If you’re on VyprVPN already, the new server will appear among the options on the dropdown list on your VyprVPN client. If you want to configure the connection manually, the server’s address is: lu1.vpn.goldenfrog.com.

Read Detailed Review of VyprVPN Here

The company has opened up servers in Asia, Demark, Europe, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland in recent months. VyprVPN will be adding new servers throughout the year, so be sure to check back to see what they have to offer or, if they’re already your provider, keep an eye on your dropdown list in the client to see what new servers they have available!

Cycling and Recycling

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), policy cycling is a way that governments can work at the behest of the entertainment industry, getting copyright laws put into place in international treaties with no public oversight. Also according to the EFF, government policy makers have complained in the past that the reasons they weren’t able to get what they wanted was because of transparent processes that let the public have their say in these matters.

The problem arises with trade agreements signed with other nations. These agreements don’t have any type of government oversight involved, so it’s easy for policymakers to put whatever provisions they want in them, with little or no transparency. The end result is that unpopular policies that would likely never pass public review end up in the trade agreements and there is no accountability for those who put them there. While this process might be lost on much of the public, it’s something the copyright industry understands very well.

The copyright industry will target figures such as the US Trade Representative with lobbying. They work hard to get the types of provisions that they want in these agreements and, because there is no public oversight, it’s easy for them to get their way. There have already been problems with the sort of policies that this industry favors, including the DMCA, which has had a negative impact on Internet users around the world.

The new Trade Rep is slated to be Michael Froman. He will be the authority for negotiating some of the most important trade agreements for the nation, including the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership and more. Froman has a long history working in government and, before that, worked in the banking industry, most famously as the managing director for Citigroup.

Take Action

The EFF has put up a petition at https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9094 that asks the United States Trade Representative to stop using trade negotiations as a way to get unworkable, unpopular and undemocratic copyright policies into trade law. With no oversight into this process, signing the petition is one of the few ways that citizens have left to make a difference in this important fight.

This server can be accessed using the VyprVPN application. If you have it installed, it will simply come up as another option on the dropdown list. The server can be configured manually by changing your hostname to ru1.vpn.goldenfrog.com.

Why Surf from Russia?

Aside from the usual advantages, there are specific advantages to using a VPN connection in Russia. Compared to many other nations, Russia’s Internet is less filtered and monitored. This makes it excellent if you want privacy not only from hackers and other threats, but if you also don’t like the idea of being spied upon by the entertainment industry or other corporations and government entities.

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Russian VPN connections also provide a way for marketers and other business people to get access to Russian content as it appears in Russia, so it’s an excellent feature for those who do business or have family in Russia.

VyprVPN offers PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN encryption on its connections. The service can be accessed using an application that runs on the desktop in Windows. There are applications for Mac and mobile operating systems, as well.

VyprVPN is actually taking votes right now on how to improve their service. If you want servers in other locations, you can suggest it on the Golden Frog website. You can also see where the company is planning on adding servers in the future.

• San Jose, CA, 2 sites with 128 IP addresses each
• Mexico City, Mexico 121 IP addresses
• Singapore, Republic of Singapore, 128 IP addresses
• Washington, DC, USA, four sites with 128 IP addresses each
• Jacksonville, Florida, USA, 5 sites with 124 IP addresses each
• Istanbul, Turkey 124 IP addresses

In total, there were 14 new servers added to the HMA lineup. This gives users access to 1,761 new IP addresses.

You can access any of these servers using the VPN client that comes with the service. They will appear as additional options on your list of servers.

HMA is one of our preferred providers. They offer all the major VPN security options, unlimited bandwidth accounts and many other advantages.

Services

With this addition, HMA now has over 46,000 IP addresses on its networks. Those IP addresses are spread out across 54 different nations, offering a host of options for users. There are additional services available from this provider, as well, including email, proxy service and more.

HMA is suitable for business and personal use. The service offers more than 300 different servers to choose from and it offers L2TP, OpenVPN and PPTP encryption.

The service also comes with a client that makes it easy to hook up to their VPN servers and to switch between them as needed. It runs on the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. They also have clients available for mobile devices, allowing users to defeat location tracking software and other privacy nuisances that have begun to creep into the mobile market.

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Why Do Server Locations Matter?

