Question My Rapture now has Nord installed. What next?

[HardWarrior]

Things I'm concerned with, right now at least. The loading screen for my router says that it isn't connected, but it is and functional. Also, while my understanding is there shouldn't be an IP associated with my computer. However, leaktest says that I was in Dallas then in Bucharest. I'm actually located near Chicago. Forgive if my questions are silly, but I really want my money's worth. Please feel free to offer any advice that you feel is pertinent considering that I want the best security for my LAN.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Also, while my understanding is there shouldn't be an IP associated with my computer.

You should read up on what VPNs can and cannot do.

How would you be on the internet without an IP address?

 

[HardWarrior]

I have a better than average idea of what a VPN is and how it functions. What I'm asking is whether the weird things I noted were solvable on a router I received 3-days ago. Of course I have an IP. What I'd like to know from, a person who has HAS an ASUS Rapture, is what I'm missing here? I said these things in my initial post, didn't I? Now if you can't understand why I'd want this information as quickly as possible, there's little more I can say to you, Larry. If no one has idea what I'm taliking about, it's okay. I will figure it out.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I was just trying to point out in a semi-obscure and roundabout way, that VPN marketing materials about "IP vanish" and "hide my IP"... aren't not strictly true, they "cloak" your IP using the IP of their end-point servers. They don't, as far as I am aware, eliminate the need for an IP address to communicate over the internet.

As far as addressing your issue with that specific router; I don't know. I've used HE IPv6 tunneling using Tomato while on Verizon FIOS, which really did nothing except get me perma-ghosted from CL, because I'm guessing that they thought I was a spammer using a VPN.

I'm semi-familiar with Asus routers, but I've never used Nord.

 

[mxnerd]

If you are using a VPN, you want your original IP/city to be obscured from the site you visit. When you check your IP geolocation, your city definitely changes, no matter which VPN router or which VPN software.

That's the reason and purpose you use a VPN router or VPN software. If it's not what you want, why use it?

You have no idea what you were talking about.

 

[HardWarrior]

I was just trying to point out in a semi-obscure and roundabout way, that VPN marketing materials about "IP vanish" and "hide my IP"... aren't not strictly true, they "cloak" your IP using the IP of their end-point servers. They don't, as far as I am aware, eliminate the need for an IP address to communicate over the internet.

As far as addressing your issue with that specific router; I don't know. I've used HE IPv6 tunneling using Tomato while on Verizon FIOS, which really did nothing except get me perma-ghosted from CL, because I'm guessing that they thought I was a spammer using a VPN.

I'm semi-familiar with Asus routers, but I've never used Nord.

Thank you for trying to help me, Larry.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Sorry that I can't be of more specific help.

But it sounds like it's working, if IP-geolocation is showing you in Brussels.

DNS-leaktest?

 

[HardWarrior]

If you are using a VPN, you want your original IP/city to be obscured from the site you visit. When you check your IP geolocation, your city definitely changes, no matter which VPN router or which VPN software.

That's the reason and purpose you use a VPN router or VPN software. If it's not what you want, why use it?

You have no idea what you were talking about.

I didn't know that "Obscured" translated into another city, or country for that matter. The Win client always reported my nearest city. While I've run Nord's client for quite a while, I didn't know what to expect with it installed on a router instead. That it "obscures" my location with a lie is fine.

"You have no idea what you were talking about."

Really? I haven't posted here in a while, but it seems the quality of posters hasn't improved. Meaning, people like you are way to quick to insult. Since I'm more mature than I was in days gone by, I'll just let attitudes like yours simply pass. This wasn't always the case, person.

 

[mxnerd]

Hahaha, you are the one who insulted Larry first.

He was nice enough to even replied again after you insulted him.

You couldn't even describe your question/problem properly, pass!

(You didn't even mention ASUS in your first post, did you expect everyone to be your Google assistant?)

 

[VirtualLarry]

TBH, I though your title was referring to a new LG cell phone.

OP could have called it "Asus ROG Rapture", which would have described it more fully.

And @mxnerd is who I get my networking tech-support from.

Edit: Guess it's Motorola.

Motorola Rapture VU30

Motorola Rapture VU30 flip phone. Read reviews of the Motorola Rapture VU30 and shop online. Motorola Rapture VU30 specs, features, and more at Wirefly.

www.wirefly.com

 

[HardWarrior]

Hahaha, you are the one who insulted Larry first.

He was nice enough to even replied again after you insulted him.

You couldn't even describe your question/problem properly, pass!

(You didn't even mention ASUS in your first post, did you expect everyone to be your Google assistant?)

You're a sad individual, and you want to be the judge of how >I< phrase a question? Please, reply so that I can have the pleasure of ignoring you, okay?

 

[HardWarrior]

TBH, I though your title was referring to a new LG cell phone.

OP could have called it "Asus ROG Rapture", which would have described it more fully.

And @mxnerd is who I get my networking tech-support from.

Edit: Guess it's Motorola.

