Time to setup a VPN

tjm73

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I think it's time to setup a VPN. I have a couple year old desktop PC that I can setup with Ubuntu and use to run as my VPN host PC. I've been reading a bit and I don't want to use a service. I want to setup my own VPN so I know my info is secure as possible. I've read that some services sell info.

What has anyone used? I've been looking at OpenVPN.
 

tjm73

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Nobody? Really? I figured for sure someone would have good advice about this.
 

o2sys

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I use purevpn, I know you don’t want to use a service but it’s pretty cheap and hassle free to setup. Just slows down my bandwidth which sucks as I pay extra for my Fios for faster speeds.


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s8v4o

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It really depends on what you are trying to use the VPN for. Are you trying to obfuscate your identity to use things like KODI or surf "anonymously" or are you just trying to get a secure connection while NOT at home and using public WIFI?
 

tjm73

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My issues are security and content blocking when on public WiFi.

On wifi I have had sites blocked for content. And I am/was not surfing porn. These were legit leagal websites. Viewing them was not a crime and not porn, not that the second one should even matter. If it's not illegal, it annoys me to get blocked.

Also I was not trying to stream video or even audio. Just browsing websites.
 

Shaggy

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Why would you be on public wifi at your home or are you talk about something else when you are on your phone in public?
 

tjm73

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The VPN would add a layer of protection at home and also correct the issues stated above when I am on public WiFi with the phone. At least that is my thought. Maybe it won't.
 

s8v4o

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My issues are security and content blocking when on public WiFi.

On wifi I have had sites blocked for content. And I am/was not surfing porn. These were legit leagal websites. Viewing them was not a crime and not porn, not that the second one should even matter. If it's not illegal, it annoys me to get blocked.

Also I was not trying to stream video or even audio. Just browsing websites.

Sounds like what you are talking about is similar to trying to use Kodi. What I mean by that is some ISPs will block Kodi traffic and one of the ways to get around it is to use a paid for VPN service. By doing this you have an encrypted connection between you and the VPN so your ISP has no idea what the traffic is. OpenVPN is an open source software implementation to aid in the use of a VPN service (client and server for paid or free). You can run OpenVPN server on your DDWRT flashed router or home computer and run the client on your laptop or mobile device. All this will accomplish though with that setup is you being able to use public or unknown wifi securely without a man in the middle attack. It's good for browsing the internet while not at home if you feel that where you are might be shady but this setup will not unblock content.

What it sounds like you need is a paid service. I use Torguard. With a paid VPN service like torguard you can pick from servers all over the world. You could pick a server in the Germany if you are trying to view content only available to Germans. You can also choose between a full VPN service or a proxy service or even both. With a full VPN EVERYTHING you do on your computer will run through the VPN. While this sounds ideal you can run into issues. For example if you want to use a VPN to download some torrent files anonymously and watch Netlix you'll find that Netflix will not play because it knows you're using a VPN service. That's where the proxy service comes into play. With a proxy you can setup your torrent (or any program for that matter) to run through a socks5 protocol. By doing that you can run specific ports that the application needs to use through the proxy service obfuscating only that program from your ISP while the rest of your computer or device uses it's normal connection. I use both but I really like being able to use the proxy service. I pay right at 65/year for VPN + Proxy.

OpenVPN is just a means to an end. What I mean by that is Torguard offers client software to use with their VPN service but you can use a properly configured OpenVPN client to use with your Torguard (or any other paid service) as well, it's just software and not the service. Hope that helps and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.
 

joe_momma

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Sounds like what you are talking about is similar to trying to use Kodi. What I mean by that is some ISPs will block Kodi traffic and one of the ways to get around it is to use a paid for VPN service. By doing this you have an encrypted connection between you and the VPN so your ISP has no idea what the traffic is. OpenVPN is an open source software implementation to aid in the use of a VPN service (client and server for paid or free). You can run OpenVPN server on your DDWRT flashed router or home computer and run the client on your laptop or mobile device. All this will accomplish though with that setup is you being able to use public or unknown wifi securely without a man in the middle attack. It's good for browsing the internet while not at home if you feel that where you are might be shady but this setup will not unblock content.

