Soldato
I’d just wait for nord to come back on offer they always have offers.
*** VPN Thread ***
- Thread starter kPATm
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Soldato
I did find another code to re-enable the 3 year code
Soldato
3+ year user, works well, reasonably decent selection of servers, speed isn't too bad, can port forward, support WireGuard (own app is coming out soon). However, they used to have a bigger selection of servers (supposedly they remove some in countries that introduced privacy laws) and the app is a bit pants and bugs get introduced from one version to another.
* No idea regarding streaming services, ie - US Netflix etc. They do have dedicated monthly addons for streaming, so i assume the standard service is very hit/miss.
What is the Nord '3 year code' deal? Possible to share the code?
Edit - Ignore me, £96.74 for 3-years from what i can tell.
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Soldato
BESTVPN is the code
Soldato
Soldato
Soldato
Nord still a good VPN service to go for? Looking for multi-device (couple of PCs and an iPhone).
It really depends on what you define as good and your particular needs? Also BF is looming, expect the usual slew of cheap deals on VPN and other online services.
Soldato
For me good = Secure, multi-hop and fast.
I don't mind slow connections outside of the UK, as that will be only for access to region locked media and pricing.
It also depends how/where you want to use it.. Nord for me was a nightmare - they didnt have a load balancer I could hit, so had to manually choose between one of their tens of ips for certain countries.. (this was not using it from Windows, but had to set up vpn address on router).. I've been using PIA since, and they have been great.. (and cheap - $29 for 12 months using one of the offers floating around)
Soldato
I've been using Azire on PC and unraid server. Seems to work spot on so far
Just a note, I livechatted to Nord recently as my service was up for renewal and I previously had a 3 year prepaid which made it very cheap ($99/3yr). Surprisingly, just by chatting with customer service, they spontaneously offered a renewal deal which beat all public offers. I ended up paying $83.88/3yr which was also better than the 75% publicly available discount on a three year prepaid. So perhaps spend five minutes on the chat to save a few quid
Nord's also rolled out NordLynx (their flavour of Wireguard) which has improved my speeds on Android and Windows. The UI is a bit chintzy but you can always get your 'service credentials' from the account control panel to use a client of your choice.
Nord's clever source IP obfuscation makes Netflix trivially easy to use. I think I understand how they do it but obviously they don't publicly explain how (it's very cheeky). It does make Netflix and other geolocked service access pretty simple.
I also have a Torguard account (and they also offer Wireguard) - their dedicated "Streaming IP" option works a bit differently, you're assigned a couple of statics from specific regions and you have to reconnect to each to change region. Pros and cons to both approaches. I also run my own Wireguard server running on an Alpine VM on my Synology.
Nord's also rolled out NordLynx (their flavour of Wireguard) which has improved my speeds on Android and Windows. The UI is a bit chintzy but you can always get your 'service credentials' from the account control panel to use a client of your choice.
Nord's clever source IP obfuscation makes Netflix trivially easy to use. I think I understand how they do it but obviously they don't publicly explain how (it's very cheeky). It does make Netflix and other geolocked service access pretty simple.
I also have a Torguard account (and they also offer Wireguard) - their dedicated "Streaming IP" option works a bit differently, you're assigned a couple of statics from specific regions and you have to reconnect to each to change region. Pros and cons to both approaches. I also run my own Wireguard server running on an Alpine VM on my Synology.
@~cw : Out of interest; Have Nord started offering a load balancing domain you can hit from 3rd party application (not through their GUI.. so for example from my Synology NAS) to say uk.nordvpn.com?? When I last used them I had to manually use one of their many servers in a particular country (for example uk1.nordvpn.com, or uk2.nordvpn.com) - meaning if one of their UK servers where unavailable or running slow, I would manually have to change the VPN to point to one of the other VPN nodes.. which was a non-starter.
With my current VPN provider I can just point to uk.xxx.com, and they redirect the traffic to whatever local server I need to go to, based on usage, etc.
With my current VPN provider I can just point to uk.xxx.com, and they redirect the traffic to whatever local server I need to go to, based on usage, etc.
Soldato
nm
Thanks
Thanks
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Nope. However this Python3 script does exist: https://github.com/jotyGill/openpyn-nordvpn
I asked Nord about a load-balanced / "pool" endpoint address which you could use to easily connect by country and category (e.g. uk-p2p.nordvpn.com, uk-double.nordvpn.com, uk-tor.nordvpn.com etc). They have apparently sent the suggestion to their dev team. So who knows if/when it might happen... It's a bit of a bugbear of mine as well. Torguard uses a cruder method of multiple A records for each of their hostnames to sort of accomplish this, mostly pot luck but it does exist.
Nord works with iPlayer, just checked now and it's streaming fine (connected to UK with NordLynx protocol).
Frustratingly, the desktop app doesn't have any split tunneling features built in (unlike competitors like Torguard or PIA) but Windows 10's VPN client supports SSTP or IKEv2 so you could use that with Nord and enable split tunneling at the Windows VPN adapter level. It's a little unsophisticated compared to something like PIA's offering. You could also use Nord via SOCKS proxy for specific apps. The mobile app can split tunnel, and Nord claim their browser extensions split tunnel - by virtue of their scope I suppose it's technically true.
