in these troubling times, but you should really read this;

I came by it through PC Magazine recommendation, which also cited APPROVINGLY that it is the outfit behind that e-mail whatever-it-is.

"Kaspersky security researchers" - yes, I come by my paranoia naturally, but Kaspersky triggers all my red (no pun) flags (mixed metaphors), like, I wouldn't look to them for kind advice.

And as I said, my problem with the pairing started BEFORE the install of the VPN?

********If I uninstall this particular ProtonVPN, setting it aside as a factor, I will still be left with wanting to see the channels that require a VPN, so if I get it elsewhere, even paying the Nord thing $3/mo like they're pushing for me to do, my question remains: Does VPN affect the Screen Mirroring? And if there is a VPN, is it supposed to be turned off after use or left on all the time?

Again, thanks for the taking-care.

link, and has at least the appearance of being legit?

The 2nd link has been removed.

**********QUOTE*********

Dimitar (ProtonVPN)

Apr 23, 14:07 CEST

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

Can you please clarify from where have you downloaded the ProtonVPN application?

If you've downloaded the app from our official website or the Google Play Store, we can confirm that this is the official ProtonVPN application that does not contain any malware. More information on this can be found here: https://protonvpn.com/blog/how-to-protect-your-device-from-fake-proton-apps/

Regarding your question, to further clarify, even though both devices are connected to the same network, one of the devices has a different IP address and Geolocation with an encrypted connection. This is the device connected to one of our servers. Since the other is not, they cannot properly "communicate" and therefore the screen mirroring feature cannot work.

It is possible to achieve this with a VPN connection if you connect to one of our servers directly on your router. More information on this can be found here: https://protonvpn.com/support/installing-protonvpn-on-a-router/

That said, if you activate the Allow Lan connections feature in the ProtonVPN Android device you do not need to make any additional changes to your Smart TV. By activating this option those two devices should be able to properly communicate with each other.

************UNQUOTE*******

This info from Proton sounds correct. Screen sharing is like picking up the extension on a wired house phone allowing both people to listen to the caller. This only works when both phones share a common line. Lots of VPN configurations make sharing impossible like having 2 house phones on 2 separate lines. I have used a software tool called Synergy which allows me share a single mouse and keyboard across 2 or more computers. The computers "talk" to each other over the LAN and coordinate the sharing of the mouse and keyboard. This stops working if one of the computers connects to my VPN at work.

The best solution (IMHO) is to configure the VPN connection from the router rather than an individual device. That allows all of the devices on your LAN to still "talk" to each other.

I have a Synology RT2600ac router which allows configuring a VPN at the router. I would use this option since it would allow any device on your LAN to access the VPN and screen share with any other device.

Screen sharing is done by your phone/tablet talking to the TV using IP addresses that are local to your home network. The router-modem combo hardware uses only the router part to pass the data from the internal phone to the internal TV.

The VPN software is used to change the internet routing of your data when your device is talking to an external internet server. This often happens when your phone is streaming a movie from a cloud service.

Now, if the VPN software on your phone is not coded correctly, then all bets are off.

I went through Tech support from both the smart tv & smart phone (both samsung). The phone one got the pairing to work. Which it's doing I think with the VPN turned off. My reason for getting into this VPN thing was that the USTVGO website that has all the cable outlets on it (MSNBC, CNN, HBO, and everything else), says that the premiums "REQUIRE VPN."

That said, the ProtonVPN people responded promptly to my questions about the screen mirroring problem, adding the little problem detail that both devices, besides being on the same router need to be on the same VPN.

I haven't turned on the VPN, and have stuck to the non-VPN channels. I'm not a movie viewer, so all those special channels don't mean much to me, just HBO for MAHER, but I can see that on YouTube.

See how my "problems" multiply?

It makes it sound like USTVGO is doing something shady.

Every window has an ad for NORD vpn, like always pushing for the paid VPN. But the channels were all open (without VPN).

Then after i've used USTVGO a few weeks, the good stuff (Bravo, especially the real premiums, but some of the lesser things like Discovery) demanded VPN to see.

I still get my main things like MSNBC CNN History and lots more as OPEN. I'm waiting for ProtonVPN's answer about what Poster #1 said, which sounds really scary.

I haven't turned on Proton since the screen mirroring problems and haven't had any need to see the premiums.