VPN question

Inforapennyinforapound

I have a BT Smart Hub router and NordVPN reckon this won’t work with their VPN (on their website they list all makes of incompatible routers , but the BT one is NOT listed so I emailed them). 

They did ask the ‘make’ but the BT router does not show the maker.

Are NordVPN correct? Anyone had similar issue?

Thanks

Paradigm

I assume you are trying to set up Nord on your router? In my experience most ISP supplied devices don't give you that option.

flaneurs_lobster

What do you mean by "work with"?

I've been running Nord VPN at home on a couple of laptops and some mobiles for a year, Smart Hub 2 from BT, no problems I'm aware of.

Switched recently to Proton, just on cost grounds.

MyRealNameToo

Inforapennyinforapound said:

I have a BT Smart Hub router and NordVPN reckon this won’t work with their VPN (on their website they list all makes of incompatible routers , but the BT one is NOT listed so I emailed them). 

They did ask the ‘make’ but the BT router does not show the maker.

Are NordVPN correct? Anyone had similar issue?

Thanks

What are you trying to do? Set it up on the router itself so that all traffic goes via it?

I suspect their list of incompatible routers is only a subset and is actually more accurately a list of routers that support some form of VPN options but not NordVPN nor routers that support no VPN capabilities. 

Even if you can't set it up on the router it will work with it setup on your individual devices, arguably better for things like Mobiles which normally will fall back to 4/5G to if the WiFi is poor. Obviously creates a limitation for things like smart bulbs but then smart bulbs arent going to be trying to access adult material etc so dont really need a VPN

Vitor

BT Smart Hubs (all versions: Smart Hub, Smart Hub 2, Home Hub 5 etc.) do not support VPN client mode.

They only support:

VPN pass-through (letting devices on your network make VPN connections), and

BT’s own remote-management features.

They cannot run custom VPN profiles like NordVPN’s OpenVPN or WireGuard configs. BT firmware is locked down and you can’t upload third-party configs.

So NordVPN aren’t wrong, but the explanation is a bit lazy. The reason the BT router isn’t on the compatibility list is simple: it’s neither supported nor truly “unsupported”, it’s just not capable of running any third-party VPN client at all.

Inforapennyinforapound

To be clear , I wish to install VPN on my mobile device. According to Nord(website) some routers are not compatible ( if that’s the word) with Nord VPN…yes I thought it a bit confusing.

So it seems I could use Nord app on my device. ? I am a bit of a technophobe and was not inferring to set it up on my router at all( didn’t even know that was a ‘thing’)

Inforapennyinforapound

All I want to do is use a vpn on my mobile device. So it seems no issues with Nord then? Recommended ? I was confused by their info re routers ,if that makes sense.? Just using a simple vpn app from my device is not a problem then?
Thanks

LightFlare

Inforapennyinforapound said:

All I want to do is use a vpn on my mobile device. So it seems no issues with Nord then? Recommended ? I was confused by their info re routers ,if that makes sense.? Just using a simple vpn app from my device is not a problem then?
Thanks

Opera browser has a built in VPN - you could use that

QrizB

Inforapennyinforapound said:

All I want to do is use a vpn on my mobile device. So it seems no issues with Nord then?

No issues expected when running NordVPN on your device.

Inforapennyinforapound said:

Recommended ?

I prefer Mullvad, but that's mostly because I have more faith in Swedish privacy laws than I do in US ones.

Correction in light of Paradigm's post below - "in wherever it is that Nord is based "

Paradigm

Nord is based in Panama I believe.

"NordVPN is based and operates under the jurisdiction of Panama, meanwhile Nord Security, parent company of NordVPN is based in Europe, in the Netherlands.

Since NordVPN operates under Panama's jurisdiction and there is no mandatory data retention law in Panama, we do not need to store logs, which ensures that our VPN provider does not track user data." 

https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/19441152966161-Where-is-NordVPN-based

Inforapennyinforapound

LightFlare said:

Inforapennyinforapound said:

All I want to do is use a vpn on my mobile device. So it seems no issues with Nord then? Recommended ? I was confused by their info re routers ,if that makes sense.? Just using a simple vpn app from my device is not a problem then?
Thanks

Opera browser has a built in VPN - you could use that

Thanks,but I wonder if it is ‘safe’ to use.? I suppose as long as I don’t use online banking on there it should be safe?