Hi All, a bit of self-promotion but I'll pass on some valuable insights as well.
I created the DoleBludger App last year and have recently started a new website in the wake of Netflix AU and metadata retention laws.
The site is vpncomparison.com.au. It's pretty simple, a price comparison of some of the best VPN Providers on the market. I've reviewed about 80% of my providers although the reviews aren't all yet online but will be in the coming days.
I'm not going to make a specific recommendation here, (I have recommended offers on the site), but I will make some general observations for you.
They're pretty much all the same - yes, minor differences here and there, (sometimes it's things like bandwidth which is already way above the speeds you could get anyway) but you can pretty much get any provider and they'll do the job for torrenting, downloading, and secure surfing. You might want to invest a little more if latency is a factor for you.
They're all really easy to setup - I started using VPNs back when it was all manually inputting settings, but nowadays its a software client, login your credentials and done. My nan could do it.
Five Eyes shouldn't mean a thing - This might sound wrong, but with the way the Providers set themselves up they pretty much cannot hand over any data under a secrete court order. They only have your transaction records to match you to, they cannot match your traffic to your account. And even if they handed over this data, as it's all encrypted at 128-bit AES (can get higher levels too), the effort it would take to crack this just isn't worth it.
3.1. Most of the providers are in far-flung countries well outside the Five Eyes network in any case.
So really, it comes down to price and service. They all offer 24/7 support, the English might be a tad broken but always understandable. They all have good installation guides, and only really differ on price. From as low as $1/month to ~$15/month, or $28/year to $100/year.
My advice:
Go for one with a free trial, failing that, pick one with a money-back guarantee. That way you can ensure the one you pick works for you without investing up front.
Once you're happy with your provider, go for a longer package. 6-months or a year will get you some serious discounts over paying month-to-month, up to 80%.
Enable your service on all your devices. Most services will allow you to use your connection on multiple devices simultaneously, even if they don't have a dedicated mobile app you can set it up with minimal effort. So make sure ALL of your browsing is secured and set it up across the board.
Get your friends on board! You can get further discounts if you refer friends so I highly recommend this.
Any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.