Send static IP to different DNS?

[Ggrumble]

Hi all, I like to think I'm fairly proficient with computers, but networking is one area that has always been a bit of black box to me. So quick run-down, I live in Canada and have acquired a Roku 3. I would like to set it up to take advantage of US content like Hulu that is unavailable here. On my PS3 I can just enter a different DNS and that's it. Unfortunately the Roku doesn't play that way, it uses the router assigned DNS. So that led me to about a day of fruitless google searches. I should mention here that I am cheap and avoid signing up with Unblock-Us (don't see the point when I can find open US DNS easily enough on my own). My general thinking on a workaround is that if I assign the Roku a static IP, there must be some way to have that IP routed through a specific DNS while having the rest of my network traffic continue to use my ISP's DNS. I can't find it however. I have an Asus RT-N65U router, FYI. Anyway, quite the post I know, thanks for reading, any help appreciated!

 

[theonlyski]

Well, do you have a spare router hanging around?

If you do, just plug the Roku into it's inside interface and set the DNS on it to point to a US server, then plug the WAN side of the router into your network. You may have to change the internal IP (you can't have the same network on both interfaces) to make it work, but it'll work.

 

[Ggrumble]

I do have an extra router, but where my roku is it'll need to attach wireless. So I'll have to set it up as a separate wireless network. Should do the trick though,
Thanks!

 

[CaptainSTX]

DNS - Geo Blocking

Your Roku can remember the sign on credentials for more than one network.

When you want to connect using the network with the US DNS you just go into network settings and select it.

I'm not sure that just changing you DNS selections will be enough to avoid geo blocking. Netflix and Amazon and a host of other services look at the public IP assigned by your ISP to determine where you are in the world. Other streaming services have other even more sophisticated methods of verifying your location.

Most people that want to thwart geo blocking use a VPN provider. To make your Roku work with a VPN you will need to run the VPN on one of your routers. Depending on how much memory and how fast the router's processor is, running a VPN this can reduce you download speeds by as much as half when connected using the VPN.

 

[Ggrumble]

I'm pretty sure that you can't change the network settings on the Roku 3 other than selecting the network to connect to. If you go to the 'secret screen' it gives you a list of the current settings, but there isn't any way to change them. Changing the DNS is all that's required on my playstation 3 to get US netflix content. Have to find a new one every few months when they get shut down, but that's not too hard.
I know I have VPN options on my router, but haven't looked at it too carefully, I shall check that out as well, but it will only really be useful if I can direct only the Roku traffic through it.
Thanks for the response!

 

[theonlyski]

I know I have VPN options on my router, but haven't looked at it too carefully, I shall check that out as well, but it will only really be useful if I can direct only the Roku traffic through it.
Thanks for the response!

Many of the more pro-sumer or better VPN firewalls/routers let you specify access lists to define what traffic should traverse the VPN.

On smaller home units that support it, they might allow the same, but probably not with the granularity that we get with the higher end gear. Should work for your needs, if you can define what they are.

 

[kacper]

The roku 3 doesn't support setting static ip or dns settings. It only supports DHCP. It has telenet though so there might be a way to set the DNS settings through the CLI.

The easiest way is to run another DHCP server just for the roku, as in the configuration theonlyski recommended.