I frequently use a commercial VPN when working/browsing in coffee shops and restaurants. However I often run into certain barriers that I feel pretty sure are caused by using a VPN. This includes things like overly aggressive CAPTCHAs, additional security questions, forced password resets, or websites that simply block any request from an IP address associated with a VPN. Is there any way around this nonsense?
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Build your own vpn server at home, where you have a proper, non-banned, non-abuse-reported, residential external IP.
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I’ve done that before, but the problem with that is that my residential ISP can still see what/where I’m browsing. To add insult to injury, I also have a data cap.
I’m also noticed that in the last two years VPN Services became more and more useless. Nearly all major sites are now blocking traffic from non residential IPs. And sites that do not block bombard you with endless captchas.
Of course there are still some servers that somewhat work, but my expectation is that most VPN services will be unusable for normal web browsing in a matter of 1-2 years (or as “usable” as web browsing with TOR).
I don’t really have a solution for it. There are residential VPNs and proxies but most charge per GB and are expensive. Creating your own VPN on a VPS won’t help you much if more or less all datacenter IPs are blocked, same goes for VPN services with dedicated IPs.
I can’t really blame site owners either for blocking these IPs since most likely >90% of their abusive traffic will come from these IPs.
My Plan is too only use the VPN on sites / connections where I feel that it’s “needed”.
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Why?
Yes. Don’t use a VPN.
I know this comes off harsh, but I am not trying to be a dick.
I know the only reasons you will offer me as answer to my simple question “Why?” will be nonsense that NordVPN tricked and scared you and many other users into.
So please tell us why and we can explain you why these fears are nonsense.
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Just use dns over https or dns over tls to encrypt your dns traffic. This has been the biggest issue since we moved to encryption on all websites anyway. If you don’t trust someone else’s network, don’t use it. Tether your phone instead, or get your own access point.
Commercial VPN’s are only really useful for p2p traffic where cyber criminals are actively hunting you based on your IP address. VPN for browsing clearnet is a waste, unless you are being prosecuted or censored by your government for accessing information.
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Thank you so much for the suggestions.
No! That is the whole point of using encryption! I can use any network and don’t have to trust the network because I use encryption.
That and geoblocking.
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I’ve moved to multiple solutions, depending on how I want to obscure it… If I’m at work, and browsing the Level 1 forums, I’ll just have a tunnel home to socks proxy the browser. If I’m browsing linux isos, well, that’s gonna get a tunnel to the VM connected to a VPN service.
tailscale to home network as gateway?
A more obscure provider 
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Strange vpn you use…
Captcha will happen very often when the target service is bombarded with a large amount of traffic per ip which also looks like something more than one machine. There is nothing to be surprised about here. It does not matter whether the traffic goes out through some end node of the vpn service or some cgnat ISP.
Personally, I would like there to be a captcha for each post on the L1 forum to make life harder for AI bots.
“additional security questions, forced password resets” I don’t usually encounter this in nature personally…
Blocking certain IPs is also normal. There are places that do not want such traffic for various reasons, similarly with TOR or blocking per geo.
If you do not want to be perceived as one of the herd, jump towards being an individual. In other words, you give up one thing that mass vpns provide.
You can create your own vpn or buy a dedicated ip from a vpn provider. You will still hide your ip but you will no longer be part of the herd.
But you should still remember that some places may still block ip addresses that are recognized as service ip addresses belonging to DC and various companies that share various services/servers.
To mask yourself completely as a home user you have to push traffic through a typical home isp. Such services also exist but $$$…
Are you a bot?
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Thanks for the suggestions. As for fears, when using public/open WiFi I’d rather not have my traffic intercepted, or it known which websites I’d might be browsing. Maybe somebody looking over my shoulder could glean some of the same info, but that’s something I have a measure of control over. I have no clue or control over who might be snooping public WiFi. Yes, tethering is a possible option but my monthly data allotment from my cell carrier is rather parsimonious.
As for obscure providers, I wouldn’t know where to begin or who to trust. My current VPN service is a freebie included with other services, so I figured might as well use it. But it obviously has shortcomings.
You can change your DNS, use Goodbye DPI to block deep packet inspection, set DNS over HTTPS and you could setup a few proxies.
Proxies you can also setup in Firefox per container with the extension Container proxies
What traffic? By who? SSL encrypts most things from the browser at a base 
If you’ve heard of it, it likely isn’t obscure
Trust comes from whatever you expect from the VPN provider and why you chose it. Everyone offers multiple locations, everyone (worthwhile) allows P2P, everyone claims privacy, but only a handful meet other requirements
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Fair point, but that is what HTTPS and DNSSEC are for, not VPNs.
VPNs can sometimes solve this (if you use VPN that connects to your home) and sometimes make it even worse (because now random VPN provider also knows which sites you are using).
Still, in both cases it is a PITA with bad performance.