Is the Sonic VPN acting up for you too? - January 16th

Advanced feature discussion, beta programs and unsupported "Labs" features.
10 posts Page 1 of 1
by kolohe » Mon Jan 16, 2023 4:56 am
So I have Sonic's VPN configured on a few devices and throughput and connectivity are flaky today, January 16, 2023. Anyone else struggling this morning?

I probably need to configure Sonic's secondary / beta server to solidify the problem - https://beta.vpn.sonic.net .
by virtualmike » Mon Jan 16, 2023 6:36 pm
I don't seem to be having an issue. Downloads through the VPN are considerably slower than direct connections, but the connection seems to be stable.
by ankh » Sun Oct 15, 2023 6:56 pm
So I have been using Sonic's VPN, which I understand is a "labs" unsupported tool.
It's been a bit flaky -- sporadically I check and find it's shut itself off with no warning, and I need to restart it.

Since I have been using it, I've been noticing a slow creep of supported VPNs becoming available elsewhere. Apple's phone operating system has one. Malwarebytes has one. There are two or maybe more available as applications for Apple. Starting one of those up to try it out seems to knock Sonic's VPN off so it has to be restarted.

And Sonic's is still in the labs status.

I'd always figured that it was better to use Sonic's VPN because, I think, the data takes fewer hops between my telecom hardware where I'm sitting, and Sonic's hardware and software through which I'm communicating.

But I dunno.What's to pick and choose among VPNs? Advantages and disadvantages? Will Sonic's ever outgrow "lab" status?
by js9erfan » Mon Oct 16, 2023 7:06 am
Aside from Sonic's scheduled maintenance windows I haven't seen any issues recently with Sonic's VPN servers. In one location I setup a gateway group in pfSense using both servers for redundancy. Aside from some high latency at times they've been pretty solid.

As for other VPN providers there's two main things I look at. What are their privacy policies and are their IP blocks are on any blacklists. More and more VPN providers are getting blacklisted where many web sites, Netflix, Hulu, etc. will block them. Once I left Sonic I setup my own VPN server on Digital Ocean which has worked well for the most part. However, as with other VPN service providers (unlike Sonic), I get blocked more and more now forcing routing workarounds. It can be frustrating for users who just want a little privacy whether on the road or at home stuck with Comcast, ATT, etc.

No hurt in trying different providers - just be prepared to deal with the inconveniences that can come with them.
by virtualmike » Mon Oct 16, 2023 4:08 pm
ankh wrote:So I have been using Sonic's VPN, which I understand is a "labs" unsupported tool.
I'm curious why you would use it when you have a direct Sonic connection at home.

VPN is intended to give you a private "tunnel" to Sonic's network when you're connected to a different network. Unless I'm misremembering, you're on Sonic fiber, which means you're directly connected to Sonic's network. In that situation, using VPN just adds overhead for no significant gain.
by ankh » Mon Oct 16, 2023 10:47 pm
I was thinking (if you can call it thinking) that using Sonic's wifi (EERO) produced some kind of eavesdropping exposure that the VPN would protect against, but that's probably just failure on my part to understand how the setup works. We have several iphones and several computers at home using wifi, and just one addidtional computer on Ethernet.
by virtualmike » Mon Oct 16, 2023 11:14 pm
Eero devices are generally as secure as any other routers/wireless access points. Eero provides security updates as vulnerabilities are discovered.

I definitely use VPN when I'm outside my home unless I'm certain the network to which I'm connected is secure. I probably wouldn't bother at a neighbor's house who is using up-to-date equipment from a well-known ISP, but if I need to connect from a hotel, coffee shop, hospital waiting room, etc., then I definitely will use a VPN. I don't use it from home unless I'm testing configuration or routing.
by leefamily » Sat Oct 21, 2023 4:50 pm
Does anyone have a weird quirk where Sonic VPN on iOS doesn't work on cellular, but works fine on WiFi? I tried reinstalling and re-adding the profile, but it says "Host is unreachable when on cellular, but once I turn on my WiFi it's fine.
by virtualmike » Sat Oct 21, 2023 6:44 pm
It works fine on my iPad (iPadOS 17.0.3), connected to Spectrum Mobile (which uses Verizon's towers). Perhaps your cell carrier is blocking VPNs?
by bradmorrison » Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:43 am
I have also noticed several "warnings" & "options errors" as I connect to Sonic's VPN service on my OnePlus 6T phone running LineageOS (https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/fajita/) and using OpenVPN for Android from F-Droid (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.blinkt.openvpn/).
These "errors" have been present for a long time on my phone.
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