Roku

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I've used a couple of different solutions with my Roku stick at home.

The one I ended up sticking with was adding a DD-WRT router in a daisy chain with my True Online-issued router at home. On the DD-WRT router, I run a VPN service that gives me good speed connections to the U.S., perfectly fine for Roku apps. When I want a local IP, I connect via wifi to my True router. When I want a U.S. IP such as for the Roku stick, I connect via wifi to my DD-WRT router.

Before that, I tried a couple of DNS redirect services, but had problems with a couple of them, apparently because of their compatibility with True Online due to True's use of silent proxies. For other than True customers, the various DNS services should work fine. I believe I was able to get one of the DNS services working OK with True, that being UnoTelly.

Trying to use a Roku only with Thailand-enabled apps seems like trying to run a race with both feet tied behind your back.

[chama]

Looks like the traffic here ended but I'm hoping someone is still monitoring! I am moving to Thailand and bringing my Ruko. My condo has an exclusive agreement with True which uses a selective transparent proxy. I hear this will stop me, even with a VPN. Does anyone know if this is true? And if it is not do I need to bring a router with me or should it be left here and just access it through the VPN? Also interested in knowing a proven VPN provider so I go into an agreement with a company that can really deliver the desired service.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

AFAIK, using a DD-WRT type router-based VPN solution should work fine with a Roku box, in terms of not showing a Thai internet connection.

And, I don't believe True's use of transparent proxies should in any way inhibit you from running a router-based VPN solution.

The one issue I've struggled with, is having (lacking) the technical knowledge to correctly set up my DD-WRT router in tandem with the router-cable model combo that True issues its customers. By that, I mean turning off the DHCP function on the True router, and setting the correct IP values so the two routers don't conflict with each other.

It was simpler in the past when True just provided the cable modem only, and you had your own router, which could be a VPN router. But now, if you want to use your own VPN router, you have to get it to play nice with the router-modem combo that True will give you.

AFAIK, I don't believe you can replace True's router-modem combo with one you might have or purchase of your own from outside Thailand. Or, at least, I've never found any report here of anyone being able to successfully do that.

[BudRight]

Correct me if I'm wrong please.... But as I understand it.

The Roku HDMI streaming stick only connects via wifi (no Ethernet) and has no user available VPN/DNS settings. So, with that device, the only way to get an IP from a particular country is to have that IP delivered over wifi, basically via a router-based VPN or DNS redirector. I have the Roku HDMI stick here at my BKK home.

In JimFox's case, he has a MacBook Air laptop and is looking at a Roku 3 device. The Roku 3 also, like the stick, has no user configurable VPN or DNS settings in the unit. The MacBook is getting its internet via his apartment complex's wifi and then using a software VPN to provide the necessary IP for his computer.

But, he doesn't have any router or way to feed the internet from his laptop to the Roku. So, the Roku 3, even though it has an Ethernet port that could be used/directly connected by people who are running their own in-home routers, in his case is still going to be relying on the complex's Thai IP wifi, which he has no ability to (location-shift) change.

He just needs to secure a router with DD-WRT or Tomato (my favorite) and put it into "wireless bridge mode," then setup the VPN on the router. It will rebroadcast the apartment WiFi on a new network with all traffic going through the VPN.

You can flash the router to Tomato yourself with a bit of work or buy one already flashed.

[BudRight]

Looks like the traffic here ended but I'm hoping someone is still monitoring! I am moving to Thailand and bringing my Ruko. My condo has an exclusive agreement with True which uses a selective transparent proxy. I hear this will stop me, even with a VPN. Does anyone know if this is true? And if it is not do I need to bring a router with me or should it be left here and just access it through the VPN? Also interested in knowing a proven VPN provider so I go into an agreement with a company that can really deliver the desired service.

1. If your VPN uses 128bit AES over SSL, there's not much they could do about it without blocking all SSL and thus most of the web. These protocols are designed to protect against a Man In the Middle Attack, which is what True is doing.

2. You bring your router and connect your router it to their network in bridge mode (or your own modem in access point mode) and setup the VPN on the router. You can actually order, flash and test a router before you go. The condo people and/or True might lie and say you need special software. You don't. Just pretend you understand and give the username and password to your router. The network will not know the difference.

