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Old Apr 11, 2018, 9:55 pm
  #1  
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Simple VPN Device for Connecting to Home Network

I have Comcast, and with it, Xfinity mobile which allows me to watch live TV or my DVR from anywhere - the problem is, when off my home Comcast network, some of the features are unavailable, for example local channels.

Is there a small, simple, cheap VPN device I can add to my home network that I can connect with remotely to trick the Xfinity website into thinking I am actually at home, vs remote?
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Old Apr 12, 2018, 1:35 am
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Most routers these days have some sort of builtin VPN server, either using OpenVPN or PPTP/L2TP, so most likely no need for any special devices, just go through your router menu and set it up.
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Old Apr 12, 2018, 7:27 am
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https://www.amplifi.com/

All in one mesh wifi router system with a device (Teleport) that creates a VPN back to your home network from anywhere. It's supposed to be great.
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Old Apr 12, 2018, 7:28 am
  #4  
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Originally Posted by Ditto
Most routers these days have some sort of builtin VPN server, either using OpenVPN or PPTP/L2TP, so most likely no need for any special devices, just go through your router menu and set it up.
I didn't see the option on my Comcast router (which I wouldn't trust to use anyway), and my only other router in the home is an older Apple storage device - so it sounds like I just need to go buy a cheap router with OpenVPN installed and plug it into my Comcast router? That way my connection never uses wifi in the home resulting in poor TV performance, but Comcast will think I am home?
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Old Apr 12, 2018, 7:58 am
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Yes, most cheap routers will do, alternatively if you're not looking into replacing your comcast router, you could also just buy a raspberry pi and use something like http://www.pivpn.io/
Just make sure your comcast router has a setting for "DMZ host" and/or port forwarding.
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Old Apr 12, 2018, 8:08 am
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
https://www.amplifi.com/

All in one mesh wifi router system with a device (Teleport) that creates a VPN back to your home network from anywhere. It's supposed to be great.
Looks nice, but way outside my price range and I am definitely not techie. I am hoping for an el-cheapo all-in-one solution. I found some small, cheap travel routers on Amazon, but they seem to only have OpenVPN clients - so I assume that won't help me because I need the actual VPN service running?
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Old Apr 12, 2018, 8:48 am
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I have a bitdefender box for my home security. It has a VPN built in so that you VPN to your own house from open networks. It would work here. Plus you get antivirus etc as part of the package.
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Old Apr 12, 2018, 11:36 am
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Amplifi is designed for non-tech people. It's Ubiquiti's consumer line (they make various enterprise and ISP-centric networking stuff). But if it's out of your price range, then it's out of your price range.

You could buy a Raspberry Pi for $35. It's a Linux computer about the size of a credit card. You could set it up to be an OpenVPN server and connect to it remotely. But this will require some tech chops...
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Old Apr 12, 2018, 4:52 pm
  #9  
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Funny - I just got a Raspberry Pi for this myself.

Can’t wait to get home and set it up.

Is a VPN much better than a SOCKS proxy?
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Old Apr 13, 2018, 7:08 am
  #10  
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They are different things. VPN gives you full network access between disparate networks. SOCKS proxy just provides an encrypted tunnel for a specific connection, usually HTTP.
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Old Apr 13, 2018, 9:25 am
  #11  
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
They are different things. VPN gives you full network access between disparate networks. SOCKS proxy just provides an encrypted tunnel for a specific connection, usually HTTP.
Is there a cheap and easy way to set this up at home? If a SOCKS tunnel is enough to fool my Xfinity app into thinking I am at home, and has no overhead that could degrade my streaming experience, maybe this is all I need?
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Old Apr 13, 2018, 12:35 pm
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
SOCKS proxy just provides an encrypted tunnel for a specific connection, usually HTTP.
SOCKS provides an UNENCRYPTED tunnel, technically for most any protocol, but in general now days it's generally used for HTTP/HTTPS.
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Old Apr 13, 2018, 12:43 pm
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So once you have the SOCKS connection, does all internet traffic get routed that way automatically like a VPN, or only specific ports and/or protocols?
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Old Apr 13, 2018, 1:52 pm
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Originally Posted by josephstern
So once you have the SOCKS connection, does all internet traffic get routed that way automatically like a VPN, or only specific ports and/or protocols?
SOCKS needs application support. So for example, for web traffic you need to go into your web browser settings, and configure it to point at your SOCKS proxy - then the web browser will send all traffic via it.

It can be useful if you want some traffic to go via a proxy and not other. eg, I frequently have Firefox set to use a remote SOCKS proxy, whilst Chrome does direct) - I can control where the traffic originates from by jumping between browsers.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 6:41 am
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I use pfSense on a single-board computer for my VPN/routing needs but that too requires some tech knowledge.

That said, flashing something like DD-WRT or OpenWRT on a consumer router probably isn't a huge deal for most people willing to follow instructions (unless something goes wrong and bricks the router, but that has never happened in my experience). I haven't tried setting up a VPN with those, however, so I don't recall how difficult those projects make it.
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