KhunHeineken

Are you on a Vet's pension or the OAP? There's a big difference between the two.

I am not getting bent out of shape. You have been informed of many solutions. You just need to make a start chose one. It's been over 2 months now. As I said, what works today, may not work next week. You are trying to circumvent their security. Whatever method/s you tried, you will still be in Thailand. These companies have some smart guys working on trying to lock out people, such as yourself, who are accessing these platforms from abroad. Why do they care where you sign in from? If it's not a breach of their T & C's, is it a taxation issue? The dongles work for me, for all the sites that geo block me, and speeds are good. As you are, I also did my research before buying them. There was a risk I bought them and Foxtel still had a way of detecting I was outside my home country, but after trying many things, I gave it a go, and they worked for me. I know you don't want to waste money on a solution that does not work, but the dongles are your cheapest solution to start with. I think the dongles will work, without VmWare, but it's the ID verification that is interesting. If you are using Google Authenticator, in an android phone, with a Thai sim card, on a Thai ISP for internet, with location services turned on, maybe that's your issue, not the VPN and the IP Addresses you are using. Let us know what method you decide to start with, and the outcome, but possibly try a different method of authentication first. I mean, to my knowledge, a US telco doesn't tell Ebay, Instagram and Amazon where their text message was received.

What authentication app are you using? Is it Google Authenticator? Perhaps that app is linked to Google Location Services and / or IP Address. Have you tried 2 Step Authentication with a US sim card phone number? So you might have to be prepared to put up with a bit of "nonsense" verifying yourself, after all, you are trying to circumvent their security measures. Have you tried a different method of ID verification? What are others that are doing similar business to you doing to get around this ID verification? As I said, what's wrong with a US sim card and receiving a code by text message every time you want to sign in?

Ok, so how are they verifying your identity?

USB stick, or HDMI stick? I'll ask again, why does it have to be a remote control, rather than a wireless keyboard / mouse, which could also be a mini?

Surely Services Australia are informed about outbound travel.

Maybe it's a site blocked in Thailand. Eg. porn. Maybe it's a site with IP addresses outside of the host country turned off for access. Difficult to troubleshoot without know what the site is.

That's a problem with Thai Post, not the Bangkok Post.

Don't you mean, "See what it's like to have Bing's new AI search feature use you?"

As I just posted, why do you think these platforms shut you down just because you were in Thailand? Could it be whatever business you are conducting breaches their T & C's?

What makes you think the platforms you use are blocking you due to their fingerprinting? Out of interest, I have no problem accessing Ebay and Amazon in Thailand. I use both platforms to have gifts sent to people back home for birthdays etc. I have no problem accessing Facebook here, neither do millions of tourists that are constantly uploading there holiday photos to Facebook. I don't have an Instagram account, but I am sure many expats and tourists do, and I have never been in a discussion where I have heard complaints Instagram will not work for them in Thailand. Perhaps you are breaching some other T & C of these platforms, rather than being out of The USA. Are you selling counterfeit goods online?

Yes, you are overly concerned. As I have said previously, your idea of using Team Viewer / Any Desk will work. You have also been told of other methods that will work. Your method, and some of the others, are costly, involves your IT guy configuring hardware, are energy inefficient, unreliable (HDD's etc) and are reliant on your sister's ongoing assistance. I offered AlwaysHome as a cheap, factory pre configured, energy efficient, reliable, and independent solution that does not rely on an IT guy or your sister. They are plug and play. I gave you an example of one of the hardest sport streaming geo blocked apps I have had to deal with, and AlwaysHome worked for me for Foxtel. Do Instagram and the other sites you mentioned have harder geo blocking than Foxtel, I don't know. This thread has been running for two months, with over 190 posts. You have been given many solutions. Can anyone guarantee they will work 100% for you, not really. Can anyone guarantee they will work 100% for you next week, not really. You may have to be prepared to try multiple solutions before you get one working for you. On that basis, why don't you start with the cheapest and easiest option for you?

USB storage can plug straight into the USB port on the TV for direct play. In any case, not much difference between a remote and wireless mini keyboard / mouse combo, which mean any mini PC would suffice.

Perhaps an Amazon Fire Stick would do the job for you. They plug into the HDMI port of a TV and and come with a remote control.

I wrote a lengthy post about how they work, perhaps read it again. All your sister does is plug it in to power, and a port on the back of her router. Nothing to do with he computer. She can throw her computer in the bin and your dongles will still work. Nothing to do with when she sleeps. Nothing to do with when she goes out. Nothing to do with when she has dinner. There is nothing else for her to do, ever again. I have explained that people have been doing what these dongles do for years, using other hardware. This needs configuring. The dongles are pre configured and work straight out of the box. Like I said in my post, you plug your dongle in to power and into the back of your router in Thailand, and then connect to its WiFi signal, and you are now on your sister's network. It's that easy. Your are being scared off with the use of words like "fingerprinting." I understand what these members are saying, but these dongles just work. I tested mine extensively. I tested it with "vanilla" browsers, and browsers with extensions. I accessed movie streaming, sports streaming, radio streaming, banking, online shopping, gambling websites etc, and even tested it from the Thailand side and accessed porn sites. I could access all websites I tried. Speed tests were good. The dongles handled everything I threw at them. What more can I say? You have a basic youtube video showing how it works. The company has a website with information about them on there. For me, Foxtel with Fox Sports was a difficult website for me to access in Thailand, particularly on Android. I have a paid Foxtel subscription. I believe Foxtel use the phone's location services to get around you using a VPN, that's on top of them blocking most of the commercial VPN servers on the market. Turn off location services in your phone and the Foxtel App says you must turn on location services to access your account. I tried location spoofing apps and many other work arounds, none of them worked. I tried with the dongles and I have Foxtel on my big screen in Thailand. Don't ask me about the technical side of why, because like I said, they just work. I think a simplified way to explain these dongles is to think of them as an imaginary 14,000 kilometer ethernet cable between your sister's router in America and your computer in Thailand. If you look at it that way, you will see that however these dongles work, it's as good as sitting in your sister's house on her internet. I would be surprised if your experience was different to mine.

