Menu
Expat.com
Search
Magazine
Search

VPN's ANYONE

Roddie Simmons

Bom Dia!


i have had a really rough week. hint my YouTube computer blew up. My quick question is about anyone who has a VPN or would recomend a brand.  I currently have EXPRESS VPN and it is usually the best, but with my computer situation, I have to re-install it in another computer. Unfortunately I am getting 402 and 403 errors and no connections at all. I am willing to have Express on my laptop and phone and have something else on my 27 inch PC Monitor. I am a little strassed and can only get my favorite american shows in 1) limited quantitiy or paid and 2) All in Portuguese. My mental health can afford an extra $60 etc. to have a quick sub.


Roddie in Retirement😒

See also
abthree

02/18/26 @Roddie Simmons.  I've been using Private Internet Access -- PIA -- as my VPN for twelve years now, and have been very satisfied with them.  I have their software running on all my devices -- computers, tablets, phones, smart TV -- all the time; one subscription allows unlimited devices.  For Brazilian sites that reject VPNs, I either change to their Brazilian server, or pause the service for 15 or 30 minutes and it counts the time down and comes back on automatically.  They have servers all over the world, and a lot of servers in the US, so if a streaming service recognizes one of their IP addresses and blocks it, you can change to another and probably get through.  You can check out the details at


https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/

Roddie Simmons

Thanx,


I have never heard of them. but will be glad to use them if necessary.

I heard from Express VPN after my post, and I will have my "Man Friday" work on it when he

comes in Tuesday. He is the ONLY one who knows computers in the whole village or beyond.


Smal Note: The only show I could watch without a paywall or in English was "Alex Cross" on Prime. It was never on my watch list but is actually very good. 😎

SimCityAT

@Roddie Simmons

I use https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/ on all my devices. There is a free trial to see if it works. Even if you do decide to buy, you can get your money back if not happy.

Pablo888

21 Feb 2026

I heard a lot of good things about NordVPN. 


The cursory google search on "Best VPN" gives a good list.  The question that you need to ask yourself is "what do you use it for"?


For example:

If you want to access Brazil content from everywhere - this typically means that there must be a server in Brazil.  Are you concerned about tracking or privacy?


If you do a deeper google (or chatgpt) search with prompts such as "what are the best options for <your preference> in terms of VPN choice?", you should get a short list for you to sort through.


I have done this type of search a decade ago and I found that a free VPN such as ProtonVPN is sufficient for me....


The good news today is that you can use AI to help you to decide through your own prompting....


Good luck.

SimCityAT

21 Feb 2026
I heard a lot of good things about NordVPN.
The cursory google search on "Best VPN" gives a good list. The question that you need to ask yourself is "what do you use it for"?

For example:
If you want to access Brazil content from everywhere - this typically means that there must be a server in Brazil. Are you concerned about tracking or privacy?

If you do a deeper google (or chatgpt) search with prompts such as "what are the best options for <your preference> in terms of VPN choice?", you should get a short list for you to sort through.

I have done this type of search a decade ago and I found that a free VPN such as ProtonVPN is sufficient for me....

The good news today is that you can use AI to help you to decide through your own prompting....

Good luck. - @Pablo888

Use your head instead of AI!

jonesio

I've used all of the major paid VPN services over the years. My current favourite is Proton. Prior to that it was PIA (Private Internet Access), but I'm finding the interface to be outdated, there are too many servers failing to function lately and some reviewers have expressed concerns about security relating to an ownership change a few years ago.

Mikeflanagan

Ya if you need help with it shoot a pm. Normally 403 is auth related issues for express vpn which may just require something like using revo uninstaller to do a full removal and get rid of hidden config files - restart computer reinstall from your online subscription for it and your good to go.



May not even need to swap or make things complicated.



Keep it simple always!

Roddie Simmons

@SimCityAT Thanx, apparently there is an infrequent email that caught this one instead of my regular one.

The EXPRESS VPN, finally worked again. Since it is working on 2 out of 3 of my devices and this has been the very rare mishap i will not make any changes, but I Really appreciate your reply.


Roddie in Retirement😎

Roddie Simmons

@Pablo888  Thanx, apparently there is an infrequent email that caught this one instead of my regular one.

The EXPRESS VPN, finally worked again. Since it is working on 2 out of 3 of my devices and this has been the very rare mishap i will not make any changes, but I Really appreciate your reply.


Roddie in Retirement😎

Roddie Simmons

@jonesio Thanx, apparently there is an infrequent email that caught this one instead of my regular one.

The EXPRESS VPN, finally worked again. Since it is working on 2 out of 3 of my devices and this has been the very rare mishap i will not make any changes, but I Really appreciate your reply.


Roddie in Retirement😎

David mimic

Expressvpn is great, but I didn't see a brazil server on it. I tried switching off of it to a new VPN, but expressvpn has dug it's claws in my PC and refuses to let any Internet in my computer if I try to uninstall it. It's alive. IDK how to pry it's fingers away

Roddie Simmons

@SimCityAT

As the first born of a historic Brown University PHD graduate with an acclaimed Fellowship in her honor given after her early death when I was 5 and having been there as a toddler with my father at the Brown Campus when she was awarded her PhD. I cannot say just how much I agree with you.


Roddie😎

Roddie Simmons

@David mimic

Sorry to hear that. Obviously, I am in Brazil, but I set the VPN to Miami. (I had a memorable time there when I went to get my FBI background check). Good Luck, my solution was probably just giving it a few days.


  1. Roddie 😎

Roddie Simmons

@Mikeflanagan

I just held my breath for a few days, and it worked again😎

ArthurLandson

honestly protonvpn free tier was enough for me to test before committing. the paid version has been solid for US netflix and banking sites. expressVPN gave me weird disconnects on wifi in south america though, ended up ditching it. one thing nobody mentions — some brazilian banks will flag your account if you log in from a US IP via VPN while your phone location says brazil. found that out the hard way with itaú.

ibdegen

I am happily using NordVPN. It has a lot of servers worldwide, and the connections are fast and high quality. It also has some free bells and whistles like a password manager and other security features. Before NordVPN, I tried SurfShark VPN and was very dissatisfied with the quality of the connections and the speed (or lack thereof kkk).