Nooby VPN questions

insideline · 18 Sep 2017 at 06:07

Hi

Im looking to get into VPN so I can protect my privacy online, connect to American Netflix etc

However it's all quite new to me and I have a few questions. First of all though this is my setup

- Imac running latest version of OSX
- PC running latest version of Windows 10
- Virgin Media Superhub 2 with 150mb connection

Questions:

1. Which VPN service would you recommend for Virgin Media customers which I can use across my entire network ?
2. Do I need to run third party software to use VPN or can it all be configured directly within the superhub 2 so that every single device I use on my network is automatically run through it ? Or do I need to buy a separate router to do this and then put the superhub into modem mode ?
3. If I do need to run third party software are there any VPN services with both PC and Mac programs ?
4. Id like to keep the costs down but also have a service that comes close to letting me use all of my connection speed.
5. How exactly do you determine what country you are connecting to ? is this done through third party software ?

Any help and advice would be great. Thanks

TallPaul1878 · 18 Sep 2017 at 07:10

Netflix are clamping down on VPN use to access American libraries but iirc Private Internet Access is still capable of doing it.

Personally I'm using IP Vanish. It's a godsend when I'm logging on to free public WiFi in places like hotels and airports. I've been surprised at how many times it has warned me that I'm on an insecure network.

TallPaul1878 · 18 Sep 2017 at 07:14

With IP Vanish I install the application on each of my devices and operate it through their software. It gives me a selection of servers to choose from and I can choose them based on country and city or just select the fastest available.

On my Raspberry Pi I have to configure it manually using Open VPN but that only took about 5 minutes of tinkering with some help from YouTube videos.

I haven't bothered going through my router. I run it on my PC, my phone and my tablet. It cost £40 for a 12 month subscription and I have found over time that it has become more and more valuable.

Avalon · 18 Sep 2017 at 10:12

VPN choice is a personal one, depending on how seriously you take your privacy and what extras you want will dictate who you choose to go with. Look at the lifetime deals available, although the model makes no financial sense for the company long term, I've got a few and have yet to have a provider pull service over several years. At the low end a cheap VPS based provider may struggle to provide you consistent line speed (depending on your line speed) and as they don't own the hardware, any legal notices may be served to the hardware owner, probably not a massive issue for most on here.

In terms of supplying the *option* of encryption to the whole LAN, consider if you really want to do that. That aside you have several options:

1. Install per device either using an application or the device's native VPN support.

This will give you the flexibility to choose when and how you use your VPN, changing end points is quick and easy, speeds tend to be OK, but depending on what you're doing then dropping the connection may have serious implications (unencrypted traffic leaking out).

2. Install a dedicated router like a Mikrotik or hardware based firewall like pfsense etc.

This is better - you can configure how the traffic is routed so that if the VPN fails traffic isn't going out unencrypted. It has a much higher learning curve but with the right hardware you can see several hundred mbit, prices range from free if you have suitable hardware, to £60ish.

3. Use a VM or docker with proxy.

Really flexible solution, you can in effect sandbox the whole thing and run multiple instances such as NZB, torrent etc. with different end points. For example I could have my NZB docker with an NL end point and the torrent docker with a US end point, changing between them is as simple as changing the port a client device is set to connect to.

x-st · 18 Sep 2017 at 10:20

Last time I looked getting reliable Netflix access via VPN was really patchy. The most reliable way to do so is by getting a dedicated US IP from Torguard (as opposed to the normal shared IP that you get on most VPN's - that's an alarm signal to Netflix).

BigT · 18 Sep 2017 at 12:52

insideline said:
Questions:

1. Which VPN service would you recommend for Virgin Media customers which I can use across my entire network ?
2. Do I need to run third party software to use VPN or can it all be configured directly within the superhub 2 so that every single device I use on my network is automatically run through it ? Or do I need to buy a separate router to do this and then put the superhub into modem mode ?
3. If I do need to run third party software are there any VPN services with both PC and Mac programs ?
4. Id like to keep the costs down but also have a service that comes close to letting me use all of my connection speed.
5. How exactly do you determine what country you are connecting to ? is this done through third party software ?

