[UNSOLVED] Make NordVPN UDP protocol more stable or TCP protocol faster

[KIMW]

When using UDP protocol in NordVPN it disconnect very often which is not the case with TCP. The problem with TCP protocol is the speed. It's 5 times slower than UDP.

Is there way to make UDP rock steady or otherwise make TCP protocol much faster?

I tried to enable Fast TCP Open by editing the /etc/sysctl.conf file (sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf) by adding net.ipv4.tcp_fastopen = 3 at the end of the file, saved it and make it taken into effect with sysctl -p

but unless I've made a mistake I have not seen any speed improvement.

Any thoughts about that?
Thanks in advance for your help.

[gittiest personITW]

Try other servers - both for TCP and UDP. Look to see on your VPN provider's site which servers are less used.

Also try servers that are closer to you.

Do a speedtest with no other ingoing/outgoing programs running.

Check your firewall settings.

Are you surfing or downloading or p2p - try different things to see if it is the actual site you are on. If you are using p2p then it may not be anything to do with your VPN. You don't give much pertinent information.

[djph]

When using UDP protocol in NordVPN it disconnect very often which is not the case with TCP. The problem with TCP protocol is the speed. It's 5 times slower than UDP.

Is there way to make UDP rock steady or otherwise make TCP protocol much faster?

All of these are shortcomings / the hard reality of either TCP or UDP and the nord service itself. And yes, using TCP for openvpn (what nord uses) is abysmally slow.

As gittiest personITW said; other nord servers might change some of the troubles (hopefully for the better).

[Moonstone Man]

Any thoughts about that?

You don't say if you're using the Nord client or a downloaded .ovpn file. In any case, these types of questions are best handled by the VPN provider. You are paying for support so you should use it.

That said, I've found Nord to be very much substandard in all respects, especially being unable to connect to a preferred server on a regular basis; their client makes it almost impossible, and their method of giving out .ovpn files requires you to go to their website, find a fast server then download the .ovpn, rinse repeat when the server is full. If they still offer a refund within a certain time, I would suggest finding a better provider as the first place to look for a solution.

[gittiest personITW]

That said, I've found Nord to be very much substandard in all respects, especially being unable to connect to a preferred server on a regular basis; their client makes it almost impossible, and their method of giving out .ovpn files requires you to go to their website, find a fast server then download the .ovpn, rinse repeat when the server is full.

It used to be that it was possible to download their whole server list in one go.
Looking in an older backup, I found a whole folder of them, so if anyone wants them - let me know and I'll upload them somewhere.
Alternatively - if you contact Nord support they might give you an updated link to the full list - if they do then post it here for others please.

[KIMW]

You don't say if you're using the Nord client or a downloaded .ovpn file.
[...]
I would suggest finding a better provider as the first place to look for a solution.

I'm using the NordVPN client through the Terminal.
Which VPN provider do you use yourself?

All of these are shortcomings / the hard reality of either TCP or UDP and the nord service itself.

I don't fully agree. I always had excellent speed with NordVPN using UDP, it's only with TCP protocol there's been a problem. I've tried many others VPN providers before and Nord has been pretty efficient till now. If I remember well, one of the worst I've had was Private Internet Access (PIA)... The most negative part with NordVPN is to get help from support. It's why I'm here today.

You don't give much pertinent information.

What more information can I give?

[gittiest personITW]

Whether you are surfing, downloading or p2p?
Are you using local servers?

[Moonstone Man]

Which VPN provider do you use yourself?

I use VyprVPN. It gives me the control I want over the servers I connect to, and I don't need to worry about the servers becoming overloaded and causing me to have to change to a less busy server.

[djph]

All of these are shortcomings / the hard reality of either TCP or UDP and the nord service itself.

I don't fully agree. I always had excellent speed with NordVPN using UDP, it's only with TCP protocol there's been a problem.

You don't have to agree, I wasn't stating an opinion; but rather facts concerning actual shortcomings of the protocols themselves.

UDP gets its speed from the fact it doesn't care about the data getting transmitted. Blast a datagram to the void, and hope it makes it. Worst case; we lose a couple of frames of streaming video, or maybe voice drops out on your skype call. There's a reason it's got the nickname Unreliable Data Protocol.


TCP-based VPN is so horrifically slow, because you're encapsulating a TCP stream (e.g. https://example.com) in another TCP stream; and if either mucks with packet orders or needs resends or anything, the whole segment gets thrown away and resent from the start.

[KIMW]

Whether you are surfing, downloading or p2p?
Are you using local servers?

It's when I'm downloading or streaming movies. Sorry, I thought I had mentioned that.
Local servers... If you mean servers that are close to me, yes.

I use VyprVPN. It gives me the control I want over the servers I connect to, and I don't need to worry about the servers becoming overloaded

I had a look at VyprVPN yesterday. Interesting. Their dynamic server switching feature to prevent overloaded servers is really great. Unfortunately their app does not have ad-blocking functionality on smartphones, like the NordVPN app has. I really appreciate the fact that I can block all advertisements (specially pop-ups ones) in others apps I use on my phone, therefore VyprVPN is a no no for me.

UDP [...] Worst case; we lose a couple of frames of streaming [...] There's a reason it's got the nickname Unreliable Data Protocol.

Very often it was even more that just a couples of frames. That's exactly why I'm getting frustrated with UDP (= Unreliable Data Protocol)

[dave1953]

Have you set your protocol to NordLynx? Never had any problems with this usually average between 75 to 100 meg download speeds.

Sudo nordvpn set technology NordLynx

After sudo nordvpn login

But before

sudo nordvpn connect

[KIMW]

Have you set your protocol to NordLynx? Never had any problems with this usually average between 75 to 100 meg download speeds.

I know NordLynx, it's true that it's very fast but it's also the worst for stability. I had more disconnections with NordLynx than any other protocol.