Motorola Rapture VU30

Motorola Rapture VU30 flip phone. Read reviews of the Motorola Rapture VU30 and shop online. Motorola Rapture VU30 specs, features, and more at Wirefly.

www.wirefly.com

Sorry that I can't be of more specific help.

But it sounds like it's working, if IP-geolocation is showing you in Brussels.

DNS-leaktest?

Sure, I could have been more explicit, but I didn't want to insult anyone's intelligence or seem like I was bragging, either. The setup up for the GT-ax11000 is jolting in it's complexity. Please don't think I was depending on this forum to solve all the mysteries' of my router for me. I've been running setup video's and reading about it for nearly 4-days. Yeah it's working according to test sites and internal diagnostic's, but there are some anomalies that I need solved.

If you ever pop for a ax11000, look me up and I'll help if needed, Larry.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you ever pop for a ax11000, look me up and I'll help if needed, Larry.

Thanks! Is that the $449 Asus router, with the two 10GbE ports, one SFP+ and one -T? I was look at that when it was released. Didn't have the money at the time, but that's what I was hoping to upgrade to, in preparation for FIOS internet upgrading their consumer lines to faster-than-1GbE.

Then I succumbed to reality, and realized, that in order to provide faster-than-1GbE services, they would have to replace my nearly 8+ year old Motorola ONT on the wall, and at the time, with COVID flying around, they had stopped in-home tech visits, so .... well, that very well wouldn't happen.

Waiting for FIOS to upgrade to NG2-GPON or X-GPON or whatever their new 40Gbit/sec tech is. Keeping my eye on it from time to time. I really do hope FIOS upgrades. Supposedly, in like Singapore and/or Hong Kong, residents can get 10GbE fiber for cheap. Gosh, cheap, plentiful internet. The USA should really try that.

I can't complain though, I can get both Gigabit FIOS and Gigabit Comcast at the same time if I really wanted to.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Honestly, before I go that route, and I've read in places that the firmware for that beast IS a bit daunting, I would probably throw together a little PFSense box or something instead, with an i3 minimum Intel big-core CPU to sling packets around. I've never done that, but I would welcome the challenge to get something like that working.

You can get a 10th-Gen HP Microserver now @ Newegg for $569 after a $100 off promo, with a Xeon of some sort pre-installed and 16GB of RAM, and four 1GbE-T ports, and a PCI-E x16 slot free (dual 10GbE-T Intel 540T card incoming?). Was considering one of those, too, dual NAS and router unit.

 

[HardWarrior]

Thanks! Is that the $449 Asus router, with the two 10GbE ports, one SFP+ and one -T? I was look at that when it was released. Didn't have the money at the time, but that's what I was hoping to upgrade to, in preparation for FIOS internet upgrading their consumer lines to faster-than-1GbE.

Then I succumbed to reality, and realized, that in order to provide faster-than-1GbE services, they would have to replace my nearly 8+ year old Motorola ONT on the wall, and at the time, with COVID flying around, they had stopped in-home tech visits, so .... well, that very well wouldn't happen.

Waiting for FIOS to upgrade to NG2-GPON or X-GPON or whatever their new 40Gbit/sec tech is. Keeping my eye on it from time to time. I really do hope FIOS upgrades. Supposedly, in like Singapore and/or Hong Kong, residents can get 10GbE fiber for cheap. Gosh, cheap, plentiful internet. The USA should really try that.

I can't complain though, I can get both Gigabit FIOS and Gigabit Comcast at the same time if I really wanted to.

Yeah, it's a Mac Daddy of WIFI-6 gaming routers, that has been around long enough to be seasoned. $449 is painfully. Strangely, the wife (CFO) was all for it when I told her that it would secure her work PC and VOIP.

It'll be at least a couple of years before I want a connection faster than the one I have (1gb). It doesn't suprise me that other country's have SOTA infrastructure that we don't. IMO, we spend too much on silly, emotional things. I shouldn't complain too much, at least we have fiber up to the demarcation. Room to grow, I guess.

 

[SamirD]

Yeah, it's a Mac Daddy of WIFI-6 gaming routers, that has been around long enough to be seasoned. $449 is painfully. Strangely, the wife (CFO) was all for it when I told her that it would secure her work PC and VOIP.

Any 'gaming router' doesn't have security or anything more than marketing hype at its core. Our enterprise grade watchguard was less than that and it is built for real security with utm and other such features that a business could depend on. If you really wanted security, this is the way you should have gone.

Consumer VPNs are nothing more than an IP wormhole--taking your packets to the other side of the world somewhere--they really do absolutely zilch for real security or the enterprise would have similar products (and they don't). The real way to security is to not hide or mask where you are coming from, but just secure it--which ironically even a $10 nat router does since it doesn't allow outside packets into the lan. The enterprise grade stuff filters packets going in and out to catch anything bad before it becomes an issue--and they typically require subscriptions.

