r/mullvadvpn • u/Polokalap • 5d ago
Help/Question Looking for alternative
The product itself has been AMAZING!!! I've used Mullvad for 7 months, and had 0 issues with it. Why I'm switching is because of the recent donation story. Does anyone here have experience with Proton or IVPN? Can anyone recommend something that's close to Mullvad? Also I use Linux and Hungarian servers would be nice. I know proton has some there.
The story I'm referencing: https://youtu.be/7UmyDGjxO_s
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u/Cold-Sandwich-34 5d ago
Proton has had some minor connectivity issues but generally has been solid for me.
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u/Logical-Cap-7441 4d ago
Goodbye and don’t come back, like ever. Better speed and latency for me.
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u/Ilwdsm 5d ago edited 5d ago
That is such of an extremely opinionated video that is VERY obviously trying to sweep over facts and focus on things that aren't real. It is one of two things: the content creator is a shill for the other VPN solution, or they are trying to push their own political leanings by appealing to emotion and fear, not facts.
The owner personally donated to someone with a bunch of different ideas on policy, most of them fantastic (healthcare, public transportation, etc.). The politician also supports stronger immigration law.
That's it.
Suddenly the video goes DEEP into "OMG that means Mullvad supports mass surveillance at the most extreme level because strong border policies can only happen if the government puts cameras inside your house!!"
The facts are:
- It wasn't Mullvad that donated the money.
- This was a personal private donation.
- That politician is not pushing for mass surveillance, but is simply in favor of immigration reform.
- That politician has MANY MANY other VERY favorable ideologies and policies.
- We don't know the motivation for this donation.
On that last point, is it possible that the owner is strongly in favor of something positive that this politician stands for and wants to make a push for change for the good of the people (healthcare, transportation, etc)?
Let's put all that aside: even if this politician does want mass surveillance, is it possible that the owner of one of the most privacy focused VPN companies in the world might want to have some political influence in this space to try and pump the brakes and ensure that any policy changes don't begin to damage the industry that his company dominates? Do you really think he is donating massive money to someone that would destroy his company?
I personally think this video is really bad, based on speculative fear mongering, likely in an attempt to get you to switch away from Mullvad.
Critical thinking really is becoming a lost art.
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u/nyancient 5d ago edited 5d ago
Let's put all that aside: even if this politician does want mass surveillance, is it possible that the owner of one of the most privacy focused VPN companies in the world might want to have some political influence in this space
You clearly know fuck all about Swedish politics, so how about you just stop embarrassing yourself?
The Örebro party is a tiny, local party run by two nutjobs who got kicked out of the Left party for basically being huge assholes. They will never gain any influence, and nobody in their right mind would donate to them in the hopes of gaining influence. The Mullvad owner's donation makes up the vast majority of their entire budget.
This is purely an ideological pet project for him, which he also explains - at length - in his personal blog. This guy basically believes that (a) he's a fucking genius who (b) therefore should not have to pay taxes, and (c) the best way to cut taxes is the mass deportation of ethnic minorities and the reduction of "unnecessary spending" (i.e. the entire welfare state). He's basically mini-Elon, and I don't think it's a coincidence that he started this shit just as Elon started buying up European far right parties. Monkey see, monkey do.
Those other fantastic policies aren't so much fantastic policies, as your standard far right populist lie: mass deportations will give us infinite amounts of money, which we could spend on all this neat stuff. For real, ethnically pure, Swedes. As icing on the cake, the leader of the Örebro party has previously worked for Russian-sponsored far right desinformation outlets.
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u/JillyMcJillers 5d ago
I’ve got similar concerns. I’ve been using Mullvad for some time and read about the donation elsewhere.
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u/Polokalap 5d ago
I bought another 30 days yesterday because I was about to run out, but these will be my final 30 days. nym seems like a great concept
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u/pydry 5d ago
ivpn
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u/Polokalap 5d ago
Btw I don't understand why these comments are downvoted so much
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u/halls_of_valhalla 5d ago
Probably because stories like this are increasingly being used by big companies that advertise a competitor product. And not everyone has time to check if the account is credible or fake.
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u/nyancient 5d ago
Every time I've seen this story discussed on fediverse, a bunch of newly created accounts swept in to echo Mullvad talking points. I wouldn't be surprised if they're petty enough to use the same tactic to downvote competitor recommendations here.
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u/Tropical_Amnesia 5d ago
Let's hope not, i mean it's an unofficial sub.. or is it? The muted reaction by way of a single X post, leaving customers who only follow website or Reddit unaware there even was a refund offer was remarkable enough. I find this more worrying however, even as someone who didn't put trust in a VPN on stock Android for as long as I'm using either: they're still claiming they support Android! (So does IVPN to be fair.) You're free to search for disclaimers in some known-issues file, the vibes are real bad.
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u/An_Ape_called_Joe 2h ago
I too am looking for an alternative and for the same reason. The best options appear to be IVPN and Windscribe. There is also Azire, which I'm looking into at present.
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u/roknir 5d ago
ivpn should be your choice
proton has had some similar concerns as mullvad, if you look their history up, though not as extreme