VPNs: Three quick questions

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blairm

54 posts

Master Geek

#100954 21-Apr-2012 12:29

I'm planning on getting a VPN set up to access Hulu, Netflix and the like. A couple of quick and (hopefully) easy questions...

- Do I need to get a separate router or not? I've seen some people say it's required, but some VPN providers eg Astrill seem to offer software-based solutions.
- Can I easily disconnect from the VPN to surf NZ sites? I don't want significantly reduced speed for local sites.
- I've read a lot of posts here discussing which VPN is best, but does anyone have experience of one that works well with linux? (I'm using Kubuntu at present).

Cheers,

Blair

semigeek

1606 posts

Uber Geek

#612782 21-Apr-2012 12:41

There will be others here that know a lot about VPN's but I would suggest trialling Unblock-US, which can be set up on your router or individual devices. Just a simple matter of changing DNS addresses on the device you want to use.

Handle9

11386 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#612783 21-Apr-2012 12:44

blairm: I'm planning on getting a VPN set up to access Hulu, Netflix and the like. A couple of quick and (hopefully) easy questions...

- Do I need to get a separate router or not? I've seen some people say it's required, but some VPN providers eg Astrill seem to offer software-based solutions.
- Can I easily disconnect from the VPN to surf NZ sites? I don't want significantly reduced speed for local sites.
- I've read a lot of posts here discussing which VPN is best, but does anyone have experience of one that works well with linux? (I'm using Kubuntu at present).

Cheers,

Blair

What is your use case - are you looking at using an STB of some variety (roku, PS3, Xbox ATV2 etc) or are you looking to use your linux box?

I've used astrill and strongVPN with a single router on STBs with routing using LAN IP addresses (i.e. 192.x.x.1 goes through the VPN 192.x.x.100 does not). You need a router with DD-WRT and a bit of fluffing around but it's not too onerous.

Astrils DD-WRT implementation is particularly easy as you can assign routing rules around IP address and also local or international sites.

http://blog.astrill.com/index.php/2012/01/22/new-astrill-router-2-0-applet-released-supports-dd-wrt-and-tomato-firmware-routers/

If you're using it on a PC if there is a VPN client that works effectively for your OS then you just switch it on and off as required. Having quick look at open VPN it looks pretty doable on linux.

http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html

timmmay

20578 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#613540 23-Apr-2012 10:14

Astrill works well for me, and if you have a DD-WRT router it can encrypt your entire connection so all your devices use it. They have a software only solution for your computer as well.

I don't use the VPN all the time, just occasionally. It's slightly slower than going direct most of the time.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#613546 23-Apr-2012 10:27

blairm: - Do I need to get a separate router or not? I've seen some people say it's required, but some VPN providers eg Astrill seem to offer software-based solutions.

If you happy watching these services on your computer, then no you don’t need a separate router. If you want to use a separate device, ie your PS3 the yes a separate router is required.

blairm: - Can I easily disconnect from the VPN to surf NZ sites? I don't want significantly reduced speed for local sites.

Yes its very simple. If you running the VPN software on your computer, you just connect/disconnect it as needed. If you running in on your router its pretty much the same. The beauty of Astrill is that you can select which devices on your network should/should not be router via the VPN.

blairm: - I've read a lot of posts here discussing which VPN is best, but does anyone have experience of one that works well with linux? (I'm using Kubuntu at present).

I have the client setup (default Ubuntu VPN client) on my Ubuntu PC. I disconnect it/connected it as needed. No separate software needed as its already built into Linux

semigeek: There will be others here that know a lot about VPN's but I would suggest trialling Unblock-US, which can be set up on your router or individual devices. Just a simple matter of changing DNS addresses on the device you want to use.

Unblock-US is not a VPN. If you just want to access Hulu+ Netflix etc, then agreed its probably the best way to go. However, if you want to have a secure encrypted connection to the states then a proper VPN is the way to go.

blairm

54 posts

Master Geek

#613580 23-Apr-2012 11:50

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

Looks like I have a project for the weekend now...

Blair

semigeek

1606 posts

Uber Geek

#613611 23-Apr-2012 12:29

BraaiGuy:
blairm: - Do I need to get a separate router or not? I've seen some people say it's required, but some VPN providers eg Astrill seem to offer software-based solutions.

If you happy watching these services on your computer, then no you don’t need a separate router. If you want to use a separate device, ie your PS3 the yes a separate router is required.

blairm: - Can I easily disconnect from the VPN to surf NZ sites? I don't want significantly reduced speed for local sites.

Yes its very simple. If you running the VPN software on your computer, you just connect/disconnect it as needed. If you running in on your router its pretty much the same. The beauty of Astrill is that you can select which devices on your network should/should not be router via the VPN.

blairm: - I've read a lot of posts here discussing which VPN is best, but does anyone have experience of one that works well with linux? (I'm using Kubuntu at present).

I have the client setup (default Ubuntu VPN client) on my Ubuntu PC. I disconnect it/connected it as needed. No separate software needed as its already built into Linux

semigeek: There will be others here that know a lot about VPN's but I would suggest trialling Unblock-US, which can be set up on your router or individual devices. Just a simple matter of changing DNS addresses on the device you want to use.

Unblock-US is not a VPN. If you just want to access Hulu+ Netflix etc, then agreed its probably the best way to go. However, if you want to have a secure encrypted connection to the states then a proper VPN is the way to go.

Yep I know its not a VPN as such, but for what the OP wants, it will probably suit them fine. Looking around there is also a new service called PlaymoTV which does the same as Unblock-US. Another option which may be worth a look is Tunnelbear

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#613614 23-Apr-2012 12:35

semigeek:
Yep I know its not a VPN as such, but for what the OP wants, it will probably suit them fine. Looking around there is also a new service called PlaymoTV which does the same as Unblock-US. Another option which may be worth a look is Tunnelbear

The advantage of unblock-us which I forgot to mention is that there is no encoding/decoding of packets. You get a nice fast throughput. I was suprised at how well Full HD movies ran when using unblock-us. This is not possible with a VPN unless you have a seriously fast router.

My router is only 300Mhz which I have overclocked to 330Mhz. But now I am exploring the possibilities of installing DD-WRT on a standalone PC to speed things up some more.