Windscribe, the best Toronto-based VPN contender, has always offered a pretty great freemium service, but Windscribe's customizable server-side web filter, ad blocker, and tracker blocker, R.O.. B.E.R.T. has been added to the mix, and it just keeps getting better.

Previously, R.O.B.E.R.T. (don't ask me how to spell the acronym) was only available to Windscribe's paying customers as part of Windscribe's best VPN package. As of today, Windscribe's free customers get R.O.B.E.R.T.'s ad and tracker blockers, and the option to create up to three filter access rules. (Here's the meme-tastic Windscribe marketing email announcing this change.)

Users of Windscribe's free VPN service have always had the option to install one of the service's browser extensions to block ads and trackers in desktop versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. In addition, users can use up to 10GB of VPN data for free each month as long as they sign up for a Windscribe account.

However, "ROBERT is a server-side ad blocker that blocks at the DNS level.

Of course, if you pay for Windscribe's $49 annual "Pro" plan, you can also block porn sites, social networks, gambling sites, crypto-miners, and several other categories.

You can also create unlimited data for up to 1,000 access R.O.B.E.R.T. rules and an unlimited number of devices; Windscribe says it has servers in "over 63 countries and 110 cities," but we have not confirmed that ourselves.

And Windscribe's "Build a Plan" a la carte option can save you money if you don't need servers in so many locations.

We can say that Windscribe is one of the most reliable VPN services for streaming Netflix and other services from abroad. And, of course, it's also very useful when you're traveling abroad and need to use an unreliable Wi-Fi network in a dubious 2-star hotel in a forgotten corner of Central Europe.