VPN providers have been adding servers at rapid rates recently, at least among the good ones. These different server options improve the services in two ways.

First, they allow users to select a server that is geographically close to them. Doing so offers the best speed and makes it more convenient to use a VPN. With HMA’s speed and a good broadband connection, the difference in speed isn’t even noticeable for most users.

Second, more servers mean that users can get hooked up from more nations around the world. Whether you need to see what your company’s advertisements appear like to users in Turkey or you need to access content that’s only available in the UK, more servers make everything work more smoothly.

When selecting a VPN provider, the number of servers they have should be a major consideration.

Router Power

Some users have voted up the idea of having a VyprVPN router available to users. The post in question expresses a desire to have a dd-wrt router work with the VPN service. It also mentions that being able to change the server right on the router would be a great feature. This suggestion got 62 votes already, so it seems to be a popular idea.

More Servers

The rush to add more servers to VPN services has been a constant trend in 2012 and 2013. A very popular suggestion was adding more servers in Asia to the VyprVPN lineup. The company has recently added servers around the world, so they do seem to be expanding, anyway. Quite a few users, however, did like the idea of more Asian options for their VPN service.

The Land Down Under also got quite a few votes as a potential server location, with Australia netting more than 40 votes on its own. The company responded that the new server cluster in Australia is slated to be opened up in the next 60 days, however, so people will apparently be getting their wish for a server in AU in the near future.

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One on the Way

One user suggested multiple VPN routing by application, and the developers at Golden Frog agreed. VyprVPN will, going by what the post says, be equipped to route in this way. The developers said that the feature is under development and asked for feedback on what apps should be protected and which should not.

Checking the Suggestions

Quite a few of the suggestions are already being developed, so there should be some popular new features coming up in new releases of VyprVPN. If you want to add suggestions about the service, this would be the place to do it. If you have VyprVPN already and want to see what’s being developed for it, this is a good place to find out.

There is also developer feedback on some of the posts, so it’s a good place to get actual interaction with developers about something you’d like to see on the VyprVPN app.

You can access the new server from the VyprVPN client or you can do so manually. The server address is se1.vpn.goldenfrog.com if you’re setting up your connection manually. All subscribers have unlimited use of this new server cluster.

Read VyprVPN Detailed Review Here

Golden Frog is in the process of adding more servers this year and will be making more announcements in the coming months. The company now has servers in:

• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• Netherlands
• Sweden
• UK
• US (Austin, LA, Washington)

In recent months, IPVanish has added servers everywhere from Panama to Iceland. The company now states that it is the fastest-growing network in terms of the number of servers it has been adding to its network.

Some of the locations that have been brought online recently include:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Brussels
• Bulgaria
• China
• Egypt
• Finland
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Iceland
• India
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Panama
• Romania
• Slovak Republic
• South Africa
• Spain

There have been servers set up in other nations, as well. Popular nations such as the US and UK offer multiple server options throughout the nation.

Overall, the company managed to double its presence over the year 2012, no small feat. The company has also added new IP addresses regularly, making their network more flexible and useful for users.

Read Detailed Review of IPVanish Here

Other Improvements

IPVanish has been doing more than adding servers to its network. It has also recently released a new Windows client that makes it a lot easier to choose from all the servers that the company offers. The client is easy to use and understand and even users who don’t know any of the technical elements involved with VPN services should have no difficulty figuring out how to get the most out of the system. Switching protocols and servers is very easy with the client.

IPVanish also offers a client for Mac OS X. The Mac version of the client offers the same features and functionalities as the Windows version, allowing users to switch between servers and IP addresses as much as they want.

The service can also be set up manually, of course, for those users who prefer to get their hands dirty and who love the more technical elements of working with a VPN provider.

Overall Value to Clients

The addition of new servers in so many nations does have real value for customers of IPVanish. Those customers who are using the service to research advertising in other nations will likely find few providers who can offer them so many different tools for seeing what advertisements appear like internationally. The servers are also excellent for those who need to get around geo-restrictions on content and, with some many nations to choose from—and more coming soon—there should be hardly anything that’s unwatchable or unlistenable on the Internet due to location-based restrictions on access.

Locations

The servers are located in Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen Denmark. They have the same capabilities as any other server on the VyprVPN network, including L2TP, PPTP and OpenVPN encryption.

All VyprVPN servers allow torrent access, the new ones included.

