How does Mullvad lockdown mode work?

Why is Mullvad blocking my internet?

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Mullvad's servers seem to behaving quite erratically lately. If you don't trust Mullvad for various reasons, we recommend using a VPN solution, such as ProtonVPN, with Mullvad's services.

About us. Mullvad (pronounced MULL-va-d) was the first Swedish company to provide a secure and private online alternative to traditional VPN services. Today, Mullvad is the most widely used and trusted provider of secure privacy and open access in Sweden.

We're not just a VPN provider; we're an encrypted Internet Access provider, an open source encrypted peer-to-peer network, a privacy-based encrypted browser called Tor Browser, and a secure storage and messaging platform called Cryptocat. We are committed to making security simple for everyone. Our service comes with a 1 month money-back guarantee, and with your satisfaction guaranteed, our only goal is to make sure you're completely satisfied with Mullvad and the online experience it makes possible. If you're not completely satisfied, simply contact us.

What is an encrypted Internet Access provider? Mullvad is a decentralized encrypted peer-to-peer network built from the ground up to be 100% secure. The infrastructure is based on the Tor network, meaning that we deliver the same user experience as Tor.

Since the Tor network is based on volunteer computers, it offers great scalability. It can handle millions of users at once. And when millions of users become one million users, and then one thousand users, and so on, the quality of the service stays consistent, even as the traffic rises, without any increase in resources.

How do you do this? Our infrastructure consists of thousands of servers around the world. With these servers, we connect many devices - like mobile phones and tablets, computers, games consoles, and cameras - and route traffic back and forth between them.

Is there a device limit on Mullvad?

Yes there is!

We believe it is about 30% in most countries where we operate. You can check your exact limits for your data usage with our stats page. We also offer unlimited data for an extra 3/GB and a credit card on file -

Our bandwidth throttling is to ensure the best user experience by limiting all traffic to the amount we can deal with. What are the plans and contracts offered by Mullvad? We have four different plans based on data usage and data-connection speed. All of our plans come with unlimited incoming and outgoing traffic (IPV4/IPV6). Each plan will also include up to 5 devices. For more information, you can visit:

Mullvad is still running Tor relays. We are still running Tor relays since the beginning of Tor Relay Time. At any point in time we operate between 80 to 200 different relays around the world. When choosing a Tor relay you will always be asked to accept that the traffic going through your relay comes from other nodes - that's a part of the way that Tor works. When choosing a free relay, we ensure that this option is easily available.

The current network is quite big and can handle many more connections than we have today. If you are not satisfied with the network size and performance you may choose to move to an unprivileged server.

How can I remove my data from Mullvad? To move your data from a server, please write a message to the webmaster support @mullvad.net and we'll see if we can add you to a "remove server" list. This removes you from all servers except the old. If we can't contact your IP address on our system, you may be deleted forever or it may take us some time to find your host or ISP and inform them. This may leave you without access to any servers for a while - we will notify you via email as soon as possible.

What can I do to decrease my data usage? When it comes to your usage of data, there's many ways to do that but not all of them are always the easiest ones to set up. But don't worry, you can still enjoy your service even if you only use a few GB.

How do I allow local connections on Mullvad?

What is a typical /socks4/ connection from a browser to a Mullvad VPN server?

I know that there is a socks5 tunnel, but what about a local connection, eg when the user clicks on a download link on a website? How can I have such a connection on the server? On the server (mullvad-server) side you only need to setup some routing rules. Here is an example (I'm using OpenBSD as the server here): # Make the server allow DNS queries on port 53. Ipfw add allow udp dst port 53. # Make all incoming connections to port 25 also pass through. Ipfw add nat from any to any dst port 25. # Allow DNS requests via UDP. Ipfw add allow udp from any to any dst port 53. The first one sets the DNS server (this is the part where you set it to what you want). The second one allows UDP requests to the DNS server on port 53 (you can skip this one if you don't want the DNS server to be used). And the third one allows the UDP requests for DNS queries.

Then you have to configure the firewall on the client side. # Enable both TCP and UDP traffic. Ipfw add 192.168.100.1/24 proto udp accept
Ipfw add 192.1/24 proto tcp accept # Allow outgoing traffic from the client IP. Ipfw add deny ip from 192.1/24 to any # Set the default interface (in my case eth0). Ipfw add default allow in from 192.1/24 to eth0 # Tell the user what we've done. Echo "Enabled traffic from 192.1/24" This can be a little bit confusing at first but once you understand it, it's easy to use.