Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/03/27/why-nordvpn-is-the-last-vpn-yo.html
…
How many last VPNs have we had now?
10 Likes
and here i was thinking that the last vpn you folks sold me was the last one i’d ever need! what a jackass i am!
7 Likes
I switched from PIA to Nord about a year ago. I use Xubuntu and openvpn. Nord provides recommended servers and easily-downloaded config files to import into your networking apps. I live in the USA, but I often connect to European or Australian servers because they offer better speeds and less bottlenecking. I would recommend Nord over PIA without hesitation.
2 Likes
I tried PIA but it wouldn’t let me access any SMTP servers. They just said “Sorry, no can do” (something I do regularly with another VPN).
I’d try Nord if it didn’t have such a restriction – what has been your experience?
Depends on which servers to which you connect. Oddly enough, when I connect to American servers, I have a difficult time with Thunderbird not being able to connect to smtp servers but this isn’t so when I connect to servers overseas. But, I’ve gotten so used to using my browser for email, that problem doesn’t exist for the browser so I don’t notice it anymore, even with US servers.
I remember also having that problem with PIA and wrote to them. At the time, they gave me a workaround for Thunderbird, but I don’t remember exactly what that was.
My husband just installed PIA and I notice that it frequently causes websites to reject my passwords. Super annoying.
If it comes with a healing crystal dildo, I’m in!
2 Likes
I’m one year into a two year Nord subscription and I absolutely love it. I tried two other services and they were slow and generally terrible. Their Mac apps left much to be desired. Nord’s polished native Mac app sealed the deal for me.
1 Like
I gave up on PIA (bought to support BB) after my “I think I’m in the UK because I’m behind a router that connects to PIA” Roku would no longer get me access to the BBC.
Do NordVPN exit nodes let me get BBC?
To be fair, this isn’t a vpn-specific issue. This depends on the security settings of the sites you’re having trouble with. Unless your vpn happens to offer a server in your city (and even then, it could be an issue), you will have this problem. It’s an annoyance, but one I am happy to tolerate to use a vpn and maintain at least moderately high security on my frequently visited sites.
Yes, but this is one that’s apparently decent!
1 Like
Just ssh tunnel through your home node.
What if your home node is served by an ISP which monitors and logs all your traffic to sell to advertisers, injects ads and “helpful” info like DMCA takedown notifications and bandwidth cap violation notices into any unencrypted HTTP sessions, and falsifies DNS records to serve “helpful” ad-infested search pages?
I’ve been using Nord for about 6 months now and it isn’t all that great. Started having problems with the Windows app connecting and was not able to download anything without errors. After speaking with tech support they recommended switching to udp - doing so helped slightly but the latency and buffering made watching anything impossible.
As a last resort I tried setting up OpenVPN with a direct connection to a Nord server. Took awhile to set it up and I’m not sure why since the tech rep blamed in on “unlucky networking”. After several days of trying I finally woke up one morning to find it working, no changes on my part. I have a constant connection now that is mostly “up” but I get random websites that I cannot access at all, i.e. google, yahoo, and some government sites.
Tech support is no help at all so I really regret prepaying for 2 years. I just don’t think they live up to the hype.
Tls v1.2 is your friend 
If you need to mask your metadata, use McDonald’s wifi.
I use PIA, my girlfriend has Nord and I tried it out but it was much slower than PIA for me. Unlike PIA, however, it let me watch Netflix, just needed to give it plenty of time to buffer.
Are there specific settings or servers for Nord that give better speeds?
As I said, I get better speeds and far fewer timeouts when using European servers. That may be an issue with Netflix, however. You could perhaps try a few Canadian servers. I have no idea if Netflix will work with those. At their website, Nord offers a “recommend” server button that will recommend the best server based on your choice of country. If you’re currently connected to US servers, it will default to that. You can then download the appropriate config file and import it into your network app.
The problem with this is that you can build up quite a collection of available connections as the recommended server is rarely one you’ve already downloaded. Much depends on the time of day and what you want to do, as well.
Thanks, I will check it out. I was trying a French server, from the US.
Personally, I’ve had the best luck with UK and German servers.
