I use Surfshark on all my devices to protect all my online activity. I’ve used wireguard for this. However I’ve noticed that for some cloudflare sites and sites like BBC it blocks me out as it knows I’m on a VPN. I switched to ikev2 and it seems to have solved it. Is ikev2 less secure or harder for websites to recognise? What protocol should I be using? From my understanding ikev2 used 1 port so thought it would be easier to block.
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Protocol shouldn’t matter for websites as they simply recognize the ip / asn
Aka they simply know it’s a data centre / vpn ip.
Maybe the servers surfshark configured are less crowded on the ikev side.
I use on all vpn wireguard privately.
Ikev2 might be phased out since it’s the oldest option, but there are still some benefits to it. It works great on cellphones if you are constantly switching wifi. I personally use wireguard almost exclusively though.
As others have stated, the websites block based on the IP address being recognized as a VPN. Changing servers sometimes works for unblocking sites. It is annoying but it is part of the hassle of trying to keep your data private.
I exclusively use ikev2 as it seems to be substantially less drain on my phone battery. Used to have the surfshark background eat over 15% in a day but then using this protocol it does not even show up in the top 15 apps draining battery.
If they phase out the ikev2 protocol I’ll start doing tests on what is a good option for battery.
Another reason why I use IKev2. Better for battery with my phone. I occasionally use Wire Guard because it’s the only protocol it will let me use when enabling hotspot. I don’t like using Wire Guard if my phone is not plugged in though.