Korean Job Discussion Forums

[deizio]

I have a VPN account with a UK company (consult-here.com) that gives access to 3 UK servers and 1 in the US. When I started using it I had access to a couple of fairly average connections here (2 different ISPs, both 5-10mbps, wireless only) and the max I would get out of the UK servers was 2mpbs, typically closer to and often below 1, despite the VPN's protestations that their servers are plenty fast and only 10% utilized. The US server has never tested at anything better than 0.2, although I don't use it.

You can maybe infer what site someone from the UK is usually attempting to access UK-only content on through a VPN, and the experience was sometimes adequate but often choppy or downright useless.

I recently upgraded to SK Broadband and typically test at 35 - 50mpbs (cabled; the engineer got 92mbps on his laptop on a Korean speedtest site during installation). I also re-signed to the VPN hoping for an improvement but the speeds on those haven't changed. After cursing the VPN company, I had a thought and tested my regular connection to the servers in the UK that are deemed "local" when the VPN is active. And presto, I get exactly what the VPN usually shows.

So: I'm going to try Astrill's free trial, but bearing in mind that the problem doesn't necessarily seem to be either the VPN servers or my connection, a couple of general questions:

Is there a central Korean choke that's getting in the way? Does it have it in for particular foreign ISPs that it knows host VPN traffic?

Any tricks to optimize settings?

What sort of speeds have others had with UK VPNs?

Cheers!

[thorin]

Have had the same problem with SK and a US-based VPN starting a few months ago. I'm going to switch to KT to see if that helps. Just found out they'll pay your fine up to 200,000 if you have a multi-year contract with another ISP.

[bbud656]

I have KT and I haven't been pleased. I pay close to 40k a month for their best internet and I can't stream youtube videos without buffering half the time. My VPN is hit or miss. Sometimes it works ok, other times I have to buffer 3 or 4 times streaming on Netflix. I am pretty underwhelmed with the internet speed here.

[deizio]

I took the week long free trial with Astrill... it was pretty useless for their UK servers, but the LA server tested at ~8mbps, so there is hope for Americans.

[edacafa99]

I had the same prob when I was living in Korea. I used this VPN:
http://strongvpn.com/aff/scripts/click.php?a_aid=expat4life&a_bid=5e96b67b

Got the "OpenVPN" I watch Hulu TV shows and streaming is really smooth.

I can't stand watching movies on Korean TV. Those 50 minute commercial breaks drive me nuts.

Anyway, works for me, no more missing out on TV, pretty happy with their service.

[tigershark]

sorry to hijack this thread but what's the best US vpn?? and is it worth it? also can I hook up my playstation and or tv to a vpn? how would one go about this? would this allow me to watch netflix/hulu plus on my ps3?? would love to know... if you are knowledgeable let me know... thanks in advance

[Mr. Pink]

I am not sure if you know this, but if you are a downloader using newsgroups, giganews's diamond plan also gives you access to a VPN at no additional cost. It is usually a pretty good VPN.

[Paladin Brewer]

I use a free program called Hotspot Shield. It will put an advertisement on the top of every page, and there is the occassional pop-up when you switch to a new page. But I've used it for Netflix and Pandora and it works fine.

[da_moler]

Can anyone recommend a good VPN for the UK? Anyone managing to watch BBC iPlayer, etc., without buffering?

[archmagos]