, North London, east Sussex and Kent.” The message was still up around 12 hours later, at the time of writing.

“We continue working hard to address the issue affecting services in parts of North and East London, Kent and East Sussex,” O2 said in a statement shortly after midday. “This was caused by theft and vandalism at one of our operations sites in East London. We sincerely apologise to affected customers and will update progress regularly.”

The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Giffgaff, which uses O2’s network to provide its services, has maps on its forum detailing the extent of the 2G and 3G outages.

Keep an eye on http://status.o2.co.uk, Iif you’ve been affected by this – o2 have added some frequently asked questions on our blog and hope to get this fixed as soon as possible. (blog post)

Update: Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 16:24:49 BST – There is reports that o2 is working again (as of texts & calls) in Sittingbourne Kent area. (ME10)

Update: Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 16:42:04 BST – Another report that you might have to restart your Phone/Device for it to start working again! (thanks to Steff Duchesne for this update!)

Update: Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 17:30:24 BST – o2: “We’ve been restoring service to the affected areas and from 16:30 onwards people have started to be able to use their phones again, although there are still some pockets of no coverage remaining. We are carefully monitoring this throughout the night.”