What I found interesting was the reaction of the other customers sitting just a few meters away, some with their backs turned. There was no reaction at all. They kept on drinking and talking. How bad it must be there to be so used to that behavior that you don't even turn to look at what's going on?

If you have that property as a base in case something goes terribly wrong in Thailand, like your health, then sure, keep the property regardless of the market. However, if that property is purely an investment, why hold onto it. Here's an article showing house prices dropping $1000 in Sydney. You wouldn't keep shares if they were performing that badly. https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/house-values-falling-nearly-1000-a-day-as-rba-warns-of-uncertainty-ahead-20220831-p5be8w.html

There are browser extensions to get around that. There are many, but here's one. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/canvas-fingerprint-defend/lanfdkkpgfjfdikkncbnojekcppdebfp?hl=en

Some of what you say is correct, some is incorrect. This company offers a one dongle solution as well. The home proxy dongle is in your home country, and you access it through their server, from anywhere in the world. This is the paid subscription. I have tried this also. It works, but speeds are slower. For a little extra cost, if you buy a companion dongle, there's no subscription and the speeds are faster. I said in another post, it's getting technical, but I think they use GRE, but don't quote me on that. For all I know they could be using Wireguard, a super secure and super fast VPN protocol. What I think is inside these dongles is basically something like a condensed version of Raspberry Pi. People have been setting up Raspberry Pi's to talk to each other in the same way as these dongles. Here's another company with a similar product. Buy two of these, he can do the same as the dongles. https://firewalla.com The OP could also buy one of these and have his IT guy put Wireguard on it, and send him the Config' File, and he can VPN back to it. If he buys two of these, can can do the same as the dongles. https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mt300n-v2/ These dongles are not anything super special. People have been setting up a tunnel on their router to a remote router for years. The reason I suggested the dongles is the company pre configures them All his sister has to do is plug it in, and all he has to do is plug it in and connect to it's WiFi. Using other hardware needs some configuring, and extra cost. It's not like these dongles break the bank, so why not save the grief and just buy a set that are ready to go out of the box?

This is getting technical now, but I believe they use a GRE tunnel, but don't quote me on this.

You're welcome. For everyday internet use like this forum, I use the home router with Thai ISP. When I want to access something geo blocked, I just switch to the dongles Wifi signal and can access anything from my home country. They work well.

Being portable is better than not being portable, isn't it? I actually use a laptop with a docking station. Connected to the docking station is a big monitor, printer, and a wireless keyboard and mouse. When in the docking station, the laptop acts like a desktop. The lid remains closed, but the computer is running and I am using it. When I want to lay on the lounge with it, or travel, I just remove it from the docking station and it becomes a laptop again. Perfect. A laptop would be like an AIO, compared to a mini PC with all the peripherals. (monitor, keyboard, mouse) The OP mentioned he liked the 18.5" screen of his AIO. They make laptops with 19" screens now. I know there is a solution to his problem. If you read the post I made I said I looked at his AIO's specs and it's way behind the times in many other things, not just small memory. I suggested he would get a better internet experience with a new device, even if it was a base model, and with his AIO having just 1.1Ghz processor, I stand by that, not to mention HD screens etc. Rather than take my word for it, I suggested he goes and plays with even a cheap one in an electronics shop and see for himself. He can add a TB of SSD memory to his AIO, but he's still stuck with the same old CPU, GPU and RAM which, although work fine, he could get a significantly better internet experience by upgrading.

When you see how "snappy" (fast) the tablet is, you might find yourself wanting that for your regular internet usage. It will feel like a chore to use your old AIO after using your tablet.

To be honest, anything would be better than what the OP currently has. Computers are lick that blunt razor that you keep on squeezing one last shave out of. Then, when you use a new razor, you realize how bad the blunt one was. OP, your current computer is very "blunt." Use a new one.

I hinted to the OP a laptop would be the way to go. A laptop would also be better than a mini PC because they are completely portable. With a mini PC, you need a monitor, or cables to go into a TV, a keyboard, and possibly a portable SSD / HDD. A laptop has them all onboard, and can still plug it into a TV for movies / sport for a better viewing experience. Like I said, coming from the All In One that the OP has been using, even a cheap base model laptop would give the OP an internet experience way above what he's been used to, so on that basis, I don't think he will need any RAM upgrades etc to a laptop.