pfSense ExpressVPN Netflix

[rkcj]

Setup ExpressVPN on my pfSense router (80/80 fiber line) in December 2018, and Netflix was running perfectly. A couple of months ago I started getting throughput issues causing a lot of buffering on Netflix. Contacted ExpressVPN support, and they would give me a new US server to use, this would work for a few weeks, and the throughput issues would start again; rinse and repeat

Youtube 4k HDR works perfectly through the VPN.

If I stop the OpenVPN connection, Netflix 4k streams work perfectly.

Anyone else having Netflix issues using ExpressVPN?

 

[Fcon_Vpro]

New Jersey runs fine on my laptop but was only at 720p.
Which server are you currently using?

 

[rkcj]

Originally I was on Washington DC, and was the server which was problem free until recently. Most times I was able to stream at 4K, never less than 1080p.

Recently, I have been through (all suggested by ExpressVPN support):

New York
Washington DC - 2
San Francisco
Los Angeles - 2

Most of the time the stream rate is below 1mb, resulting in less than 720p.

Another problem is the time it takes for the stream to start, it can take up to a minute watching that percent slowly crawling up to 100%, and sometimes not at all.

 

[Fcon_Vpro]

Originally I was on Washington DC, and was the server which was problem free until recently. Most times I was able to stream at 4K, never less than 1080p.

Recently, I have been through (all suggested by ExpressVPN support):

New York
Washington DC - 2
San Francisco
Los Angeles - 2

Most of the time the stream rate is below 1mb, resulting in less than 720p.

Another problem is the time it takes for the stream to start, it can take up to a minute watching that percent slowly crawling up to 100%, and sometimes not at all.

Try New Jersey. It does start off slow but picks up.
New York has never worked for me on Netflix. I get the proxy error straight away.
South African server as well gives me the proxy error.
I connect via my ASUS router, but ill try test and see what results I get. Its hard for me to tell what quality im on through my 4k tv.

 

[rkcj]

Try New Jersey. It does start off slow but picks up.
New York has never worked for me on Netflix. I get the proxy error straight away.
South African server as well gives me the proxy error.
I connect via my ASUS router, but ill try test and see what results I get. Its hard for me to tell what quality im on through my 4k tv.

I use the native TV (Samsung and LG - both 4k) apps to play Netflix. I press the info button to display a panel in the top left of the screen to display info on the language, bitrate, resolution, etc.

 

[Fcon_Vpro]

I use the native TV (Samsung and LG - both 4k) apps to play Netflix. I press the info button to display a panel in the top left of the screen to display info on the language, bitrate, resolution, etc.

Is that an info button on your netflix native app or remote? Dont recall seeing either

 

[Fcon_Vpro]

I use the native TV (Samsung and LG - both 4k) apps to play Netflix. I press the info button to display a panel in the top left of the screen to display info on the language, bitrate, resolution, etc.

Ok I found it when I press the 123 button on my TV.

DC2 took about a minute to reach 4k and then stayed there.
NJ3 reached 4k after about 3 minutes and then jumped between 1080-1440-2160.

 

[rkcj]

Thanks for checking Looks like DC2 is a better server for you.

I couldn't maintain 1080p with either of the servers, and it also took a while to build enough buffer for the video to start. At really bad times it would not maintain a stream at 240p (or whatever the lower resolutions are) and just stop.

I played around with other servers Saturday, and found one that works for me (one of the LA ones). The stream starts in 1-2 seconds at 720p, and ramps up to 4K within a minute. After my initial testing on Saturday, we only watched 1080p content, and that was rock solid all weekend. This was how it used to work prior to my issues starting in June/July, so am happy now.