Experiences with Nord and Express VPN's in Thailand

[Andy from Kent]

On 4/5/2020 at 10:27 AM, Pib said:

 

With ExpressVPN Connection to Same Seattle Wowrack Speedtest server as LSM used above.  I'm on an AIS Fibre 700/50 plan. 

 

And now with a PureVPN Connection

Thank you Pib.

 

Do you think my  issue  is due to slower connection speed?    I generally have only between 65  to 90 download.

 

 

[Pib]

1 hour ago, Andy from Kent said:

Thank you Pib.

 

Do you think my  issue  is due to slower connection speed?    I generally have only between 65  to 90 download.

 

 

Could be many things.  Your ISP (i.e., AIS, 3BB, True, etc), your local connection, international speed of your ISP, the speed of your plan, the VPN protocol used, your computer/phone hardware and/or software, speed tester being used, speed test server being test to, time of day/night, etc...etc....etc.  

 

Since you have Express now be sure to try selecting different VPN protocols...don't just leave it on Automatic thinking it will pick the best "& fastest" VPN protocol/speed for your connection.  Give OpenVPN UDP protocol a try...then try OpenVPN TCP...then try IKEV...then try L2TP....try to do these tests as quick as you can. See if one protocol seems to work much faster for you. 

 

I expect when on the Automatic protocol setting that Express tries UDP first and then TCP....and probably almost always will be able to make a connection....never gets a chance to try IKEV or L2TP.  You may find out your setup don't work to fast with UDP or TCP...typically TCP is slower than UDP due to the extra data packet flow checking TCP does....UDP does zero flow checking.   On two of my three laptops IKEV is the fastest; but one of them (my slowest, less horsepower laptop) it don't seem to like IKEV too much speedwise.   

 

And be sure to use the same speed tester and server when doing this protocol testing as there can be wide speed variations by using a different servers at the same location.  Like testing to Seattle using to Speedtest.net.  I just checked and 15 different servers at Seattle were offered...and I guarantee you each one would give you a noticeably different speed results....some might give a slow result; others a fast result.

 

 

[i84teen]

On 4/1/2020 at 3:58 AM, Andy from Kent said:

 

Thank you mate.     I went ahead with the Express option and all seems fine but Firefox which times out trying to load.    Have you experienced that?

 

And if possible,  would you please take a moment  and try a gold standard of a test and see if you can load the site in the USA  called www.giftcard.com.    I'm starting to think no VPN can get past their VPN detection block.     

It opens no problem from Thailand. I am connected to a vpn server in LA.

[Andy from Kent]

6 hours ago, i84teen said:

It opens no problem from Thailand. I am connected to a vpn server in LA.

 

 

There you go.      It's on my end.   Thanks for  that, 184 teen.

 

Now I just need to digest and use Pib's advice.

[i84teen]

Hello, if you want to bypass paywalls you should try this Mozilla (firefox) browser add-on. It works perfect.

 

https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-firefox

[Thomas J]

I use Nord.  I find that some sites can recognize that it is a VPN and will not allow me access.  Others tht require that I must be from a certain country like my bank or the IRS in the USA do allow access via Nord but won't allow me if I am off the VPN and the address shows as Thailand.  One way or another, the use of a VPN is ok but it cuts your internet speed down by at least 50%. 

[i84teen]

On 3/31/2020 at 2:38 AM, Langsuan Man said:

I am currently using Express VPN since it allows me to pick a city near my US residence, thus allowing me to view geographically restricted media

 

Used Tunnel Bear for free for years and if you only need occasional VPN for banking or other restricted sites it worked fine.  They give you 500 MB free per month but you can make as many accounts as you have email addresses  

why do u need a vpn for banking? Are you doing your banking on public wifi such as starbucks?

[Pib]

23 minutes ago, i84teen said:

why do u need a vpn for banking? Are you doing your banking on public wifi such as starbucks?

If his bank is back in farang land not using a VPN to give you a home country IP address can cause ibanking logon problems like completely blocking you...or possibly the bank questioning your residency especially if they are not an pet-friendly bank.  And some banks block IP addresses from some countries.  Banks have different policies/rules.  

 

If not on a public Wifi connection secure/encrypted communications is not an issue as banks use secure https connections; the issue is the IP address/location revealed to you bank...an IP address/location that may raise yellow or red flags. 

 

A https bank connection is also used when using a public Wifi connection but your device can be vulnerable to attack.

