Is TOR a better choice then a VPN?

5 min readSep 27, 2021

Following yesterday’s post on VPN and the:

concerning background on some of the companies and staff providing VPN services, and
the financial incentives for influencers (bloggers, Podcasts, Youtubers, etc) to provide positive reviews of VPNs

I wanted to run you through the pros and cons of using TOR instead of a VPN.

First let me tell you I have been using TOR for about a month on one of the routers discussed in the first of the 5 Big Steps to Digital Freedom and I will share my experience with you. But first I want to explain what TOR is.

What is TOR and how does TOR work?

Non Youtube link: https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=gIkzx7-s2RU

The above video is one of the best videos I have seen on TOR. It is simple enough for non-techies to understand, but detailed enough for non-techies to understand what TOR does and how it works.

So now you know how TOR works, lets see how it compares to a VPN

VPN versus TOR

Non-YouTube Link: https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=qjpX_tvwQeg

After watching this video and also thinking about some of the shady looking practices outlined in yesterday’s VPN post — if you are like me, you are going to be leaning towards TOR.

What is it like using TOR on a day to day basis.

About a month ago, I purchased the GL.iNet GL-AR750S router and installed it. Being a router — I plugged it into my cable modem so it serviced my entire household. Initially my plan was to use the pre-configured VPNs on the router, but I saw turning on TOR was just a matter of clicking on a radio button and since TOR is free, I thought why not give it a go.

Is TOR slow?

I had read in lots of places that TOR was very slow, and for that reason I was not expecting to be able to use it for long. But I have been very surprised. We have a few people using TOR all day long (mostly browser activity, emails, social media — not gaming) and we have been running NetFlix on our TV through the router just to stress test the speed.

We are located in the USA, so speeds may be different in other countries, but for what we use the internet for — I have not noticed any difference in speed.

Does everything work with TOR?

No, but a lot more does then I was expecting. Here are the problems I have had:

one evening (and only one evening) NetFlix gave us a message that it thought we were running a proxy and should turn it off before watching NetFlix.
FreeTube runs hot and cold. I am not sure if that is a TOR issue or a FreeTube issue as I started using FreeTube the same time I started using TOR.
A few websites — I would say less then 5% of the ones I visited — simply blocked me if TOR was running. So I just found alternate sites — in general no biggie.
The biggest inconvenience is some Software as a Service sites I use for business do not work with TOR. I cannot switch from these sites quickly as that would be a business decision — so I just log into the router dashboard and turn TOR off while I am using them. Not the perfect solution, but I know I am on a journey to Digital Freedom and will find a way around these kinks as time goes by. If I had a separate computer I used just for business, the router lets me exclude that specific computer from TOR. Likewise I could exclude other devices like the TV I run NetFlix on — it is literally just a radio button click.

Is Captcha a problem?

On some sites no, on other yes. But as the days go by, I find I just use the sites that do not throw Captcha up at me and the others less. But this is definitely the biggest pain.

I have come to believe Cloudflare (the service that throws up most of these Captcha screens) is actually the enforcement arm for BigTech trying to make sure people do not hide their IP Address from the data gathering operations of BigTech. I will have more to write about CloudFlare in the future, that you will not want to miss. But for now, I am prepared to either find sites that do not give me Captcha grief or put up with it because I believe my Digital Freedom is worth it.

How do you run TOR on your cell phone?

Non Youtube Link: https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=tiNsca8mdls

The above video steps you though how to either install a TOR Browser on your phone or run it as a VPN so it protects all the APPS running on your phone. It is free, it is easy — give it a go.

Why should we care about our IP Address?

Your IP Address is a key piece of the puzzle that allows BigTech to match other pieces of the puzzle as they put together a picture of you together. Without your IP Address, there is more likely to be a big whole in the middle of that jigsaw picture.

What do you have to lose?

$70 is all I paid for the router I referred to above that is pre-configured for TOR with no ongoing costs. So if you try it and it does not work for you — you will be out of pocket $70. If it does work for you, you will have taken a big step towards your digital freedom.

The 5 Big Steps to Digital Freedom

Protect your IP Address (it can be used to track you and also link all your computer activity together)
Store you email and photos, videos, files at home instead of with Gmail or on Google Drive or One Drive
Started using Linux as your preferred operating system helping break the stranglehold of Microsoft and Apple
Ditched the iPhone for a degoogled phone
Established newsfeeds direct from your trusted sites using RSS Readers. Giving you communication channels independent of Big Tech and Social Media.
Extra Bonus Step — Can now charge you cell phone safely, keep spying eyes out of your camera, protect your password and valuable docs, and finally probably never use an anti-virus product again.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

Writer and family members do not hold any financial interest in the businesses manufacturing, developing, and/or selling any of the products or services mentioned in this article. Nor are we compensated in any way e.g. commission or affiliate program if you decide to purchase these products or services.

Is TOR a better choice then a VPN?

Written by Beating BigTech