Well, after a nasty call from my ISP I have gotten smart and got a VPN. However, after much research and finding a great one (NordVPN) with 3 years only costing me $99.00 …it seems that I canNOT use it with PLEX. I talked with their customer support and they have told me that it will not be supported (Plex) anytime in the near or not near future. As it would require port forwarding and they will NOT be doing that. Bummer…I really did like how it works…User interface…options, and customer service…
So…I need to get another one…so asking for any suggestions. Preferably with same features as they had but allows PLEX servers to work, of course.
I use Private Internet Access as a VPN, but only on the PC that really “needs” it… This in turn allows me to use Plex freely on a different one. Based on bottleneck and IP issues, I don’t think I’d ever want to run a VPN on my entire network.
@ChefGS said:
Anyone using or recommend ExpressVPN? Looks like another great choice…and it has split-tunneling which allows the Plex server to work just fine…
I have used them. The split tunneling works. I switched to pureVPN because they have better speeds.
@ChefGS said:
Anyone using or recommend ExpressVPN? Looks like another great choice…and it has split-tunneling which allows the Plex server to work just fine…
I have used them. The split tunneling works. I switched to pureVPN because they have better speeds.
And you can use the plex server with them while still staying behind the VPN???
Anyone use(d) ipvanishVPN? Was just reading a comparison of them with pureVPN.(went looking for purevpn and the comparison page showed up instead. LOL) It seems they are more secure, faster, and can do streaming devices as well…unlike pureVPN which can’t… I can’t find if THEY will work with PLEX however…
Split VPN allows some traffic to not be in the vpn. so, no. what ever app or address or port you split from behind your vpn will be exposed. but that should not be a problem.
Let’s touch on why you got a call or letter from your ISP. If it was for Piracy then that is illegal and people get caught when their piracy traffic is being trolled by someone illegally downloading the same file at the same time and then reporting you for it. this happens with torrenting and things like that. That type of traffic pirates always keep behind vpn’s.
now since you dont do that and you just want a VPN because the traffic on your server is no one’s business. you will need to either create your own vpn and forward the ports or allow the plex traffic to be not behind a vpn. That traffic is computer to computer traffic so there is no one (generally speaking) watching that.
ifthe call was for streaming or traffic type etc. then that is another issue altogether.
It was for downloading tv shows that are supposedly FREE as they are available to download from school libraries that archive OLD (1950’s - 70’s) tv shows. This was reported by a company that I am guessing is the copyright holder. Now, my ISP doesn’t give up any personal info…they simply contact the user (me) and warn them…if they get multiple complaints then they simply shut off the account. They themselves don’t even see the data…they simply go by the complaint… I actually shared with my ISP the info for the server where I got them, and the tech agreed with me…those files should NOT be an issue as they are in a public library for download by anyone. The tech was the one that told me to get a VPN set up and the issue wouldn’t be a problem again because they don’t do any investigating themselves (my ISP) nor do they share customer information with outside sources and as stated, they don’t see or try to see what is being done…they simply act on multiple complaints.
You shouldn’t need a VPN for Plex operations. If your Plex server is on a different PC than your daily use PC then I’d just install the VPN on the one you use for those downloads.
I would NOT run it on the same PC you installed Plex on. Although it can be done, there are a lot of technical headaches associated with it. A quick search on this forum will yield a lot of people that never got it working right.
Or… If you only have the one PC, only run the VPN when you’re downloading. Plex favors clean connections.
AFter Many hours of more research and looking into what you all have said…(oddly enough, while searching for the vpns YOU all mentioned I kept getting sent to OTHER vpn pages when I would click the links to the ones you mentioned…) I dug into some review sites, then looked at reviews of the review sites to see how honest and unbiased they were… (yeah, I can get anal about this stuff…) and I have gone with TorGuard. Best part is…I was talking to tech support before buying to ask all the questions I had… he was great! And then I asked if they had any unpublished deals…he hooked me up with a lifetime $25/year deal!!! So basically, I pay 2.5 months and get 9.5 months free every year locked in! Just like cable, cell phone, and sat companies…you simply have to ASK for a better deal and they will give you one!!!
I want to thank you all for your comments and suggestions… I love this community!!!
@AmazingRando24 said:
You shouldn’t need a VPN for Plex operations. If your Plex server is on a different PC than your daily use PC then I’d just install the VPN on the one you use for those downloads.
I would NOT run it on the same PC you installed Plex on. Although it can be done, there are a lot of technical headaches associated with it. A quick search on this forum will yield a lot of people that never got it working right.
Or… If you only have the one PC, only run the VPN when you’re downloading. Plex favors clean connections.
I agree would be best to not need it…but I do. I only have the one pc that I do any file operations on…(my PLEX server, mail server, ftp server, etc…) so it really does need it. TorGuard allows me to set up a port forwarding so that PLEX will run outside the VPN. He told me several users have asked about PLEX with their service and he posted the instructions for setting it all up for me. I will post how it all works once I give it a good testing.