1. To use it across your entire network you're most likely going to achieve this by having a device on your network that you route all traffic through that supports an OpenVPN client. This will enable you to connect to almost every commercial VPN provider
2. I don't know the Superhub but I think you're not going to be able to have network wide protection from it - I don't think it has an OpenVPN client. Your choices are to install a client on every device you want protected (and probably run out of connections quickly because most VPN providers give you 3-5) or introduce a device to route all your traffic through that will connect to the VPN provider. Typically this is done by replacing your router and others have given you good suggestions. There are other alternatives that can sit between your network and the Virgin Superhub. I think there are Raspberry Pi distros built for this or I think something like Softether (https://www.softether.org/) can sit on a windows/linux/mac machine between you and your router and do it. I suspect Limux does it out of the box if you're good with it but it's not my forte.
3. Nearly all of them have Windows and Mac and Mobile clients
4. It's going to be tough to max out a Virgin connection at a router level without spending a bit of money - consumer routers won't be quick enough to handle the processing required of the encryption at those speeds. On a per client basis, if you go down that route, I suggest reading the other VPN threads on here to see people's experiences.
5. On a per client level then yes normally you pick your exit point in the software client they give you or perhaps they list a set of exit servers on their website and you update a config file before connecting. For system wide protection you basically download a set of certificates for each of the exit points you're interested in, create connections for each in your chosen firewall/router and then enable/disable them on your router as required. If you have something fancy then you can do policy based routing to each. So for example I have my IPTV clients not going via VPN, devices I stream UK content from connecting via a UK exit and everything else going out via a USA exit. Same VPN provider, different certificates. Note the way I have it uses up two connections (US and UK) with my VPN provider. If I manually switched between them I'd only be using 1.

And FYI - beating Netflix geo locking is very hard these days and most commercial VPN providers have given up trying.

gemlover · 19 Sep 2017 at 09:34

I tried almost 7-8 VPNs but none of them is working with Netflix. May be my bad.

BigT · 19 Sep 2017 at 13:43

gemlover said:
I tried almost 7-8 VPNs but none of them is working with Netflix. May be my bad.

I doubt it - they've blocked every known range of VPN providers and then some. We run a work VPN in AWS in a US region and that's banned because I think they've banned all of AWS IP ranges. I think the only reliable way to get around it is find a friend in the US who doesn't mind leaving a machine on 24/7 for you to VPN into.

insideline · 19 Sep 2017 at 14:48

Thanks for the replies guys, especially BigT & Avalon for the detailed responses.

I've decided to go with Nord VPN as it's the cheapest deal I can find (with discount code). Hopefully it does the trick

Thanks again

edGfaCTor · 19 Sep 2017 at 14:59

If you want to watch things like Netflix US you use smartdns not VPN.

Semple · 19 Sep 2017 at 15:04

If you can hang on a couple of months, you can pick up some amazing VPN deals during black friday/cyber monday. Think i paid something like £40 for a 2 year subs.

Avalon · 19 Sep 2017 at 18:59

Semple said:
If you can hang on a couple of months, you can pick up some amazing VPN deals during black friday/cyber monday. Think i paid something like £40 for a 2 year subs.

Or just buy the lifetime subs for similar money, the BF deals are rarely anything really special and it's rare anyone pays retail via any provider.

WantoN · 20 Sep 2017 at 21:14

It's still possible with PIA.

Use a proper router, microtik are apparently good.

morlitor · 19 Nov 2017 at 13:11

Hello,

About VPN i would recommend you to get one with an integrated proxy so if you wish to do streaming the speed will be better.

So far this VPN has it : https://hidester.com it called CamoWEB, i've been using it for a while and it's good for Netflix so far with some of their servers.

I hope this help.

Cheers