Are VPN's straight forward to set up / use?

apple_man77

apple_man77

apple_man77

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535
Hello,

Apologies if this is a very simple question but I just want a little reassurance before signing up for one of the VPN's (most likely Nord) for 12/24 months.

Do I simply sign up to one of the VPN companies and then just install it on my laptop / firestick etc and select a region and thats it? I'm not mega tech savvy and don't want to be messing about with network / ip settings etc

Thanks for any hints / tips / advice

:-)
 
apple_man77 said:
Hello,

Apologies if this is a very simple question but I just want a little reassurance before signing up for one of the VPN's (most likely Nord) for 12/24 months.

Do I simply sign up to one of the VPN companies and then just install it on my laptop / firestick etc and select a region and thats it? I'm not mega tech savvy and don't want to be messing about with network / ip settings etc

Thanks for any hints / tips / advice

:-)
Click to expand...
You can download their app, login to it and that's it.
Or you can set it up on a router if it allows. Never installed on on a firestick.
 
Essentially yes, it's like a software/service that reroutes all your non-lan traffic to their servers inside a "tunnel" then it exits out to the internet via the region you select.
 
Theres been a couple of time recently when it seems having one would help...

My wife wanted to watch a series thats only available on HULA which is only available in the US so guessing having a VPN would allow her to use Hula and watch the series?

We have also just purchased a second home in Spain and I know its not always easy to browse some sites when it thinks you're in another country so if I can select a UK VPN whilst in Spain it'll make my life a little easier.

Well thats the idea anyway...
 
At a Router level they are more involved. On a per device basis it's installing a app.
 
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apple_man77 said:
Theres been a couple of time recently when it seems having one would help...

My wife wanted to watch a series thats only available on HULA which is only available in the US so guessing having a VPN would allow her to use Hula and watch the series?

We have also just purchased a second home in Spain and I know its not always easy to browse some sites when it thinks you're in another country so if I can select a UK VPN whilst in Spain it'll make my life a little easier.

Well thats the idea anyway...
Click to expand...
Not sure about Hula. All streaming services have been clamping down on VPN connections. Some VPNs have more luck than others so do some research first. Having said that I’ve successfully and repeatedly connected to iPlayer while in Spain using NordVPN
 
apple_man77 said:
Theres been a couple of time recently when it seems having one would help...

My wife wanted to watch a series thats only available on HULA which is only available in the US so guessing having a VPN would allow her to use Hula and watch the series?

We have also just purchased a second home in Spain and I know its not always easy to browse some sites when it thinks you're in another country so if I can select a UK VPN whilst in Spain it'll make my life a little easier.

Well thats the idea anyway...
Click to expand...
Fair enough., Lot of folk get them because they believe the marketing about being safer online. Which is not always the case with a VPN.
 
So I've downloaded the NORD VPN app and paid for a 2 year subscription. It seems fairly straight forward to use, however I'm not actually sure its actually working or if I've misunderstood what it should do....

I've managed to download the HULU app for the wife...I've changed my location to America and its gone on to a NY server however it still won't allow me to do anything within the app.

Just out of pure interest I've tried the Screwfix website/app as I know from experience when I've been abroad using the hotels wifi it won't allow you to access it from another country however everything's loading up fine even though I've selected a Spanish server and an Egyptian one just to trick it in to thinking I'm somewhere else...so I'm not overly convinced its actually doing what I want.
 
apple_man77 said:
So I've downloaded the NORD VPN app and paid for a 2 year subscription. It seems fairly straight forward to use, however I'm not actually sure its actually working or if I've misunderstood what it should do....

I've managed to download the HULU app for the wife...I've changed my location to America and its gone on to a NY server however it still won't allow me to do anything within the app.

Just out of pure interest I've tried the Screwfix website/app as I know from experience when I've been abroad using the hotels wifi it won't allow you to access it from another country however everything's loading up fine even though I've selected a Spanish server and an Egyptian one just to trick it in to thinking I'm somewhere else...so I'm not overly convinced its actually doing what I want.
Click to expand...
Go to ipleak.net it will tell you which location you are visiting from, so easy to tell if the vpn is working or not.
 
Some helpful info here as well.
nordvpn.com

VPN test: Check if your VPN is working

How do you know that your VPN is doing its job and not leaking your personally identifiable information? Learn how to check if your VPN is working.
nordvpn.com nordvpn.com

What protocol are you using? Just the NordLynx one? You could try changing it to the Nord Whisper protocol just out of curiosity. Note you will lose some of the threat protection features but as a test that is fine. Alternatively, try one of the speciality servers like a double VPN or obfuscated (both are available from the US).
 
apple_man77 said:
So I've downloaded the NORD VPN app and paid for a 2 year subscription. It seems fairly straight forward to use, however I'm not actually sure its actually working or if I've misunderstood what it should do....

I've managed to download the HULU app for the wife...I've changed my location to America and its gone on to a NY server however it still won't allow me to do anything within the app.

Just out of pure interest I've tried the Screwfix website/app as I know from experience when I've been abroad using the hotels wifi it won't allow you to access it from another country however everything's loading up fine even though I've selected a Spanish server and an Egyptian one just to trick it in to thinking I'm somewhere else...so I'm not overly convinced its actually doing what I want.
Click to expand...

You usually have to start the VPN first and then start any apps, like browsers and so on, and restart them if you change location.

I do pretty much the same as you are trying to do and it really is pretty tedious to stop all these apps from tracing you. It's not just down to the VPN. There is a ton of tracking going on out there. I think about the least thing they pay attention to is your IP. Having said that, they certainly do pay attention to it, so a VPN is a very important part of bypassing region locks.
 
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