Soldato
Joined
18 Aug 2007
Posts
9,689
Location
Liverpool
Will sign up on my phone, So to clarify once signed up then i can use a vpn? Sorry I have no idea how vpn works, I don't wannt to end up paying for a vpn only to find out I cant use it.

Nobody can tell you what services the council has blocked, or how. We're not psychic. Many companies block entire VPN IP ranges these days (Netflix, Amazon, BBC etc), it's trivial. Do you have IPv6 connectivity or just IPv4? Your best bet is likely to sign up for a lesser known/smaller provider like Mullvad, AzireVPN, WireVPN or (insert small service here). They're less likely to be blocked outright, and in any case less likely to have their many endpoints on a blacklist even if their main website is. For the sake of a couple of quid for one month's service, you've not much to lose - especially as they predominantly offer a money back guarantee (you're pushing it there, as the problem's at your end, but they're decent companies and should be OK about it). Connect over mobile/public WiFi, make an account and get the configs, save them to your PC/laptop/whatever, and then try to connect via the Council WiFi.

Some protocols may be blocked but not others (eg they may block OpenVPN but not IPSEC, or WireGuard etc). Ditto some ports. Try something like WireGuard over port 443 or 53 if the defaults fail. Just experiment. Likely you'll soon be up and running as most services don't spend much money on trying to enforce really strict DPI, rather they rely on a firewall to funnel traffic to basic ports (53 for DNS, 80 for web, 443 for TLS). You can generally take advantage of that.
 
Associate
Joined
13 Jul 2005
Posts
1,137
Location
Devon
Nobody can tell you what services the council has blocked, or how. We're not psychic. Many companies block entire VPN IP ranges these days (Netflix, Amazon, BBC etc), it's trivial. Do you have IPv6 connectivity or just IPv4? Your best bet is likely to sign up for a lesser known/smaller provider like Mullvad, AzireVPN, WireVPN or (insert small service here). They're less likely to be blocked outright, and in any case less likely to have their many endpoints on a blacklist even if their main website is. For the sake of a couple of quid for one month's service, you've not much to lose - especially as they predominantly offer a money back guarantee (you're pushing it there, as the problem's at your end, but they're decent companies and should be OK about it). Connect over mobile/public WiFi, make an account and get the configs, save them to your PC/laptop/whatever, and then try to connect via the Council WiFi.

Some protocols may be blocked but not others (eg they may block OpenVPN but not IPSEC, or WireGuard etc). Ditto some ports. Try something like WireGuard over port 443 or 53 if the defaults fail. Just experiment. Likely you'll soon be up and running as most services don't spend much money on trying to enforce really strict DPI, rather they rely on a firewall to funnel traffic to basic ports (53 for DNS, 80 for web, 443 for TLS). You can generally take advantage of that.

Thanks that was just the kind of info I needed:) I wasn't even sure how things are blocked if it was the Council or the ISP. The only thing I do know is that we only have IPv4. Twitter isn't blocked and that has porn on it but dating websites and their apps are blocked.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
Posts
7,177
Why do certain sites and features break when connected to a VPN? This morning both the Lloyds banking app and logging into a Now Broadband account were both completely broken until I disconnected from my VPN.

Lets assume I have managed to get hold of your online banking details, am I going to a) connect directly using my home IP or b) hide behind a VPN, same with online stores from a fraud perspective and some other sites. This is why every thread where someone suggests running a VPN at a router level includes a warning that VPN'ing all your traffic isn't something most people should do without some serious thought.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,059
Personally I have not had issues accessing those sites from behind a VPN but I don’t turn on things like the VPN level ad blocking service most seem to have these days. Those really tend to break stuff and you can’t whitelist unlike a browser extension, I’m guessing because they block the tracking cookies needed for the site to work.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
Posts
7,177
Not sure if anyone here has used Digibit VPN but if anyone is looking for a low cost VPN you can not go wrong with them

The problem I have with them is they are UK based and they seem to be very sparse on anything other than the usual marketing crap, that should set alarm bells ringing in this day and age.
 
Associate
Joined
13 Jul 2005
Posts
1,137
Location
Devon
I'm living in a shared house ran by the council they have filtered out adult sites, I thought if I use a VPN that will get around it but I cant even access any VPN sites, what next?

Use your imagination? Apart from the obvious implications of that statement, if you can’t register for an account over the property wifi then perhaps consider using another (free) wifi provider while out and about to do so, or 4G.

So you are saying I could sign up for a vpn say at a mates house then when I get back to mine I will be able to use the vpn?

