silversilver

It's 3 weeks now till I arrive in Dubai - can't wait. Please can you help me with VPN. Some articles that I have read suggest that I should get/download VPN first in the UK others say wait till you get to Dubai. Who in your opinion is the best VPN provider and would you get it organised in the UK or Dubai?

Also is it better to change sterling in Dubai or Scotland?

Lastly - any advice or is there anything I cannot get in Dubai that I should bring?

I know that you have probably answered these questions a million times but I would really appreciate if you could spare a few seconds and answer them again.
HUGE thanks silversilver

Bob

Might be worth having a search around....

But anyway, VPN, google it, then read the reviews of the top few and get one, before you're in the UAE....or search any of the other countries on BE and find recommendations themselves, because you won't openly find them in the ME section in case they get blocked.

silversilver

Thanks so much Bob, that makes sense - not being able to openly find them in the ME - I'm a numpty!starsmile:

auzdafluff

I'll PM you some details. The authorities frequently read these boreds and so posting details of them can lead to them getting banned/blocked, or at the very least, strangled to the point where they're useless.

I've been using the one I'll PM since I got here over two years ago. Used with the program I sent details of through, I can easily stream BBC HD/US shows/Netflix.

In more techie terms, the difference is around 0.8Mbps using the VPN with Windows/OSX's in built VPN clients, and around 5.5-8Mbps with this one.

It'll cost you around $9 (£6 ish) for the program (one off) and £6 a month for the UK VPN. I also pay for a US VPN too and get access to sites like Hulu and the US Netflix (which is amazing in comparison to the UK one).

Avon_Lady

Could I be cheeky and ask you to copy your PM to me too?

I am about 3 weeks out of arriving in Qatar and just logged in to ask the very same question!

Millhouse

Have we any hard evidence of this?

The TRA know exactly what VPN traffic looks like on their network. It's not impossible for them to throttle this without them going to the effort of reading these boards for tips on what VPNs to ban.

auzdafluff

Luckily for us, it's not the traffic they look out for. It's the port numbers the traffic is using.

And from speaking to some of the guys at Du when I was on the magazine, they told me they do. Not often, but every so often (once every six months or so), they'll come on, search for VPN and then add those to the list.

auzdafluff

Just to demonstrate.

VPN off...


VPN on...


VPN through my OS X client would be around 1.5Mbps.

mentalist

Boogie Woogie works nicely for me.

auzdafluff

Won't for long

mentalist

Really, please tell.

weasel decentral

I don't get the VPN paranoia here, if the UAE was really serious about stopping their use here they would.
Its not the work of a master cyber sleuth to detect these type of VPN providers. Also of course there are so many companies operating their own *legitimate* VPN internally.

Millhouse

That's my point too! They know VPN traffic on their network.

I guess you hint at the problem - they can't block it all without screwing the legit ones. I'm just about to log in to my (completely unthrottled) work one.

weasel decentral

If you take a harsh attitude you just block all the ports associated and this kills all vpns, so I imagine they just block the IP addresses. Fairly temporary solution as most of the providers will then mail you the new server address if one is blocked.

As long as people want to bypass restrictions there will always be a way to do it.

Bob

That's why they don't block the ports, killing them all.

It does happen though, but what tends to happen is blocking the site of these VPN's, making it hard to renew service if you haven't got a rolling debit going rather than actually having the service killed off to you.