Hooking Up

If you have the VyprVPN desktop application, you’ll find the new servers listed in the dropdown list where you connect. If you’re using a mobile app, you can connect to them by logging out and logging back in, which will refresh the server list for you.

The servers can also be accessed manually. The Swedish server is located at se1.vpn.goldenfrog.com. If you want access to the Danish server, you can set your VPN hostname to dk1.vpn.giganews.com.

Read Detailed Review of VyprVPN Here

Why These Locations

VyprVPN went with user feedback when they decided to put a server in Sweden. According to what the company found out from the feedback, that particular nation has rather extensive Internet surveillance and many of their customers wanted a server close to home that would allow them some privacy when they’re using the Internet.

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Using the New Servers

If you want to access content from one of the nations where VyprVPN has a server and you’re blocked out, you can hook up to a server in that nation to bypass geo-restrictions. The company still does recommend that you connect to the server closest to your physical location if you’re just interested in hiding your IP and traffic for general Internet usage.

There are now VyprVPN servers located in:

• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Austin, Texas
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Hong Kong
• London, U.K.
• Los Angeles, California
• Paris, France
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Toronto, Canada
• Washington, D.C.

What’s Different?

The new client offers the following features.

With the new client, you’ll find that you can check the speed on a given server faster than you could on the old version. The connectivity in general has also be improved.

The new client will also automatically retry to connect if it doesn’t get a response from an external IP address. When you’re logging on or off of the network, the DNS flushing and caching works better than ever before.

In addition to this, the interface has been improved on the new version.

Read Detailed Review of IPVanish Here

Bug Fixes

On some Windows systems, the old client would check IP addresses twice when hooked up over OpenVPN. This has been fixed in the new release.

The client has also been fixed to remove a crash issue. The old client would sometimes crash if it was started without there being a network connection present. This issue has been resolved with the new release.

If you subscribe to the IPVanish service, this client is provided for you for free and is worth installing. It’s much easier than hooking up to the service manually and allows you to change your protocol with the click of a mouse.

Recently China “upgraded” the Great Firewall with technology that they claim is intelligent and will learn to detect different encryptions, and so far the new technology has worked well to disconnect a lot of VPN services. This “upgrade” has had many privacy and security companies scrambling to regain a foothold behind the Great Firewall. Another question that begs to be asked is: If no one else has it yet, will the Chinese government be offering the technology to governments that wish to follow suit?

And until recently there hasn’t been many reliable fixes for the VPN blocking firewall. But a new University project that was fielded only last month, (see our article “Free VPN For The Masses, In Japan”) is having good success in penetrating the firewall. The project, called VPN Gate, is the child project of the SoftEther project, and when we reported on the project earlier they had a short 87 servers around the world…today, just over one month since their going live on the internet, (March 8th,) they boast more than 580 public relay servers globally.

Needless to say, the service is becoming very popular among the Chinese, but there are users of the VPN all over the world. As one of the last VPN services that can connect in mainland China, it is a sure bet that the VPN will be more than just difficult for any government to block. The reason is that, as long as VPN Gate can get volunteers from outside of restricted areas, there will always be IP addresses that aren’t blocked by the censors. And the VPN Gate project is calling for more volunteers. Volunteers to host virtual servers and mirrors to their website.

Here’s how it works. Governments, (or anybody wanting to block particular websites,) use IP addresses to block websites like Facebook, YouTube andmany others. But using a VPN with encryption, the internet surfer is only connected to one IP address, which will give the user all the internet content that is requested. IP addresses for almost all of the popular VPN services have already been blocked, but using VPN Gate, there are a lot more IPs to choose from. As many as will volunteer to host a server, in fact.

And, becoming a volunteer for VPN Gate is easy. There’s a little software that will have to be installed on your computer, but set-up and configuring the server is easy. The system is set up to be a secure as possible, so no one can mess with your machine, and it can be turned on and off to keep from conflicting with your personal internet usage. Due to this fact though, the actual number of servers available changes on daily basis, but at this point VPN Gate is averaging over 400 IP addresses daily. But with the amount of traffic they facilitate, (more than 120,000 GB,) and almost 2 million users, they can still use a little (read LOT) help.

If you can help VPN Gate, or want to try it out, then check out their page here explaining the project in more detail.