I want to be able to view TER on my Apple iPhone, but from everything I have gathered, including a trip to an Apple store, TOR just won't work on iPhones, though they do have a version for Android phones.

Nordvpn is $99 for three years, that's less than $3 month.  If you can't afford that this hobby may not be for you.

I do 95% of my TER browsing on my laptop, but there are times that it's nice to be able to pass the time while waiting at the dentist office to look at TER instead of having to read the Highlights for Children.

I only use it on my desktop PC, but they do have an apple app. Free VPN is subject to monthly data limits. I turn it on when going to TER, off for everything else. F*** government/LE spying fears.

It's working great for me. I have an Android phone but their website shows an available iOS app. The free version has a 2GB monthly limit which is way more than I need to check TER. Good speed, no ads and no logging (per their claim) are more positives. It also remembers my location is set to Canada so with 2 clicks I'm up and running. Paid upgrades give you more server locations and a higher data limit, but free is meeting all my needs, so far.

ExpressVPN, a subscriber service.  Took the 15 month "special" which covers 3 devices (iphone, office computer, laptop) for $99.  (Works out to less than $7 a month, much better then $10/week.)  The problem with the "free" services is that they put limitations on your privacy in order to generate revenue to run the operation.  (Read the privacy statements on some of these before you sign up.  They're s joke.)  So they are selling info about you to commercial users by using cookies to track you everytime you log onto TER and any other websites.  Revenue for the paid sites is generated by the user fees, just like TER (who ALSO doesn't need to sell your information), so you get a higher degree of privacy on what you are using the service for.   The bonus with the paid services is you get more speed and  tech issues are resolved quickly.  You can choose your location from an extensive list of countries they operate in.  As you yourself said, TOR (free browser) was like swimming through molasses.  

I only installed VPN on my smartphone after the TER business, but now that I have it I can see the privacy benefits. Wifi hotspots and your own ISP can't see who you are visiting.  In fact I can now view any site at work, whereas before I would avoid any nefarious sites since our workplace IP could be tracked, or the IT people could see what sites I was visiting. So there are benefits beyond TER access.

I had some OTC time with a provider last weekend and took my laptop.  Rather than use her Wi-Fi, I set up a hot-spot with my iphone, which is one of the devices I registered with my VPN service.  

Opera browser has "browser VPN" feature which is just a proxy.
Epic browser has proxy feature properly labeled.  
Either will get you TER access.  
Neither is like TOR in slowness, complexity, anonymity, or security.  

It's buggy, crashes a lot, but I can get to ter on iPhone that way. I ultimately just got NordVPN, pretty snazzy.

PC Mag's No. 1 rated.  On my PC I have wireless wifi and another vpn I tried interfered with some connections.  Have not found any such interference with Nordvpn, and it is very easy to toggle on/off if I do.

Not the easiest experience, but far from the worst.  

Not a bad deal, up to 5 devices, no logs. Got rid of the"free" vpn I had on my phone. Some things are worth paying for, as we all know!

LE loves free VPNs, because they do exactly nothing to protect you. They serve as a nice centralized location for LE to gather information. They all keep logs of EVERYTHING because they take that data and sell it to advertisers. They'll happily give up that data to LE.

is it against the law to visit TER's website or even post on these boards?  I think they have bigger fish to fry.

Having LE know about you and your potential illegal activities is bad news. Worse news now that they can basically call your board support (which is what you're doing by posting, and ostensibly being a VIP member) "aiding in 'sex trafficking'".