Turn my Virgin Broadband into a VPN

uk-vpn

uk-vpn

uk-vpn

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Joined
10 Oct 2019
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11
Hello,
What I'm trying to do is be able to leave my Virgin Hub 3 on, and then when abroad, connect into my Virgin Broadband so it acts like a VPN and uses my residential home IP address, so I can run a VOIP phone and wired laptop into a Sim Card powered Router, and everything would look the same as normal.

I've solved the problem on the other end, I bought the TPLink MR600 4G (this allows PPTP VPN, IPSec VPN , OpenVPN funtion only) that takes sim card and uses that for data source (so i dont have to rely on airbnb having good internet).

But I'm having a nightmare solving the UK side of things, phoned Virgin who said they block the ports so i can't do it, and old routers don't work anymore that did allow it (may or may not be true).
What it seems i need to do is either change the router in my virgin broadband home, or have another one connected inbetween it that talks to my MR600 when abroad.

Has anyone had success doing it? if so what is the cheapest solution to this problem? Desperately need your help with specific models of routers and instructions. I can't use software VPN as my VOIP phone and laptop have to be wired connections.

Please help anyone? thank you.
 
You need to change your VM router to modem mode and then put in a router that can provide VPN server functionality.
Cheapest solution isn't necessarily the best. A £30 MikroTik can do it but you wouldn't thank me for recommending it as they aren't a consumer friendly piece of kit.

Surely you'd be better buying a VPN from someone like Nord or PIA and using a UK server and leaving your home connection out of this? That would at least provide a good speed as using your Virgin connection you will be limited by the upload speed (ie your router in wherever download will only be your virgin upload minus overheads).
 
But i want to keep the same resi IP - the IP would show as Virgin to my work, i can't have it showing as a VPN company.
Which router would you recommend please to act as teh VPN provider connected to my virgin one? do you know if you can still put the Virgin Hub 3 into modem mode?
thanks for taking the time!

Edit - i just checked and you can https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-media-hub-modem-mode
so now I just need to know what kit can create a VPN from it that I can connect to from anywhere and its robust and secure, reliable and easy to setup?
Thanks
 
Yeah Hub3 still goes into Modem mode, you must have spoken to a cucumber at VM. Even the Hub4 will have modem mode from what's been publicised.

Take your pick really. Draytek do fairly easy to setup VPN routers but they can be pricey. My personal choice would be an £80 MikroTik but as per previous, they're an arduous thing to learn and not something to quickly and easily deploy unless you really know your way around them.
Other than that, anything with VPN server should do well for you.
 
Thanks bud, when i search 'routers with VPN server' nothing comes up, is that the term I'm after ? many routers say they're 'VPN Routers' but i have a feeling thats not what I need, VPN Server sounds very specific.

Edit - Do you mean any router with DD-WRT?
 
The ASUS RT-AC51U Dual-band Wireless AC750 Cloud Router says it has VPN Server and its £35, would that do a good job do you think?
 
I did exactly what you are trying to do before, I am on VM and had my super hub in modem only mode, then used an Asus AC66u running Merlin firmware and setup Open VPN.

I don't have it setup anymore as I have pfsense now, I use FastestVPN but so far have found it rubbish.
 
Thanks Nick, did you find you needed the Merlin firmware update to get it to work? or just preference? Was it stable and reliable?
 
uk-vpn said:
Thanks Nick, did you find you needed the Merlin firmware update to get it to work? or just preference? Was it stable and reliable?
Click to expand...

Merlin is a fantastic firmware, very reliable and stable and LOTS of options that the stock firmware doesnt have but should.
I use Merlin on our AC66u with torguard VPN. Very fast.
 
yeah ive found that as I feel there is an overlap when you change IP addresses as definitely noticed an overlap.

Is Nord the best value paid VPN then?
 
I've run a few, never got on well with the free ones. IME PIA is good for speed and reliability (my router hasn't lost connection to it for months) and Nord better for bypassing geo restrictions e.g. iPlayer when abroad. Thus I subscribe to both.
 
okay perfect thanks. I'm more interested in the geo restrictions to be honest. Can you pay by the month with Nord as dont think I will need it for the whole year
 
I believe so but it is considerably more expensive per month than doing a year or more so check if it wouldn't work out cheaper for a year even if you only used it for six months.

Quick glance says £9.68/m or £5.66/mo if paid annually. So 7 months of usage on the annual plan I think is cheaper than 7 months paid monthly, even though there's 5 months you won't use.
 
Don't know why people are recommending VPN Server providers. Sounds to me like what you're wanting to do is set up your own VPN server on your router to allow you to connect in from elsewhere and have it appear that you're at home? Correct? In this case you don't need a VPN provider as you set up the server yourself on a supported router. I do this with PfSense but most decent new routers will support this. Failing that you can set up a VPN server on something like a Raspberry Pi.
 
I used a Raspberry pi with OpenVPN and pihole + duck dns.

But I only used to to watch TV (BBC Iplayer) in Japan. Worked great.. no issues. Didnt try VOIP.
 
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