It saddens me how companies are allowed to put untrue marketing and flashy packaging to fool consumers into spending obscene money for something that costs 10x more than something else that does the same job for less, but I guess that's the name of the game today--part the fool and his/her money. So much for business ethics and transparency...

 

[HardWarrior]

SamirD, are you familiar with the security features included with the GT-AX11000? Also, I'm wondering if people here can dispense with tired, old addages like "A fool and his money are soon parted" as a way to dig at each other? In essence, what I buy or don't buy is exactly none of your concern. You SHOULD know and appreciate this fact.

 

[mxnerd]

Like what SamirD said, a consumer NAT router usually is all you need for your LAN. The OpenVPN feature nowadays available in high priced routers let you connect to OpenVPN services only prevent your ISP not knowing what activities you are doing. It doesn't really secure your LAN. You are still at risk if you visit sites that's full of malwares and viruses.

Most OpenVPN users use it for illegal torrent downloading music/movies/software , or use it for overseas Netflix watching, because either Netflix is not available in overseas countries or Americans who move overseas still want to watch videos that's only available in USA.

Users behind the NAT router then can subscribe to OpenVPN services using OpenVPN feature in the router and make all traffic goes through the tunnel created by the service and exit at one point (usually a city around the world you can choose). For overseas Netflix users, they will choose a city in USA so that Netflix will not block them.

OpenVPN's original purpose is for remote workers to use OpenVPN client to connect to their company's OpenVPN server so the data transmitted between remote workers' PC and server can be secured. If you and your wife have no above mentioned needs(torrenting, overseas Netflix, working from home securely), you don't need OpenVPN feature at all, you basically pay money for nothing and OpenVPN slows down your internet speed quite a bit (encryption requires a lot of processing power from router's CPU ).

How A VPN Can Help Hide Your Search History and Is Private Browsing Really Secure?

Want to stay safe on the internet? We go in-depth on how VPNs (virtual private networks) work and how they help to keep you secure online.

usa.kaspersky.com

 

[HardWarrior]

Things I'm concerned with, right now at least. The loading screen for my router says that it isn't connected, but it is and functional. Also, while my understanding is there shouldn't be an IP associated with my computer. However, leaktest says that I was in Dallas then in Bucharest. I'm actually located near Chicago. Forgive if my questions are silly, but I really want my money's worth. Please feel free to offer any advice that you feel is pertinent considering that I want the best security for my LAN.

The status screen reporting that the router was "disconnected" was caused by not specifying, directly, the 2 NordVPN DNS servers. Easy fix when you what the problem is. Also, this change fixed the WAN light cycling from green to red due to DNS lookups not being executed insided the tunnel all the time. My second issue was based on not knowing the the essential nature of a VPN. My bad.

My next router adventure will be turning on and properly configuring IPv6. Based on current, and long-term experience with Comcast support (who need to turn this feature on at my MODEM) indicate that this won't be a snap.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've just ordered a QNAP QHora-301W dual 10GbE-T router, will let you know how that works out for me, maybe we can compare notes. Looking at maybe setting up my "own cloud" using a QNAP NAS unit, using VPN incoming on my connection, to let F&F backup their computers over the internet to my "virtual NAS", rather than require them to actually maintain and administer a NAS unit on their local LAN. Should be a sufficiently-difficult project for me for the next few months.

 

[HardWarrior]

I've just ordered a QNAP QHora-301W dual 10GbE-T router, will let you know how that works out for me, maybe we can compare notes. Looking at maybe setting up my "own cloud" using a QNAP NAS unit, using VPN incoming on my connection, to let F&F backup their computers over the internet to my "virtual NAS", rather than require them to actually maintain and administer a NAS unit on their local LAN. Should be a sufficiently-difficult project for me for the next few months.

Pretty cool the way you're going to have F&F utilize your new infrastructure. That way you can play with SOTA FRU's without having to work for some smooth-brain. The only thing I miss, about being retired is not testing my knowledge, personal skills and patience against a demanding user community. I look forward to monitoring your adventures in the bleeding edge, brother. Try to get your mind right. The word should be challenging, not "difficult." 😃

 

[sdifox]

what on earth is a B53 ?, is it just Broadcom replacing the letter A to B?

BCM49408

This high performance CPU has been designed from the ground up for the next generation of Wave 2 wireless applications.

www.broadcom.com

Cortex-A53

The Cortex-A53 processor is a high efficiency processor that implements the Armv8-A architecture.

developer.arm.com

 

[HardWarrior]

It's been a good while, but I'm starting to master my AX11000. I learned to go step-by-step through the settings page and scrutinize each setting for necessity and applicability. I'm sure there are other approaches, but this tactic works for me and how I use my rig. My initial fear of NordV installed on my router has been replaced by sheer utility. For instance, my wifes work rig which requires it's own corporate VPN that my HW can't touch it. NP, once I exceptioned it to a non-VPN server device the entire situation turned into ripe peaches!

Thanks for the kind words and support guys.