I’m constantly traveling internationally and run into two issues: 1. Blocked voip services I subscribe to and 2. Blocked access to streaming services I’m subscribed to.
Anyway, I was finally able to upgrade my home internet to have 250Mbps up/down, and I’m trying to set up a server to VPN to my home. In the past I have tried a bunch of different subscription services for VPN and the ones supporting OpenVPN have been fine but I really notice a big difference with WireGuard in speed, battery life, everything, so I’m trying to use WireGuard of course.
So my plan was to set up a RaspberryPi WireGuard server at home, apparently this is the cheapest/easiest way to have the processing power needed to keep from bottlenecking my bandwidth (My initial research taught me routers with built in VPN servers would struggle). On the phone side I have apps I can connect with. I haven’t been able to check my options with a streaming box (apple tv or shield) but I would hope through an app or settings I could connect to my home server.
Would this work? Is there a better solution? I feel like I may be missing something and it won’t work, my networking knowledge isn’t super incredible
Edit: Reread it and I’m waaaay too wordy so:
TLDR: Will I be able to use my Apply TV when I travel internationally the same way I do at home if I set up a WireGuard server on a Pi4 at home?
Long story short I have 2x Pi 4 4GB running Pi-Hole + Unbound + WireGuard VPN, each.
Created a firewall redirection on my router and voila.
When I am out, I use my phone to connect to my home.
The other day I was dining out with my partner while checking on my 3D printer camera lol
I only have 100/40 so you will be more than fine.
I suggest you to buy an OPNWRT router. Its performance is 10/10
I have this little guy which has WireGuard on it. Basically, get it connected to the internet where you are and voila, OnDemand WireGuard VPN connection to your house whatever you are.
It takes no space and has an amazing performance. My net went down and it managed to hold me playing Xbox while my partner was watching 4k content on the TV.
I went with the above because of the price, the built in wireless, and the software was all ready to go (just get wireguard setup). You can connect it to hotel wireless with ease (and share it out to your device), I have the other wireless in it set to my home SSID so all my devices will connect to the router without me doing anything. The device can be a WG server or a WG client (I use it as a client). All my devices connected to it go through the WG tunnel setup on it. The only thing I would say is there isnt a lot of space on the device to do much else with it which for me is not a big deal but I know some people want to storage to save some stuff
I have it connect back home to my pfsense box running the WG package and it has been rock solid++++ I cant recommend them enough.
That’s so good to hear! I don’t have my shield with me and I was hesitating before testing it out but considering the ios app works so well for me I’m sure it’s great on the shield too.
You know, I was looking at these but was so fixated on finding something that would be capable as a server that I didn’t consider how flexible these travel routers would make the client side. I was planning on just configuring or running apps on each device but this could definitely make my life easier.
But now that I’m looking at them again should I consider the Brume https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mv1000/ rather than the pi for my home network? And then pair it with the travel router for the client? I was thinking maybe the pi would give better performance but they both seem capable.
Ok I have a really really dumb follow up question. It’s just tough to find some of these answers because my search results end up with advice for home routers acting as clients for third party vpns.
So my dumb question: Does the pi (or any vpn server in general) need to act as a router for a network? Or does it basically share the connection and whatever is routing notices and assigns a local ip to whatever is tunneling in? Don’t know if I’m asking this the right way…
MV1000 does not support wireless. Useless for travelling.
MV1000W does not support 5Ghz wireless network, only 2.4Ghz which is a boomer
AR750 accepts both networks.
I am not sure about your current setup but having running my home setup without a single issue, this is my recommendation for many reasons:
Pi WireGuard VPN Server:
It is dead easy how to compile it using a Raspberry Pi, you can even use PiVPN which is newbie-friendly for the matter. Once the server is up and running, you will only access it to add clients, nothing else. 10/10
GL-AR750S as client, yes, please, strong recommend:
it is little, no space needed and yet powerful asf
you set it at home once and voila, any device connected to it via wire or wireless are already within the VPN so don’t need to setup all the clients individually
The best part: It works with WAN or Wireless or 4G dongle.
You get to the hotel, connect to it, authenticate it into the hotel wireless and voila.
It accepts MAC Address clone. Some hotel limits qtd of devices so you authenticate with your mobile, clone its MAC to the router and voila
The one I have, I used the same wifi network name from my wireless router. When my internet goes down, I share my 5G mobile internet, turn it on, it will pick up and that is it. No changes needed anywhere else.
Far away from home, I prefer to use something powerful and easy to make changes. I use Linux and I am okay with a terminal but the last thing you want while travelling is having to use a terminal to fix some network issues. I just wanna plug and plan, this is the only time a GUI is everything.
You really cant beat the price for the hardware and the form factor, I was looking at going the pi route myself when I started looking but I needed something right away. I know a few people with the device above and they have all been super happy with it
So my dumb question: Does the pi (or any vpn server in general) need to act as a router for a network?
Well, it acts as a router. But it doesn’t have to be the router for the whole LAN. But your LAN’s router should know about the pi, specifically, that it is a router to, say, 10.6.9.0/24 or whatever your VPN address space is. The alternative is “double NAT”. But you should avoid that.
You’re totally right about this setup being superior! It would be much more flexible, better performing AND a good amount cheaper than buying those MV gateways.
Also that little AR750 router is only $61 right now with some Amazon coupon that’s showing up right now. MAC cloning and single config for multiple devices is totally the way to go, I didn’t think of what a headache not having those would be in a lot of cases. Even if the quota is manageable some of the hotel sign-in methods are fing annoying.
Yeah, go for it. You set only one device and enjoy the travel. It’s a 5V little best so you can take it with you anywhere.
The most annoying issue with hotel is the captcha. You need to sign in in order to have internet, and some limit devices so travel router with MAC cloning is a must.