Another alternative might be using OpenVPN client on your machine with a NordVPN server config (https://support.nordvpn.com/Connect...-manual-connection-on-Windows-7-and-above.htm), then either handcrafting the config to use route-nopull then 'route a.b.c.d' for specific web IPs, or trying "allow-pull-fqdn" which apparently should be able to resolve IPs from a FQDN record? Other discussions mention using pull-filter declarations in the .ovpn config (https://forums.openvpn.net/viewtopic.php?t=30951&p=94388).
I have set up OpenVPN client with NordVPN .ovpn server configs on various devices, but I confess I've not tried configuring split tunneling like this as I don't VPN 24/7. You've got me interested now though
Soldato
Nope. However this Python3 script does exist: https://github.com/jotyGill/openpyn-nordvpn
I asked Nord about a load-balanced / "pool" endpoint address which you could use to easily connect by country and category (e.g. uk-p2p.nordvpn.com, uk-double.nordvpn.com, uk-tor.nordvpn.com etc). They have apparently sent the suggestion to their dev team. So who knows if/when it might happen... It's a bit of a bugbear of mine as well. Torguard uses a cruder method of multiple A records for each of their hostnames to sort of accomplish this, mostly pot luck but it does exist.
Nord works with iPlayer, just checked now and it's streaming fine (connected to UK with NordLynx protocol).
Frustratingly, the desktop app doesn't have any split tunneling features built in (unlike competitors like Torguard or PIA) but Windows 10's VPN client supports SSTP or IKEv2 so you could use that with Nord and enable split tunneling at the Windows VPN adapter level. It's a little unsophisticated compared to something like PIA's offering. You could also use Nord via SOCKS proxy for specific apps. The mobile app can split tunnel, and Nord claim their browser extensions split tunnel - by virtue of their scope I suppose it's technically true.
Another alternative might be using OpenVPN client on your machine with a NordVPN server config (https://support.nordvpn.com/Connect...-manual-connection-on-Windows-7-and-above.htm), then either handcrafting the config to use route-nopull then 'route a.b.c.d' for specific web IPs, or trying "allow-pull-fqdn" which apparently should be able to resolve IPs from a FQDN record? Other discussions mention using pull-filter declarations in the .ovpn config (https://forums.openvpn.net/viewtopic.php?t=30951&p=94388).
I have set up OpenVPN client with NordVPN .ovpn server configs on various devices, but I confess I've not tried configuring split tunneling like this as I don't VPN 24/7. You've got me interested now though
I had asked a question about that but after reading a little more about Nord I could only find it mentioned that in their browser extension it could offer some form of it.
AirVPN, who I have been with for a number of years, do not seem to offer it. The BBC iPlayer rarely will work, never for me, if I do not use policy based routing to exclude devices where the iPlayer is needed.
I do use an Asus AX88U router and with the Merlin custom firmware it is possible to use policy based routing whilst having it set as a VPN client. All works well with what it offers.
But policy based routing is based on the IP address and is not as easily configurable as what, for example, Express VPN offer with their App allowing application based routing. So on my main desktop PC I could use their Windows app and only have certain applications routed through the VPN tunnel and then everything else would go through the LAN.
Due to having this Asus router (useful as it allows AES-NI instructions in hardware and so no speed is compromised when used with a VPN client) a solution for me, without needing to jump to Express VPN, is to try and get my head around this addon....
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/x3mrouting-selective-routing-for-asuswrt-merlin-firmware.57793/
that could offer a useful solution, the question will be "if" I can get my head around using it
An incidental issue with the Asus router, common to their firmware, is what happens when you set their router up with a VPN client AND use their QOS and traffic management service. Their QOS allows you to prioritise traffic based on device and or app usage. When both the VPN client and QOS are in use the QOS denotes all traffic tunnelled through the VPN as upload, regardless of it being upload or download. That can be an issue as traffic outside the tunnel is treated as I would expect. An issue in terms of QOS and traffic management working as expected.
Still that is nothing to do about split tunnelling that I was interested in knowing if Nord, who do some pretty great offers, allow it app based like Express VPN do. Everything else seems less elegant and more brain aching, for me anyway. lol
EDIT: Express VPN and Split tunnelling....
https://www.expressvpn.com/features/split-tunneling
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I've probably posted in this thread before, but I usually use Mullvad and/or OVPN as their privacy is rock solid and the speeds are practically wirespeed gigabit using WireGuard. In common with most providers these days, however, they both struggle with iPlayer, Prime Video, etc.
I left Nord after their hacking fiasco, but now they've tightened things up and been independently audited, I grabbed the Cyber Deal (plus using code GROUPON for an extra couple of quid off). I hate the way they've made a stupid proprietary layer on top of WireGuard ('NordLynx'), and they don't offer port forwarding...
That said, all VoD products work instantly and in full HD and I've not been blocked anywhere. Their Linux CLI app is nice to use and undoubtedly maintains WireGuard's advantages. On a VM 1 gig connection connected to a UK/London server:
I'd still stick to OVPN/Mullvad for anything privacy critical, but for general usage I can't knock Nord for the price.
I left Nord after their hacking fiasco, but now they've tightened things up and been independently audited, I grabbed the Cyber Deal (plus using code GROUPON for an extra couple of quid off). I hate the way they've made a stupid proprietary layer on top of WireGuard ('NordLynx'), and they don't offer port forwarding...
That said, all VoD products work instantly and in full HD and I've not been blocked anywhere. Their Linux CLI app is nice to use and undoubtedly maintains WireGuard's advantages. On a VM 1 gig connection connected to a UK/London server:
I'd still stick to OVPN/Mullvad for anything privacy critical, but for general usage I can't knock Nord for the price.