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<blockquote data-quote="zzz00m" data-source="post: 723747" data-attributes="member: 63158">Here is my balanced opinion of Avira Phantom VPN.&nbsp; I think it&#039;s the best option for home use, but needs some work on the auto-connect feature and the Android app.I love it on my desktop computer!&nbsp; The speed difference between using this VPN, or no VPN is very close, within a few MB/s. So no performance hit, and I can leave it connected even for multi-gigabit downloads.But it seems hit or miss on auto-connect during startup, which is no problem for me on my (secure) private home network.But I would be reluctant to use Avira Phantom VPN with my laptop on the road with untrusted Wi-Fi hotspots.If I boot up and it doesn&#039;t auto-connect, my Windows machine is exposed to a potentially hostile network until I can manually connect to the VPN.&nbsp; The &#039;block all internet traffic if VPN connection drops&#039; feature seems to work great, but this doesn&#039;t apply to the first time after boot if the auto-connect VPN doesn&#039;t start.&nbsp; I can see TCP/IP traffic using my local IP address, until I start the VPN, then it switches over.My workaround is to use Windscribe VPN on my laptop.&nbsp; That blocks all internet traffic until it is connected.&nbsp; I don&#039;t use as much bandwidth on the laptop, so I can stand the performance hit from their VPN service.&nbsp; The performance of Windscribe at home often left me disconnecting Windscribe anytime I wanted to download files.&nbsp; It was OK for streaming media, no difficulties there, just some software installers have huge file downloads these days.Finally, regarding Android, I found the reliability of the Avira Phantom VPN app to be rather unstable.&nbsp; It would sometimes disconnect and refuse to re-connect, requiring a restart of the device.&nbsp; So I use Windscribe on my Android.Bottom line, I would choose Avira Phantom VPN for home use, and use Windscribe for my mobile Windows and Android devices.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="zzz00m, post: 723747, member: 63158"] Here is my balanced opinion of Avira Phantom VPN. I think it's the best option for home use, but needs some work on the auto-connect feature and the Android app. I love it on my desktop computer! The speed difference between using this VPN, or no VPN is very close, within a few MB/s. So no performance hit, and I can leave it connected even for multi-gigabit downloads. But it seems hit or miss on auto-connect during startup, which is no problem for me on my (secure) private home network. But I would be reluctant to use Avira Phantom VPN with my laptop on the road with untrusted Wi-Fi hotspots. If I boot up and it doesn't auto-connect, my Windows machine is exposed to a potentially hostile network until I can manually connect to the VPN. The 'block all internet traffic if VPN connection drops' feature seems to work great, but this doesn't apply to the first time after boot if the auto-connect VPN doesn't start. I can see TCP/IP traffic using my local IP address, until I start the VPN, then it switches over. My workaround is to use Windscribe VPN on my laptop. That blocks all internet traffic until it is connected. I don't use as much bandwidth on the laptop, so I can stand the performance hit from their VPN service. The performance of Windscribe at home often left me disconnecting Windscribe anytime I wanted to download files. It was OK for streaming media, no difficulties there, just some software installers have huge file downloads these days. Finally, regarding Android, I found the reliability of the Avira Phantom VPN app to be rather unstable. It would sometimes disconnect and refuse to re-connect, requiring a restart of the device. So I use Windscribe on my Android. Bottom line, I would choose Avira Phantom VPN for home use, and use Windscribe for my mobile Windows and Android devices. [/QUOTE]

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