Why don’t you just sign up using your mobile phone....? (Turn off WiFi of course)

Will sign up on my phone, So to clarify once signed up then i can use a vpn? Sorry I have no idea how vpn works, I don't wannt to end up paying for a vpn only to find out I cant use it.

Nobody can tell you what services the council has blocked, or how. We're not psychic. Many companies block entire VPN IP ranges these days (Netflix, Amazon, BBC etc), it's trivial. Do you have IPv6 connectivity or just IPv4? Your best bet is likely to sign up for a lesser known/smaller provider like Mullvad, AzireVPN, WireVPN or (insert small service here). They're less likely to be blocked outright, and in any case less likely to have their many endpoints on a blacklist even if their main website is. For the sake of a couple of quid for one month's service, you've not much to lose - especially as they predominantly offer a money back guarantee (you're pushing it there, as the problem's at your end, but they're decent companies and should be OK about it). Connect over mobile/public WiFi, make an account and get the configs, save them to your PC/laptop/whatever, and then try to connect via the Council WiFi.

Some protocols may be blocked but not others (eg they may block OpenVPN but not IPSEC, or WireGuard etc). Ditto some ports. Try something like WireGuard over port 443 or 53 if the defaults fail. Just experiment. Likely you'll soon be up and running as most services don't spend much money on trying to enforce really strict DPI, rather they rely on a firewall to funnel traffic to basic ports (53 for DNS, 80 for web, 443 for TLS). You can generally take advantage of that.

Thanks that was just the kind of info I needed:) I wasn't even sure how things are blocked if it was the Council or the ISP. The only thing I do know is that we only have IPv4. Twitter isn't blocked and that has porn on it but dating websites and their apps are blocked.

This might help someone but I'm sure most will know, I downloaded the android Opera browser because I saw it had VPN added to it, and to my delight I can now access all the sites I couldn't before:cool::)
 
Associate
Joined
13 Jul 2005
Posts
1,137
Location
Devon
This might help someone but I'm sure most will know, I downloaded the android Opera browser because I saw it had VPN added to it, and to my delight I can now access all the sites I couldn't before:cool::)

Well ignore what I have wrote, didn't last long, now I can't connect to anything when you turn on VPN.
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
3,923
Location
London
having moved from my virgin media 350meg connected home to a place with vodaphone adsl I've finally succumbed to getting a vpn. Mainly because this isp seems to block a LOT of sites. Being able to watch american netflix is a nice bonus as well.
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Sep 2005
Posts
29,917
Location
Norrbotten, Sweden.
Looking for a VPN. Mostly for downloading torrents of Linux distros and Foreign streaming service access like Netflix and Prime which isnt even available in Sweden yet. Also BBC Iplayer and other Uk TV services.

have a 250/250 connection and would like to retain as much as humanly possible.

Looking for a 3 year deal, (is that long sensible?) so a company that will hopefully be around for a while....

Top 3 options?

NordVPN comes to mind but only because i see it spammed everywhere! surely not a great thing?

many thanks.
 
Permabanned
Joined
27 Sep 2019
Posts
2,570
If you are an existing Nord customer keep an eye out for an email from them, you log into your account (do it from your own saved URL not the email to be safe) and you will see a Gift of 1 month free onto your Sub.
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Jan 2007
Posts
4,862
Location
Warwickshire
I am looking at getting rid of my landline as my broadband speed sucks arse, Thinking of going down the 4G route, will i still be able to use a VPN? or is it going to go wrong if Three or EE who ever think i am using it in Mexico or somewhere : P ?
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
Posts
7,177
I am looking at getting rid of my landline as my broadband speed sucks arse, Thinking of going down the 4G route, will i still be able to use a VPN? or is it going to go wrong if Three or EE who ever think i am using it in Mexico or somewhere : P ?

That’s not how a VPN works - your network provider knows exactly where you are connecting from on a mobile to within a few feet, you use an encrypted connection to your chosen end point eg Mexico, the sites you access then believe your connection originated from Mexico.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
Posts
7,177
Has anyone successfully used their Synology NAS as a VPN gateway? Wondered how resource intensive it was?

Can you be more specific in model/protocol? For example, if you’re using OpenVPN it all comes down to the CPU type and it’s core speed/if it supports hardware encryption. If not, it’ll be slow. Changing to UDP may mitigate that, but without knowing your connection speed and what CPU we’re talking about, it’s kind of a moot point.
 
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Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,179
Location
Frimley, Surrey or 38,000ft
Ok I’m sure a very noob question but I’m with ibVPN and use their windows app to connect to different servers. Pretty much every time I connect to one I have a pop up from windows asking about the network and asking about being discoverable. It’s really annoying, is there any way to stop it or is it just the way the vpn connects? Cheers.
 
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