Hey, Tried like 5 different free VPNs this week and they all start okay, then either slow to a crawl or disconnect when I actually need them. Mostly just want to browse, open some geo-blocked stuff, and not worry on public WiFi. Is there anything that actually works long-term or am I asking too much from free options?

Yeah, you’re not alone, free VPNs can be a mess. I went through the same cycle until I found ZoogVPN. Been using it for a long time now and it’s surprisingly stable compared to others. Speeds are decent, and it doesn’t just die after a few minutes like most apps. I sometimes use it as a usa proxy to access region-locked stuff and it works fine. For a free option, it’s honestly one of the better ones I’ve stuck with.