[Langsuan Man]

21 hours ago, i84teen said:

why do u need a vpn for banking? Are you doing your banking on public wifi such as starbucks?

See what Pib said

[Sambora]

On 4/7/2020 at 11:46 AM, Thomas J said:

I use Nord.  I find that some sites can recognize that it is a VPN and will not allow me access.  Others tht require that I must be from a certain country like my bank or the IRS in the USA do allow access via Nord but won't allow me if I am off the VPN and the address shows as Thailand.  One way or another, the use of a VPN is ok but it cuts your internet speed down by at least 50%. 

What speeds are you getting on the Thailand VPN servers? I have a 100/50 ISP line and I usually get less than 5Mbit on all servers except for Thailand #11 which seems to be faster. I have attached two screenshot as an example, the one with 14.31/11.07 is the Thailand #11. All other servers show incredibly slow speeds as on the other pic, regardless of which device or protocol I am using.

P.S.: I manage to max out my bandwidth when being connected to servers in Singapore or Hongkong so it must be an issue with the Thailand servers.

 

I would appreciate your feedback.

 

[Surelynot]

8 hours ago, morningstar12 said:

Used Express for 5 years. 

Same here and then suddenly, yesterday, it says I am not connected to the WiFi (which I am) so it won't load????

[i84teen]

On 4/8/2020 at 2:36 PM, Sambora said:

What speeds are you getting on the Thailand VPN servers? I have a 100/50 ISP line and I usually get less than 5Mbit on all servers except for Thailand #11 which seems to be faster. I have attached two screenshot as an example, the one with 14.31/11.07 is the Thailand #11. All other servers show incredibly slow speeds as on the other pic, regardless of which device or protocol I am using.

P.S.: I manage to max out my bandwidth when being connected to servers in Singapore or Hongkong so it must be an issue with the Thailand servers.

 

I would appreciate your feedback.

 

These are speed test results when connected to NordVPN thailand servers?

[i84teen]

On 4/6/2020 at 12:14 PM, Andy from Kent said:

Thank you Pib.

 

Do you think my  issue  is due to slower connection speed?    I generally have only between 65  to 90 download.

 

 

Your speed results to SEA from Thailand are good, (to be expected from ExpressVPN) and the results from PureVPN seem normal for them, I tried PureVPN, they were terribly slow compared to other services.

[Sambora]

1 hour ago, i84teen said:

These are speed test results when connected to NordVPN thailand servers?

Yes sir!

[Andy from Kent]

On 4/9/2020 at 9:25 AM, Surelynot said:

Same here and then suddenly, yesterday, it says I am not connected to the WiFi (which I am) so it won't load????

 

 

Did you try using their live chat service?

[Pib]

13 hours ago, i84teen said:

Your speed results to SEA from Thailand are good, (to be expected from ExpressVPN) and the results from PureVPN seem normal for them, I tried PureVPN, they were terribly slow compared to other services.

A PureVPN and ExpressVPN comparison between Bangkok and Seattle using OpenVPN UDP protocol as of around 11am Thailand time/11 April.  I have an AIS Fibre 700/50 plan.

 

PureVPN...still plenty fast enough to stream 4K video which only needs around 25Mb max

 

 

ExpressVPN

[Pib]

Sure wish some folks using NordVPN would post some speedtest.net tests.  Say to Seattle using the Wowrack server like I used in my tests above for Pure and Express.    Preferably using OpenVPN UDP protocol but using any other protocol (OpenVPN TCP, IKEV2, L2TP, PPTP, etc) would be OK.   This way we can get closer to apples-to-apples comparisons since there can be major speed differences between the various VPN protocols....like OpenVPN TCP is usually significantly slower than OpenVPN UDP although a TCP connection is usually going to give a more reliable/error free connection than UDP.

 

Would really like to see what NordVPN users get in connections "from Thailand" to the US, Europe, etc.  All these VPN reviews we read are usually testing within the US or Europe....or local VPN connections.  But for us folks in Thailand we would like to know what speeds a person gets "from Thailand" to the US, Europe, etc.  

[i84teen]

47 minutes ago, Pib said:

Sure wish some folks using NordVPN would post some speedtest.net tests.  Say to Seattle using the Wowrack server like I used in my tests above for Pure and Express.    Preferably using OpenVPN UDP protocol but using any other protocol (OpenVPN TCP, IKEV2, L2TP, PPTP, etc) would be OK.   This way we can get closer to apples-to-apples comparisons since there can be major speed differences between the various VPN protocols....like OpenVPN TCP is usually significantly slower than OpenVPN UDP although a TCP connection is usually going to give a more reliable/error free connection than UDP.

