Can I surf through my router when abroad (VPN)?

[sittingduck]

When I'm on vacation, I can't watch some of my streaming services because of geoblocking. If I set up a VPN on my 68U, can I then connect through that and access my services that way when I'm in another country? I toyed around with it a bit but didn't get it working which is why I'm asking. I don't want to keep trying if it's not possible. Thanks.

 

[netware5]

When I'm on vacation, I can't watch some of my streaming services because of geoblocking. If I set up a VPN on my 68U, can I then connect through that and access my services that way when I'm in another country? I toyed around with it a bit but didn't get it working which is why I'm asking. I don't want to keep trying if it's not possible. Thanks.

Yes, you can. Just search the forums and set-up your own VPN server on the router.

 

[elorimer]

Remember that your streaming speed will depend on the upload speed of your router, so the quality may be affected: If your connection is 100/5, say, the service will stream to the router at up to 100mbps, but the router will stream to you over the VPN at at most 5 mbps.

 

[sittingduck]

I have 100/100, which is why I was hoping that it would work. I'll play around with it some more now that I know it can work. Thanks.

Can I also access my LAN this way? I have an old NAS that isn't supported anymore so for safety reasons I have turned off all WAN connections, but I can still use it just on my LAN.

 

[Adamm]

I have 100/100, which is why I was hoping that it would work. I'll play around with it some more now that I know it can work. Thanks.

Can I also access my LAN this way? I have an old NAS that isn't supported anymore so for safety reasons I have turned off all WAN connections, but I can still use it just on my LAN.

Correct, you will be able to access all LAN devices (and interfaces) as expected. Do note though that without hardware encryption support (AC86U and newer models) speeds will be limited to 20~Mpbs

 

[sittingduck]

I had no idea about that - thanks. My goal isn't security, just streaming (and therefore speed). Is there any way to not encrypt and basically just have the connection wide open? Or is that asking for trouble - because it also potentially opens up my LAN for hacking attempts more than it is now where I'm just using the router in a "normal" way?

 

[netware5]

I had no idea about that - thanks. My goal isn't security, just streaming (and therefore speed). Is there any way to not encrypt and basically just have the connection wide open? Or is that asking for trouble - because it also potentially opens up my LAN for hacking attempts more than it is now where I'm just using the router in a "normal" way?

You shall use VPN. Don't worry - the AC68U is capable to handle up to 30 Mbit/s, which should be sufficient unless you try to stream 4K My advice is to configure the OpenVPN server with 128bit GCM cipher and disable any compression (LZO or LZ4). This will maximize the tunnel speed. You may also try some of the other VPNs (not OpenVPN) as some of them may be faster, but I have no experience with them and I am not sure.

 

[martinr]

When I'm on vacation, I can't watch some of my streaming services because of geoblocking. If I set up a VPN on my 68U, can I then connect through that and access my services that way when I'm in another country? I toyed around with it a bit but didn't get it working which is why I'm asking. I don't want to keep trying if it's not possible. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum.

As others have said, yes, you can. I’m doing it right now on my RT-AC68U, which is some 3000 miles away from my current remote location. In fact, as soon as I arrive, the OpenVPN server connection is made on my devices, and it stays on until I arrive back home. (That also gives me the priceless comfort of the added protection of Diversion and Skynet apart from protection from prying eyes.)

You’ll probably want to have a good read of elorimer’s outstanding guide:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/vpn-instructions-for-a-newbie.59478/#post-523302

come back with any follow-up queries.

 

[doczenith1]

I run through my router using a vpn whenever I'm not at home to take advantage of the ad blocking on my router via Diversion (by advertising DNS to clients). As @netware5 mentioned, use the GCM cipher and disable compression.

 

[dosborne]

Keep in mind that not only are you limited by whatever your home internet speed is, as well as encryption for the VPN, and by but whatever service you are streaming from, you then have to connect to your home via VPN from wherever you are vacationing. Whatever the slowest point in the chain will be the true limiting factor.

Essentially what the VPN does is make your remote device part of your home network so you have access to whatever you would as if you were at home.

If your hotel has crappy wifi, you may not be streaming much though.

 

[SheikhSheikha]

I am aware that everybody is answering the question if it is possible to access the router with a vpn connection. But allow me second to focus on the initial purpose for which sittingduck asked the question: geoblocking.
My 5 cents: running a vpn client on your device that you carry with you, would be a better solution to counter geoblocking and secures your device at the same time when using wifi while you travel.

 

[L&LD]

@SheikhSheikha, connecting to your own router would do both too.

 

[SheikhSheikha]

@SheikhSheikha, connecting to your own router would do both too.

I know, but the performance with a local client on your device is (within all known boundaries of a VPN) better in my experience :-D

 

[netware5]

I am aware that everybody is answering the question if it is possible to access the router with a vpn connection. But allow me second to focus on the initial purpose for which sittingduck asked the question: geoblocking.
My 5 cents: running a vpn client on your device that you carry with you, would be a better solution to counter geoblocking and secures your device at the same time when using wifi while you travel.

VPN client shall be ALWAYS ran on the client device. The server to which the client connects to could be the own home router or any other vpn server, including commercial ones. The OP asked for help how to use its own home router as a vpn server. It is obvious that a vpn client shall be installed on the client device.

 

[sbsnb]

the AC68U is capable to handle up to 30 Mbit/s, which should be sufficient unless you try to stream 4K

Everyone probably knows, but for posterity it really depends on the service. For example, Netflix streams me 1080p at about 3 Mbps. Disney+, on the other hand, takes about 8 Mbps to stream 1080p. Scaled up, a 4k Netflix stream should be about 12.5 Mbps, where Disney+ would be about 32 Mbps.