Introduction
Nord VPN is owned by Tefinkom co S.A. According to OpenCorporates.com, Tefinkom co S.A. is based in Panama and has been functioning in the IT security industry since 2008.
Nord VPN is a VPN provider with a well established VPN service and a global presence. The VPN service provider believes in top quality customer care and has designed its service so that old and new VPN users can use VPN easily.
Unique Selling Proposition
Nord VPN has a highly user-friendly system that is very uncomplicated and easy to use. Nord VPN’s unique selling proposition is that it is the perfect VPN for new VPN users.
I recommend it Nord VPN to users who are new to VPN because the software is simple and does not tangle the VPN user in any complicated settings or configurations.
Plans And Pricing
Nord VPN focuses on keeping it simple so that users can enjoy the VPN experience without any complications or difficulties. That is why Nord VPN offers one package that is available in four pricing plans so that you can get the full range of Nord VPN services and pay according to your limits.
Simple – 1 month
The Simple Plan is the 1 month plan. Nord VPN provides its 1 month subscription for €8.00 per month. That comes to $11.10 (if 1 Euro = 1.39 USD).
Classic – 3 months
The Classic Plan is the 3 month plan. Nord VPN provides its 3 month subscription for €16. This means that you will be paying €5.30 per month. That comes to $7.35 (if 1 Euro = 1.39 USD).
Standard – 6 months
The Standard Plan is the 6 month plan. Nord VPN provides its 6 month subscription for €30.00. This means you will be paying no more than €5.00 per month. That comes to $6.94 (if 1 Euro = 1.39 USD).
Best Offer – 12 months
The Best Offer Plan is the 12 month plan. Nord VPN provides its 12 month subscription for €48.00. This brings the per month average cost to €4.00; which comes to $5.55 (if 1 Euro = 1.39 USD). If you compare the 12 month package to the 1month package, you will see that you save by as much as 50% by going for the Best Offer plan.
Servers
Nord VPN currently has 18 servers spread out across 16 countries. These 16 countries are Austria, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.
All servers provide Nord VPN users with Dynamic IPs but you can also get a hold of Static IPs. Nord VPN gives Static IPs to users for an additional cost. Requests for Static IPs can be made through the contact form available on the ‘Contact Us’ page on the Nord VPN website.
Nord VPN Server Status Page
Speaking of Nord VPN’s servers, do check out Nord VPN’s ‘VPN Server Status’ page. It gives users a quick look at Nord VPN’s server traffic load. This way you can pick out the Nord VPN server that is closest to you and has the lightest user traffic load.
Speed Test
I decided to take Nord VPN for a spin and try it out to see what it has to offer.
Before connecting Nord VPN, and I ran www.speedtest.net and recorded the following variables for speed:
I ran the speed test after connecting to Nord VPN and obtained the following variables for speed:
Customer Support
During the development of this Nord VPN review, I noticed that Nord VPN offers five customer support options. Each of these is accessible easily and puts current and new users in direct contact with Nord VPN support.
FAQ’s
Email at support(at)nordvpn.com
Phone +44 131 463 6666
Support Ticket Form (Comments, Suggestions, Technical Issues & Financial Questions)
Knowledge Base
FAQ’s
The Nord VPN FAQ section is pretty basic and should answer any basic questions you have about Nord VPN. All the questions in the FAQ section have been answered pretty neatly and compactly, so I suggest that you spend some time in that section for a quick preview of what Nord VPN is all about.
Email at support(at)nordvpn.com
The Nord VPN support email address is the best way to make a request and log the placement of the request at the same time. Even though newer support options like LiveChat and the like are preferred these days (because they are faster), the amount of info you can give (and get) from a VPN service provider.
Phone
Nord VPN is one of the few companies that has placed its phone number on its website on the ‘Contact Us’ page. Very few companies do that and frankly I’m a little surprised that Nord VPN chose to put up its contact number up like that. I am sure it will be safe, but I wouldn’t recommend VPN users to use this support option (unless absolutely necessary) because telephone lines are not always very secure.
