It was with some fanfare that Surfshark introduced the launch of its new protocol, Dausos. Coming from the Lithuanian phrase for “heaven,” with roots in Baltic mythology, is the brand new protocol all that heavenly?
Surfshark is without doubt one of the greatest VPNs on the market, and has claimed Dausos will convey speeds as much as 30% quicker than present VPN protocols. It establishes a devoted tunnel for every session, that means no interference from different customers, and improved efficiency. Dausos can also be quantum safe, and has been totally audited by Cure53.
Dausos is at the moment in beta, and solely out there with Surfshark’s Mac VPN app, downloaded by way of the Mac App Retailer. I used it 24/7 and street examined it with a lot of on a regular basis use circumstances – together with streaming and looking.
A false begin
(Picture credit score: Surfshark)
First impressions of Dausos have been poor. Once I downloaded the app on April 16, Dausos flat-out refused to work on something however probably the most primary web sites. I may seek for web sites with Google, and get a full checklist of search outcomes, brimming with promise – however clicking on a kind of led to nought. I sat there, watching the small blue progress bar below my URL refusing to maneuver, for a stable couple of minutes.
This was a problem that TechRadar had recognized as being linked to most transmission unit specs – primarily sending packets that have been too huge for the pipe that then obtained dropped. Very like them, I may use apps that had a longtime connection, but when I wanted to make a brand new one, I used to be out of luck.
Thus, the extent of my testing on this model of the app successfully was restricted to utilizing Messages to textual content a buddy. Right here, it labored high quality. Past that, it was terribly damaged, successfully killing my web connection and rendering it ineffective.
Fortunately, Surfshark have been made conscious of the problem and an replace was launched the next day – model 4.27.1. When you have put in this and never seen a distinction, as I did, restart your Mac as this appears to sort things.
With the brand new replace, the Dausos protocol works as meant, and it genuinely stunned me. Going from what was a usually horrible expertise simply the day earlier than, to testing for the reason that replace has been night time and day.
Good speeds, however little distinction to WireGuard
Picture: Little separated Surfshark’s Dausos and WireGuard speeds (Picture credit score: Future)
With the replace, Dausos has revealed itself to be a promising protocol. We first examined it on my, admittedly gradual, residence web connection (which Google flatteringly calls “very quick”). When testing velocity by way of Google’s speedtest, Dausos got here again with barely quicker downloads than the trendy basic that’s WireGuard.
I noticed 58.3 Mbps obtain speeds and 15.2 Mbps add speeds with Dausos, in comparison with WireGuard’s 58.1 Mbps obtain and 16.6 Mbps add.
We re-tested Dausos’ speeds on a quicker residence Wi-Fi connection, and we have been impressed. In comparison with our base 535 Mbps obtain velocity and 346 Mbps add velocity, two assessments noticed Dausos report obtain speeds of 479 and 443 Mbps, and add speeds of 258 and 223 Mbps – so solely a small drop off.
Compared, we noticed WireGuard measure 472 and 436 Mbps obtain speeds, and 215 and 200 Mbps add speeds.
All in all, there is not so much to separate the 2 protocols, with their speeds nearly an identical. It is not fairly the 30% enhance Surfshark promised, however Dausos delivers spectacular speeds and efficiency, and successfully maxed out our connections.
Notably, on “tremendous quick” connections, it’s possible you’ll effectively see extra of a distinction.
Strong streaming efficiency
Picture: Dausos simply unblocked US Amazon Prime Video (Picture credit score: Future)
Surfshark is historically top-of-the-line streaming VPNs. I attempted out each Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ on a wide range of servers. The primary take a look at was to hook up with a US server and see if I can achieve entry to the treasures of American streaming companies, and I may. Dausos loaded up Prime Video simply and I may stream Civil Struggle with no points.
That is significantly spectacular contemplating Surfshark’s WireGuard implementation struggled with US Amazon Prime Video in our newest spherical of testing.
Connecting to a Brazilian server netted me entry to their native content material too, whereas I had no points with Disney+ on both American or Singaporean servers. As a streaming protocol, Dausos appears to work very effectively certainly – equally as strongly as customary protocols resembling WireGuard and OpenVPN.
