VPN Wireless Router With Apple TV

[teevee]

Sorry to be a bit long-winded but here you go . . .

 

I have AIS FTTH 200/50 package (recently upgraded from 100/40 at no extra cost) and use a MacMini for streaming to an LG 65” OLED HD TV. I use Pure VPN’s excellent Chrome extension on the MacMini and control all that with a Bluetooth keyboard/trackpad. My current set up works very well for Netflix USA, BBC iPlayer and the ABC and SBS in Oz and I probably change the VPN “location” 2 or 3 times per day.

 

However, for numerous reasons, I would like to use an Apple TV 4K in place of the MacMini. The problem is of course how to use a VPN with the Apple TV. The ideal solution seems to be to use an iPad (with the Pure VPN app installed) and airplay the stream to the Apple TV but this does not work  when I use VPN on the iPad. 

 

So so it seems to me that a VPN Router is the way to go so I can use the Apple TV. As I understand it, I could install a new VPN Router alongside my existing AIS provided ZTE Modem/Router and have set up two wireless networks, one “Thai” and one VPN, and use the Apple TV with the VPN wireless network.

 

My questions are:

 

Does anyone know of a place in Bangkok where I can buy the VPN Router and maybe get some advice / expertise / help with setting it up ? (I have talked to Flashrouters in the USA who sell VPN Routers configured to specific requirements incl VPN provider). 

 

Is there an easy way to change the location of the VPN Router, are there any iOS apps or whatever that could do this ?

 

Additional info:

 

I can currently watch Netflix Thailand and WatchNRL Australia on my Apple TV or airplay same from my iPad (with PureVPN app installed) to the Apple TV. Either way gives a perfect picture and is easy to control.

 

I have installed the BBC iPlayer, ABC iView and SBS OnDemand on the Apple TV and the iPad but can’t watch what I want until I get the VPN issue sorted out.  

 

The Netflix app works well with VPN as long as you log out of Thailand and then log into the USA, or vice versa. 

[TonyBB]

I set up a secondary WiFi router so I could have a dedicated SSID that is always connected to VPN in US, as you describe. It has worked fairly well for us. I did it for the same reason you describe, having an AppleTV that is always connected to VPN,

 

It's been a long time since I set this up, and I am currently not in Thailand to look at the configuration, so I cannot give you much detail. But basically I got an ASUS WiFi router and I replaced the factory software with Merlin router software. (see:  https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca)  The Merlin software supports OpenVPN. You can configure OpenVPN to connect automatically and to reconnect if it loses connection anytime. If you have an account with a VPN provider that has servers in US - servers that are working with Netflix and other things you want to access - then you configure the router to connect to one of those servers.

 

I connected my "vpn router" on the LAN side of my primary router. So the traffic is going through 2 levels of NAT. There are nicer ways to set this up if you are a networking jock and you get into the details of setting up custom routing rules and so on.... you could set up everything on a single router. But my simple-minded approach with the secondary router works fine. 

 

Another resource if you want to learn about setups like this is the forum at https://www.snbforums.com/forums/asuswrt-merlin.42/ .  It seems like this is a common thing people do when they need a dedicated VPN for an AppleTV.

 

Good luck!

[Xentrk]

I recently configured an Asus RT-AC86U for a friend.  I configured the OpenVPN client to TorGuard's private streaming media server in USA so he can watch all kinds of geo restricted content from USA on his Apple TV.  Just make sure you configure the Region setting on the Apple TV to be the country you are trying to access.  I assign a static DHCP address for the Apple TV.  I then configure the Apple TV to use the OpenVPN client in the Web menu.  All of his other devices use native WAN.  You can read more about how this works using the links to my blog site below.

 

https://x3mtek.com/why-i-use-torguard-as-my-vpn-provider/

https://x3mtek.com/torguard-openvpn-2-4-client-setup-for-asuswrt-merlin-firmware/

https://x3mtek.com/router-firmware-supported-by-torguard/

 

Let me know if you have questions. I recommend the Asus AC86U for most people as it has the best CPU for OpenVPN performance for a consumer grade router and is packed with many features.  I have written some programs to perform selective routing for the Asus routers running Asuswrt-Merlin firmware.  I route some traffic to LA, some to my private streaming IP and BBC to my private streaming IP in the UK.  My provider is TorGuard.  They are able to get around the VPN blocks of Netflix, Hulu and BBC.   

Edited May 30, 2018 by Xentrk

[teevee]

Further to my original post and thanks for the advice received . . .

 

I went out and bought an Asus AC68U at Fortune IT Mall for 6,800 baht to use as my vpn router.  Got home and had it set up and running in a few hours, the Apple TV is now connected to the VPN router and to date the new set up has worked perfectly. 

 

Note that I have the vpn router set up as a secondary router and am running a PPTP VPN which was very easy to set up (will try and set up an Open VPN sometime soon as that appears to be the best choice and an intellectual challenge for a slow day). I also switched off the 2.4G WiFi channel and am only running the 5G channel (supposedly faster and more reliable) as the connected devices (Apple TV, PS4 and dedicated (old) iPad are all relatively close to the router (my son can now watch US Netflix on his PS4 while the the old iPad is used to change the VPN location very easily with the Asus software by logging into the router).

[TonyBB]

Glad to hear this worked out for you!

 

May I ask... Are you using a VPN service or is it your own server back in US?  I have been using NordVPN. Every so often, Netflix or AmazonPrime will figure out that an IP address is a VPN server and they will black-list it. So I will have to hunt around for another NordVPN server address that still works. I'm at our place in Thailand now, after having been away for a while, and I'm faced with this problem again. Appreciate if you have tips on VPN provider that has better luck connecting to Netflix, etc.