What it sounds like you need is a paid service. I use Torguard. With a paid VPN service like torguard you can pick from servers all over the world. You could pick a server in the Germany if you are trying to view content only available to Germans. You can also choose between a full VPN service or a proxy service or even both. With a full VPN EVERYTHING you do on your computer will run through the VPN. While this sounds ideal you can run into issues. For example if you want to use a VPN to download some torrent files anonymously and watch Netlix you'll find that Netflix will not play because it knows you're using a VPN service. That's where the proxy service comes into play. With a proxy you can setup your torrent (or any program for that matter) to run through a socks5 protocol. By doing that you can run specific ports that the application needs to use through the proxy service obfuscating only that program from your ISP while the rest of your computer or device uses it's normal connection. I use both but I really like being able to use the proxy service. I pay right at 65/year for VPN + Proxy.

OpenVPN is just a means to an end. What I mean by that is Torguard offers client software to use with their VPN service but you can use a properly configured OpenVPN client to use with your Torguard (or any other paid service) as well, it's just software and not the service. Hope that helps and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Mind blown, and I work in the field lol.

I'm following this, as I recently picked up a KODI device and would like some protection.
 

Shaggy

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Sounds like what you are talking about is similar to trying to use Kodi. What I mean by that is some ISPs will block Kodi traffic and one of the ways to get around it is to use a paid for VPN service. By doing this you have an encrypted connection between you and the VPN so your ISP has no idea what the traffic is. OpenVPN is an open source software implementation to aid in the use of a VPN service (client and server for paid or free). You can run OpenVPN server on your DDWRT flashed router or home computer and run the client on your laptop or mobile device. All this will accomplish though with that setup is you being able to use public or unknown wifi securely without a man in the middle attack. It's good for browsing the internet while not at home if you feel that where you are might be shady but this setup will not unblock content.

What it sounds like you need is a paid service. I use Torguard. With a paid VPN service like torguard you can pick from servers all over the world. You could pick a server in the Germany if you are trying to view content only available to Germans. You can also choose between a full VPN service or a proxy service or even both. With a full VPN EVERYTHING you do on your computer will run through the VPN. While this sounds ideal you can run into issues. For example if you want to use a VPN to download some torrent files anonymously and watch Netlix you'll find that Netflix will not play because it knows you're using a VPN service. That's where the proxy service comes into play. With a proxy you can setup your torrent (or any program for that matter) to run through a socks5 protocol. By doing that you can run specific ports that the application needs to use through the proxy service obfuscating only that program from your ISP while the rest of your computer or device uses it's normal connection. I use both but I really like being able to use the proxy service. I pay right at 65/year for VPN + Proxy.

OpenVPN is just a means to an end. What I mean by that is Torguard offers client software to use with their VPN service but you can use a properly configured OpenVPN client to use with your Torguard (or any other paid service) as well, it's just software and not the service. Hope that helps and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

So how are you using VPN and the proxy? You have this setup on your DDWRT hacked router or on your desktop? With the proxy, does it hide the VPN from say Netflix?
 

joe_momma

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I'm confused as to how these work as well. Seems like the most logical way is to set something up on your router? How does it mask your modem's external IP? i'm confused....
 

tjm73

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Here I was thinking I could set up an older PC with Ubuntu and install a VPN software and configure and be on my way.
 

s8v4o

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So how are you using VPN and the proxy? You have this setup on your DDWRT hacked router or on your desktop? With the proxy, does it hide the VPN from say Netflix?

I've tried it on my ROUTER to where everything is running through the VPN service and it works but there are pitfalls to doing that. For example netflix knows when you are using a VPN and will throw an error and won't play. Some VPN providers do offer a dedicated static IP to remedy this essentially giving you an IP address that hasn't been flagged by Netflix yet.