 

Would really like to see what NordVPN users get in connections "from Thailand" to the US, Europe, etc.  All these VPN reviews we read are usually testing within the US or Europe....or local VPN connections.  But for us folks in Thailand we would like to know what speeds a person gets "from Thailand" to the US, Europe, etc.  

This is a speed test to a virtual vpn server with a thai IP address but physically located in Singapore using IKEv2 protocol. ISP provides 300/300Mbps fiber connection. My speeds routinely exceed ISP speed pkg on both TRUE and ToT services while connected to IKEv2.

[i84teen]

This is SEA OpenVPN server (cipher AES-128-GCM) speed tested at the router level with hardware acceleration enabled ASUS router. ISP is fiber 300/100Mbps.

[johng]

@i84teen That mag_to_m3u    looks interesting  some working IPTV channels  ?

[i84teen]

2 minutes ago, johng said:

@i84teen That mag_to_m3u    looks interesting  some working IPTV channels  ?

It's interesting to you?

 

[johng]

20 minutes ago, i84teen said:

It's interesting to you?

 

Yes of course always interested in (free) TV channels ????

[phetphet]

On 4/7/2020 at 12:40 PM, Pib said:

If his bank is back in farang land not using a VPN to give you a home country IP address can cause ibanking logon problems like completely blocking you...or possibly the bank questioning your residency especially if they are not an pet-friendly bank.  And some banks block IP addresses from some countries.  Banks have different policies/rules.  

 

If not on a public Wifi connection secure/encrypted communications is not an issue as banks use secure https connections; the issue is the IP address/location revealed to you bank...an IP address/location that may raise yellow or red flags. 

 

A https bank connection is also used when using a public Wifi connection but your device can be vulnerable to attack.

I agree. My UK bank has just suspended my internet banking until I go into my local branch with passport and proof of address. Couldn't come at a worse time with this COVID, and flight restrictions. 

[i84teen]

7 minutes ago, johng said:

Yes of course always interested in (free) TV channels ????

How does one equate "mag_to_m3u" lead to your "(free) TV channels" conclusion?? What are you talking about? And what is the relevance to this discussion thread about VPN?

[i84teen]

6 minutes ago, phetphet said:

I agree. My UK bank has just suspended my internet banking until I go into my local branch with passport and proof of address. Couldn't come at a worse time with this COVID, and flight restrictions. 

Why did they suspend it? And by local branch do you mean local in the UK?

[johng]

5 minutes ago, i84teen said:

How does one equate "mag_to_m3u" lead to your "(free) TV channels" conclusion??

Paid for then ?  mag is (supposedly) one of the best IPTV boxes..m3u  can be used with other boxes/software to watch IPTV (which you know of course)

 

7 minutes ago, i84teen said:

relevance to this discussion thread about VPN?

A VPN may be required to view the channels ? ???? ( no relevance just asking about the IPTV)

[i84teen]

3 minutes ago, johng said:

Paid for then ?  mag is (supposedly) one of the best IPTV boxes..m3u  can be used with other boxes/software to watch IPTV (which you know of course)

 

A VPN may be required to view the channels ? ???? ( no relevance just asking about the IPTV)

oh yeah. I have never tried a MAG box and don't care to. Some of the homies in my village have MAG subscriptions and I use a mag to m3u "converter" to brute-force the login details of their subs.

[johng]

2 minutes ago, i84teen said:

I use a mag to m3u "converter" to brute-force the login details of their subs.

There you go see just what I said, free TV channels ????

[Muzzique]

32 minutes ago, i84teen said:

Why did they suspend it? And by local branch do you mean local in the UK?

That happened to me but luckily I was back in the UK and able to supply it. If they think you're not resident in the UK they can suspend your account. Anything can trigger this such as you not using a VPN to login, numerous overseas transfers or multiple payments made for service outside of the UK

 

I just transferred my UK current account to Revolut. Solved the problem. Identity checks are all done via the secure phone app. I do all my UK banking via that now and have done for the last 3 years. Plus I hold accounts in Euro, THB, US Dollar, INR and HKD so I avoid the high exchange rate costs when I get cash from the ATM or make local purchases with my Revolut Visa card.

[i84teen]

27 minutes ago, johng said:

There you go see just what I said, free TV channels ????

I think you know not what you are talking about so just forget it.