Sturdy safety and no CAPTCHAs
When looking the web, I did not discover a rise in CAPTCHAs in anyway when looking in Incognito Mode, which is uncommon for a VPN in my expertise. Velocity loss is considerably noticeable, although, significantly when connecting to servers situated geographically removed from the UK. Whereas that is to be anticipated, it was worse with Dausos than it has been with Proton VPN or Mullvad.
One in all Dausos’ huge promoting factors is safety. The protocol makes use of AEGIS-256X2 encryption and devoted tunnels for all customers, and the safety does look like tight after some cursory testing. It doesn’t leak my IP or DNS, and appears extraordinarily dependable, regardless of solely being in beta.
How you can use Dausos
(Picture credit score: Future)
As talked about earlier, at current, Dausos is in beta and solely out there on Mac, with additional rollout to return sooner or later. Customers on different units want to make use of different protocols, however even on Mac, getting your arms on a model of Surfshark with assist for the brand new protocol is slightly tough. There are two variations of Surfshark on Mac: one from Surfshark’s web site, the opposite from the App Retailer.
On the time of writing, you may must obtain Surfshark from the Mac App Retailer to entry Dausos. If you happen to’re switching to the App Retailer model, Surfshark recommends uninstalling your earlier model first to keep away from any conflicts. It is also value noting you could’t use Dausos and Surfshark’s Antivirus collectively. The previous is simply out there within the Mac App Retailer model of Surfshark, whereas the latter is not.
As soon as you have downloaded the Surfshark app, log in as regular. The consumer will not default to Dausos, although, so you may must tweak the settings.
Click on on the settings button within the app, proven as a cog wheel on the left hand aspect of the app. As soon as there, click on on the VPN settings button, and scroll down to search out the Protocol possibility simply above the superior settings on the very backside. Click on on this and choose Dausos from the checklist.
In case you are at the moment related, the app will disconnect your current connection and reconnect below the brand new protocol. As soon as you have executed this, Dausos might be set because the default VPN protocol in your Mac, and you may must manually change it again if you wish to use WireGuard, OpenVPN, or IKEv2.
A protocol with promise
Regardless of its false begin, I am genuinely impressed by Dausos at current. It options very robust safety, is adept at unblocking region-locked content material, and does not serve me countless CAPTCHAs once I’m looking Incognito. There are full-fledged completed merchandise that do not supply the identical stage of proficiency that this beta protocol does.
Nonetheless, on account of Dausos’ beta standing, you should still expertise teething points. That is significantly salient given the poor state that Dausos launched in earlier than its preliminary replace, when it was primarily unusable. The privateness purists amongst you might also need to maintain off till it has been totally launched.
Surfshark has admitted “some connectivity, efficiency, or function‑associated points might happen,” on account of its toddler state.
Regardless of this, it is completely one to observe, and Surfshark’s innovation is value applauding – it has been an extended whereas since we have had a totally new protocol to get enthusiastic about. Whereas it is unlikely to signify something like the ocean change that got here with WireGuard’s launch in 2015, on account of it being closed-source, if it continues to impress because it proceeds in the direction of its closing launch, it might find yourself giving Surfshark a aggressive benefit in addition to serving to its customers.
As somebody who is essentially a Linux VPN person as of late, I might, after all, choose for it to be open-source, however that will come later. If not, I believe that its technological improvements will not less than encourage open-source protocol growth additional down the road. For now, it isn’t way more than a curio, nevertheless it bears quite a lot of promise, and for those who personal a Mac, contemplate checking it out. We do not suppose you may be upset.
We take a look at and evaluation VPN companies within the context of authorized leisure makes use of. For instance: 1. Accessing a service from one other nation (topic to the phrases and situations of that service). 2. Defending your on-line safety and strengthening your on-line privateness when overseas. We don’t assist or condone the unlawful or malicious use of VPN companies. Consuming pirated content material that’s paid-for is neither endorsed nor accepted by Future Publishing.