Support Ticket Form (Comments, Suggestions, Technical Issues & Financial Questions)
The support ticket feature can be used through a simple form available on the ‘Contact Us’ page. Simply fill out the simple little form with your basic details along with your message, suggestion or query and click ‘Send’. Nord VPN will reply to your support ticket on the email address you provide.
Knowledge Base
The Nord VPN Knowledge Base should be your first destination if you are new to VPN. The Knowledge Base contains briefs on the basics of VPN usage. Scroll down and search for ‘Knowledge Base’ in the footer of any Nord VPN page to access the informative support feature.
A run of the mill Nord VPN review might not agree with me in listing the ‘Knowledge Base’ as a customer support feature, but I found the simple knowledge base to be a comforting relief from the complex libraries that most other VPNs have setup on their websites.
Payment Methods
Nord VPN accepts the following four payment options.
Bitcoin
PaySera/WebMoney
Credit Card (via Paypal)
PayPal
Refund
All Nord VPN subscriptions come with a 3 day money back guarantee. But Nord VPN follows a very practical approach and saves you from all the trouble by providing a free trial (See ‘Free Trial’ Section) for users who would like to test the service before buying it.
Nord VPN users are not eligible for refunds if they pay for their subscriptions via Bitcoin or if the service is not working satisfactorily by any fault other than that of Nord VPN’s. So make sure you try it out before buying it.
Compatibility & Tutorials Provided
This simple 2 minute video will guide you on how to setup, connect and use Nord VPN on your computer.
The Nord VPN Tutorials page gives an example of the excellent compatibility that Nord VPN provides. As you can see, Nord VPN is supported on almost every single platform and a variety of protocols are available for every platform.
Nord VPN offers PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Mac OS X. Nord VPN offers PPTP and OpenVPN for Linux users while PPTP and L2TP are available for iOS users (including iPhone & iPad).
Nord VPN provides PPTP and L2TP for Android users while Chrome OS users can benefit from Nord VPN’s PPTP protocol. As you can see, Nord VPN does not provide any support for routers, but I bet it shouldn’t be all that impossible to setup Nord VPN on a router.
Protocols And Encryption
Nord VPN offers three protocols, and all three come with high-level encryption:
PPTP comes with MPPE-128 encryption
L2TP/IPSec protocol comes with AES-256 encryption
OpenVPN protocol comes with 2048 bit SSL encryption
Nord VPN’s Double VPN is encrypted in double AES-256-CBC through multi-node farm.
Log And Privacy Policy
Nord VPN claims that it logs absolutely nothing from any of its users.
Free Trial
Nord VPN offers a 3 day free trial for all users. Simply email at support(at)nordvpn.com for your three day free trial and you will be provided with login credentials for your very own Nord VPN account. The account will last for three days during which you can take Nord VPN for a test drive.
Additional Services
Nord VPN lets you use one account on up to two devices at the same time. Now I don’t know about you, but if you look at the glass half-full, it basically means that you get two accounts for the price of one. You and your mate can use the Nord VPN account at the same time.
Additionally Nord VPN provides Tor over VPN services for users looking to experiment with less popular online security options like the Tor network.
Free Proxies List: Nord VPN offers Free Proxies to its users. The Free Proxies can be obtained by using the one-of-a-kind free proxy list from Nord VPN’s website.
Nord VPN has over 3350+ free proxies for its users. You can pick out your free proxy based on your specific country, port, speed and protocol speed. You can also choose your anonymity level when requesting for a list of free proxies.
Free Security Tools: All Nord VPN Free Security tools are completely free and require no registration for use. Nord VPN offers the following free security products:
Secret Notes – A self-deleting encrypted message sending service
Encrypted Chat – A self-deleting encrypted chat session for up to 5 people
Web Proxy – A free proxy tool that lets you select country
Proxy Extension – A special extension for Google Chrome
Youtube Proxy – A proxy for people who love YouTube
Conclusion
By the conclusion of this Nord VPN review, I was overwhelmed with the effectiveness and efficiency of Nord VPN’s services. Nord VPN is a highly recommended VPN service provider with a set of features that allow Nord VPN to qualify as an industry standard VPN.
Admittedly, the server and country count may not be as high as that which you will find with other major VPN service providers, Nord VPN still makes for a pretty tempting package thanks to ease of use.
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