VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Big Boy
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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2 days now DB. Any updates on Nord please? My Express is on its back with its legs in the air whenever I try ITV or BBC.
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Sorry BB I’ve been distracted these past few days, my son fell off a ladder in the UK and ended up in hospital and I completely forgot about this (he’s on the mend and will hopefully come out soon) - I’ll have a look at it tomorrow.


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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Einstein was wrong! When he said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” This is precisely what I do when trying to watch iPlayer. I have multiple ways of accessing it using two VPNs, Firestick/iPad, App/browser. I just try different ways until it works. As far as I can see there's no rhyme or reason to it!
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Dannie Boy wrote: Sat Dec 02, 2023 6:45 pm Sorry BB I’ve been distracted these past few days, my son fell off a ladder in the UK and ended up in hospital and I completely forgot about this (he’s on the mend and will hopefully come out soon) - I’ll have a look at it tomorrow.


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How inconsiderate of him.............. only joking, and hope he's OK.

I actually tried express on my main lappie this evening, and it has worked fine. The new TV lappie came with Norton pre-installed. I'm not a fan of Norton, and uninstall would normally be the first thing I do with any new lappie. I didn't bother this time, but will try tomorrow to see if it makes any difference.

Meanwhile, still looking forward to DB's report as his Express experience is very similar to my own.
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Now I appreciate that it’s very early days (less than an hour), but, so far my experience with Nord has not been good. It sometimes is difficult to connect to a Uk server and trying to access BBC has been hit and miss - some programmes play some don’t and the ones that don’t, when I switched back to Express they played ok.

I have 30 days to give it a more robust trial, but already I’m not very confident.

I also tried ITV - first time no, second time ok, Channel 4&5 ok.

All on an iPad - I need to load it on my laptop and try that.

Watch this space!!


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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Thanks for the honest update. Express worked fine on my main laptop last night, so I'm hoping my theory about Norton is correct - always hated it. In fact, next job, uninstall Norton.
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Big Boy wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 9:29 am In fact, next job, uninstall Norton.
F**king Norton :cuss:

Norton uninstalled, and straight in, no problems.

It will take a few days before I gain confidence, but looking good.

Still interested in the Nord reports though. At that silly price, it is definitely worth serious consideration.
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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I’ve now installed it on my laptop and although it wasn’t straight forward I got there. First attempt to connect to BBC failed but 2nd time ok - also ITV, Channel 4 and Amazon Prime so


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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Good news.
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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As a follow-up, removal of Norton has certainly eased the problem, but connection is still taking several attempts. Once connected, it is fine, but very frustrating waiting for that connection,
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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I'm paid up to July with Express. I'll have to look if they refund, if I decide to switch. My system is crowded enough and really don't want to run 2 VPNs for 6 months.
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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PeteC wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 3:41 pm I'm paid up to July with Express. I'll have to look if they refund, if I decide to switch. My system is crowded enough and really don't want to run 2 VPNs for 6 months.
I doubt that they’ll offer a refund - and best to wait anyway until I have further experience of using Nord. I tried to watch a UK Channel 5 programme earlier (on my iPad) and initially with the VPN setting set to London, it would play the adverts but then the programme wouldn’t play - I changed it to Manchester and it worked fine. This is similar to Express, usually it will work for me set to London Docklands, but occasionally I had to change it to a different server site.

I’ll give it a longer test this evening using my laptop connected to the TV and see how that goes!!
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Yes, I'm in a similar position Pete. Mine started going stupid as soon as the first month of my renewal (the point where money back is not an option) was up. If you find a partial refund option, please advise.
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Dannie Boy wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:15 pm
PeteC wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 3:41 pm I'm paid up to July with Express. I'll have to look if they refund, if I decide to switch. My system is crowded enough and really don't want to run 2 VPNs for 6 months.
I doubt that they’ll offer a refund - and best to wait anyway until I have further experience of using Nord. I tried to watch a UK Channel 5 programme earlier (on my iPad) and initially with the VPN setting set to London, it would play the adverts but then the programme wouldn’t play - I changed it to Manchester and it worked fine. This is similar to Express, usually it will work for me set to London Docklands, but occasionally I had to change it to a different server site.

I’ll give it a longer test this evening using my laptop connected to the TV and see how that goes!!
Just a brief update following last night’s viewings.

First I connected to BBC iPlayer on my windows laptop using Firefox and it connected straight away and performed faultlessly, allowing me to ff when I wanted. So next I tried connecting to the ITV hub using the same setup. Initially it was a little hesitant to start the programme but probably well under a minute and it came to life - great I thought, but in less than 3 minutes it stopped and I got the screen message saying I need to refresh, only I’d wouldn’t. I tried changing servers from London to Manchester but that did nothing, so next I changed from Firefox to Opera and this was like the first programme on the BBC - faultless.

Now I’ve experienced the exact same things using Express, so it wasn’t a major drama, but it definitely needs longer use to get a better impression of whether to stick with it.
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Re: VPN Recommendations and Discussion

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Thank you. My battle with ITV on Express last night sounds very similar to your Nord mishaps. I didn't try BBC. Outside of cost, which will be a major consideration at renewal time, your experience sounds similar to mine. I will look forward to your longer term assessment.
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