What is NordVPN?
NordVPN’s virtual private network (VPN) service provides clients and instructions for a wide range of operating systems and devices, with excellent support for international video streaming services.
For Linux users, NordVPN has also introduced the fast WireGuard VPN protocol, which added security measures to bring it up to the company’s privacy requirements, using a system it calls NordLynx.
Nord VPN
NordVPN
NordVPN
NordVPN is one of the fastest and most secure VPN services with unlimited and private P2P. Pay for a 3 year subscription and save 75%.
Related: Best VPN 2019
NordVPN – Features and usability
NordVPN has, in the past few months, added some new features and given its Windows client a bit of a polish. A compact version of the client with quick connection options is available as a pop-up from its notification area icon, while its main display shows a map of endpoint locations, alongside a searchable list of available servers, categorised by features and geographic location.
It also provides shortcuts to endpoints with specific extra security features, including double VPN, DDoS protection, Onion Routing via the Tor network or support for peer-to-peer torrenting.
In its advanced settings, NordVPN offers a wide range of features, including autoconnection, CyberSec ad and malware protection, invisibility to your local network and both internet and app-specific kill switches to block traffic if your VPN connection goes down. You can also set a custom DNS provider and attempt to avoid VPN blocking in places where it’s restricted by using some of NordVPN’s obfuscated servers.
While NordVPN’s longest subscriptions work out very cheaply, its other tiers are more costly than many of its rivals. You’ll pay a hefty £9.15 per month, a middling £64.26 per year or £73.36 for two years, or £82.40 per three years. The latter works out at just £2.29 a month, which is much better value.
A free trial is no longer available, but there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, and those in search of extra anonymity can pay in Bitcoin.
The service is owned by Tefincom, headquartered in Panama. The country has no data retention legislation in force and NordVPN itself has a no-logging policy. To back this up, NordVPN has had an independent audit carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and this is available for all subscribers to read.
NordVPN – Performance
| Endpoints/VPN | UK | Netherlands | United States |
| NordVPN HTTP | 152.4Mbps | 167.36Mbps | 122.32Mbps |
| NordVPN FTP | 98.42Mbps | 136.24Mbps | 49.61Mbps |
NordVPN, as we’ve come to expect, produced some of the fastest HTTP transfer speeds we saw this month, although its FTP performance was rather unexpectedly subdued. UK HTTP downloads came in at 152.4Mbps (19.05MB/s) and FTP at 12.3MB/s.
Its Netherlands endpoint gave us the fastest HTTP speed we saw from our Dutch test server at 167.36Mbps (20.92MB/s), with FTP downloads at 17MB/s. And NordVPN also set this month’s record for US HTTP speeds at 122.32Mbps (15.29MB/s), with our US FTP download coming in 6.2MB/s.
Those HTTP speeds are universally excellent and very suitable for even high-quality video streaming.
The company’s recently-introduced NordLynx protocol for Linux, although very much a niche feature, produced download speeds of up to 780Mbps (97.5MB/s) – far faster than a non-VPN connection to the same server, making NordVPN and its command line app perhaps the best choice for Linux users right now, although the technology is still relatively new.
As usual, NordVPN excelled in our streaming tests – we were able to view region-locked content on Netflix US, BBC iPlayer and, somewhat unusually, All 4, as well as Crunchyroll and Shudder’s US services. It has a huge number of servers in 62 different countries, which doubtless helps its IP addresses keep off streaming industry blacklists.
Related: What is a VPN?
Should I buy NordVPN?
NordVPN performs consistently well in our tests, with an excellent range of features at low to middling cost depending on which subscription you opt for. It’s one of the few VPN providers to consistently go undetected by both US Netflix and BBC iPlayer, making it a great option for those who want to watch region-shifted streaming content.
Owned by Panama-based Tefincom, NordVPN has, at the time of testing, 5721 active servers in countries ranging from the UK, the US and most of the EU to less commonly used locations in Egypt, Vietnam, Taiwan and New Zealand. It recently shut down its Russian endpoint servers as its no-logging policy was in violation of Russian legislation.
NordVPN is one of the few VPN providers to have an independent audit that confirms its claim that it stores no personally identifiable information about its users.
Panama has no data-retention legislation in force and NordVPN itself has a no-logging policy. NordVPN says that it runs services in restrictive countries such as Russia by fully configuring the servers it rents from local ISPs itself.
Verdict
If you’re a streaming media enthusiast, NordVPN provides a combination of features and pretty quick download speeds, and has excellent security credentials. It’s a great option if you’re after a best-of-all-worlds VPN. It’s also introducing some particularly interesting features for Linux users.
The most privacy-conscious users may prefer to choose a service that’s been shown in court to keep no logs, such as ExpressVPN or Private Internet Access, while Windscribe is also a good, fast and cheap option, but there’s next to nothing to fault Nord on, particularly if you want to buy an extended subscription.
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NordVPN is one of the fastest and most secure VPN services with unlimited and private P2P. Pay for a 3 year subscription and save 75%.
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