The way I have everything setup depends on my particular needs at that time. For example using the Socks 4/5 proxy is good for using something like torrent and netflix at the same time. Again if you run the VPN service on your computer everything that accesses the net will run through it. Usually not a bad thing but again Netflix won't work. That's when it's a good idea to setup particular applications to run through Socks proxy, that way everything else still uses your normal ISP for data. Simply configure your torrent program to use socks 4/5 and then everything it does will be hidden from your ISP. Same with with KODI. If you don't want to setup KODI through a proxy you can just use the VPN service on the computer and then disconnect if you want to use NETFLIX.

I'm confused as to how these work as well. Seems like the most logical way is to set something up on your router? How does it mask your modem's external IP? i'm confused....

Think of it like this. Lets say you have an apartment complex with free wifi. All users that connect will show the same WAN IP address. Well if you use a VPN service it's like you're on their network and now your external IP address will be whatever the IP address is of the VPN server. When you have a paid VPN service you can usually pick from servers around the world. If I choose a German server I will have a German IP address. That's why every site you visit sees your VPN IP and not your real one. Of course you ISP will know you're using a VPN but they won't be able to decrypt the data and see what you're doing. Now you could actually use TOR then connect to your VPN and your ISP won't know you're using a VPN.

Here I was thinking I could set up an older PC with Ubuntu and install a VPN software and configure and be on my way.

Again you can certainly do that but what it can offer is limited. If your ISP is blocking certain content and your intent is to bypass it then your setup will not work because you are entering the net from your home IP address whether it's from your laptop or tunneling through your UBUNTU box. If you're at a place with free wifi and you want to check your bank account information without worrying about a man in the middle attack then yes you'll be able to VPN to your home UBUNTU machine and surf securely then yes that setup will work for that purpose. For you to get the blocked content you need to pretend to be somewhere you are not. You cannot do that with your home UBUNTU setup since the VPN servers IP address originates at your house.
 

06StangGT

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I've tried it on my ROUTER to where everything is running through the VPN service and it works but there are pitfalls to doing that. For example netflix knows when you are using a VPN and will throw an error and won't play. Some VPN providers do offer a dedicated static IP to remedy this essentially giving you an IP address that hasn't been flagged by Netflix yet.

The way I have everything setup depends on my particular needs at that time. For example using the Socks 4/5 proxy is good for using something like torrent and netflix at the same time. Again if you run the VPN service on your computer everything that accesses the net will run through it. Usually not a bad thing but again Netflix won't work. That's when it's a good idea to setup particular applications to run through Socks proxy, that way everything else still uses your normal ISP for data. Simply configure your torrent program to use socks 4/5 and then everything it does will be hidden from your ISP. Same with with KODI. If you don't want to setup KODI through a proxy you can just use the VPN service on the computer and then disconnect if you want to use NETFLIX.



Think of it like this. Lets say you have an apartment complex with free wifi. All users that connect will show the same WAN IP address. Well if you use a VPN service it's like you're on their network and now your external IP address will be whatever the IP address is of the VPN server. When you have a paid VPN service you can usually pick from servers around the world. If I choose a German server I will have a German IP address. That's why every site you visit sees your VPN IP and not your real one. Of course you ISP will know you're using a VPN but they won't be able to decrypt the data and see what you're doing. Now you could actually use TOR then connect to your VPN and your ISP won't know you're using a VPN.



Again you can certainly do that but what it can offer is limited. If your ISP is blocking certain content and your intent is to bypass it then your setup will not work because you are entering the net from your home IP address whether it's from your laptop or tunneling through your UBUNTU box. If you're at a place with free wifi and you want to check your bank account information without worrying about a man in the middle attack then yes you'll be able to VPN to your home UBUNTU machine and surf securely then yes that setup will work for that purpose. For you to get the blocked content you need to pretend to be somewhere you are not. You cannot do that with your home UBUNTU setup since the VPN servers IP address originates at your house.

Thanks for the info. From my understanding, I thought the VPN application would encrypt your connection so that anything transmitted from your device over the internet was unreadable. I wasn't aware that it changes it to another IP address.
I'm considering IPVanish VPN. They store zero log files so none of your internet activity is available for scrutiny. Basically they say you'll become 100% anonymous.

IPVanish VPN is offering a 67% discount currently as well. (I'm sure their prices are inflated to begin with)
 

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