Why does using a VPN stop sites from loading?

B0bbyEwing

OK to give a bit more detail there I'm specifically talking about nordvpn paid for. Yep, not any free version. 

Anyway, I'll open Nord, quick connect which always connects me to a UK VPN. 

If I do something then like (on my phone) open BBC News and try to load an article, I may have to make 2 or 3 attempts before it actually loads. Or it may load first time. Disconnect from the VPN & any loading issue disappears. 

I could get it if it was say an Italy VPN & it didn't allow access to UK news but it's a UK VPN. 

Set it up on the nvidia shield tonight & had no end of bother getting websites to load via browsers. Had to give up in the end. 

Tested it out turning the vpn off - websites loaded fine. 

Neil_Jones

This can be due to the way VPNs works. It only needs one link in the chain between your setup and the remove server to have an issue that stops it working altogether.

This might be of interest:

https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/20164096978449-Unable-to-connect-to-NordVPN-servers

forgotmyname

VPN's getting abused big time by scammers, spammers and bots in general.  Many sites restrict access to VPN users.

The server your choosing maybe UK but Nord is not and you don't know if the previous person with the IP your using
was doing something malicious.

I have issues with the DVLA website, the first few attempts it says I am blocking them which is partly true but then it loads.

onomatopoeia99

You're adding an extra intermediary between you and the site you are trying to reach and you wonder why performance is degraded?

jshm2

Because some sites blacklist VPNs, and some VPNs block various cookies and scripts on sites. 

Can be annoying, as it means you either need to find a "location" that works with the site, else mess around with the VPN settings (Which a lot don't let you do) 

B0bbyEwing

forgotmyname said:

VPN's getting abused big time by scammers, spammers and bots in general.  Many sites restrict access to VPN users.

The server your choosing maybe UK but Nord is not and you don't know if the previous person with the IP your using
was doing something malicious.

I have issues with the DVLA website, the first few attempts it says I am blocking them which is partly true but then it loads.

I forget what message I get from BBC. Something on the lines of service unavailable. If I hit retry a few times like yourself it eventually loads.

Last night I tried a website out on my phone which would load with the VPN in place. I tried to access this same website on the Nvidia Shield with the VPN in place but it just wouldn't load whatsoever. 

I tried to cast my phone to the TV but that wasn't playing (probably shouldn't have left it so late to try figure out how to do it) so in the end gave up doing what I was doing.

onomatopoeia99 said:

You're adding an extra intermediary between you and the site you are trying to reach and you wonder why performance is degraded?

Slightly different to "performance is degraded". 

If I read that phrase then the image that comes to mind is slower internet, which I could understand.

But I'm not talking about slower internet, I'm talking about no internet with location settings the same as the country would be if I had no VPN in place.

DullGreyGuy

Location settings just defines which IP range is used as the end point, it doesn't mean that it isn't bouncing round dozens or hundreds of machines before getting to the end point. 

Companies know which IPs are being used by VPNs and so it's easy for them to throttle traffic or block them. If you come on this site with ExpressVPN using Docklands London you'll probably find your account restricted shortly after (speaking from personal experience) because its one they've had issues with spamming the forum

400ixl

Very rarely is your connection with the BBC. They use Content Distribution Networks to cache their content and this is what user connections hit. It can get a bit flakey when you introduce VPN proxies doing their caching as well, Geo-location and DNS.

Quite often these caches get out of date and need refreshing which does not always happen seamlessly which is why you will often see the odd message, or need a couple of refreshes.

Of course there are always sites which also blacklist VPN IP addresses, but sounds like the former is the issue here and not that uncommon with the BBC in particular. 

IvanOpinion

Some sites simply block any traffic that is not from an address within their country.

PRAISETHESUN

In addition to the comments above, sites can recognise VPN traffic (even if they don't know exactly what said traffic is) and put restrictions in place to limit access. Media companies in particular do this to try and make sure broadcast rights don't get infringed (eg. I have issues with some streaming services, even when I'm using a VPN set to the UK whilst being physically present in the UK).

Some VPN providers also incorporate additional "security" features which invariably contain scripts to block features of websites. These can be good for stopping tracking or blocking malicious content, but this often also breaks legitimate websites.

debitcardmayhem

Your phone needs to be on the same network as the TV to cast.