3. There are many VPNs and review sites. Google is your friend.

[kjun12]

Reading through the booklet, it clearly states that the plug is for 120V. It says "Power port - Connects your Roku player to a 120V AC power source with the included power adapter." This would be my first obstacle. That wasn't a big deal because I have a Japanese model X-Box. To run this, I need to use a transformer. Luckily, I had that on hand, and I don't use the X-Box too often. It wasn't a big deal to use the transformer primarily for the Roku, so that's what I did. I find it interesting that another poster here said that the power adapter could handle the 220V system here. It isn't something I am willing to test myself though. I am no expert in terms of electronics, so I am curious to know if another adapter that can handle the 220V input but has the same output would work. Do any of you know? I could make the trip to Panthip and fo find one that has the exact specifications I am looking for. I am not sure why Roku would go through the trouble of making two different boxes or adapters considering they are also sold in the UK. From an economics perspective, they would gain better economies of scale and greater profits if they made one uniform product that worked in all of the markets they served. Let me know if you think my proposed solution would work!

This didn't deter me. Despite being confused by reading so many pages, one thing was clear to me. There are people out there who live in Thailand who have made their Roku boxes work with content from the US. I knew that it was possible. I am not the most technically savvy person in the world, but I know how to operate a computer. I knew that I could figure it out even if it seemed overwhelming. As I continued reading, I discovered that most people who were successful in getting their Roku boxes to work seemed to have something in common. They all used a service called Unblock-us. There were a few who used different VPNs, but the vast majority of people running the box in Thailand used them. I had my wife reading about it in Thai, and that was also the service of choice on the Thai forums she was reading. So, I signed up for their free trial. I had gotten familiar with a lot of the terminology, so I wasn't phased by instructions like "Change the DNS settings on your router", etc. Thankfully, Unlock-US had pretty clear instructions.

I was done with the process of setting everything up. I had changed the DNS settings on my router because you cannot do it inside the Roku box. This means that all of my devices connected to that router can now stream Netflix and other content that is restricted to viewing in the United States. I can watch on my computer, iPad, iPhone, etc. They are all running through the same router for internet access. Suddenly, the user interface for Roku was entirely different. I had a million more options at my disposal. I had the ever so important Netflix at my disposal. I had Amazon Prime there. Hulu Plus was there. Free channels like Crackle were there too. I added CBS News and was streaming stories from 60 Minutes that aired the previous Sunday night in the states in moments. I found the golden ticket to media consumption in Thailand, as I hate consuming media through a computer screen!

It was mentioned, that Roku isn't free. Well, it is free to a point. If you are satisfied with the free offerings that don't have geographical restrictions, it is free. I have the Roku 3 which will accept USB drives and SD cards. I can play media I have downloaded from these sources as well. For whatever reason, the picture quality does look substantially better if I plug my USB stick into the Roku rather than plugging it into the TV directly or plug it into my DVD player. The DVD player produces a better picture quality than the TV does. The Roku box outperforms the DVD player. I don't know why give the source is exactly the same file, but that has been my experience.

That turned out to be quite long. I hope it was informative and didn't bore you to death with too many details. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I love my ROKU.

The author of the above dissertation did a fine job of explaining how to connect your ROKU but I have several cavaets to what he said.

First, the power adapter provided by ROKU does work on 220 volt connections. You do not need an additional converter.

Next, if you are using 3BB as your provider and you have a Fiber Optics connection with them then they will provide you a router for this kind of service. Now comes the catch: you cannot change the dns on this router. Answer is to buy an additional router and to connect this router to the 3BB router. Then you simply connect your ROKU to that second router.

When it comes to the different VPNs available, there are several available. I use Smart DNS but this is not necessarily an endorsement of that service because I found it a bit difficult to set up. The author of the above dissertation makes Unblock-us sound very easy to set up. Most of these services offer a free period of time to try out their product so you should take advantage of this and try several before you decide which to use.

Last, I do suggest you read his entire dissertation because I did not copy all of it and he provides additional information.

If I can help further please let me know.

[kjun12]

if you want to go the stick route, get the Amazon Fire TV Stick, then google how to install Kodi on it. Then the world is your hamster.

Kodi is a great animal. I love it as much as my ROKU.

[genobkk]

Roku 3 has big issues if you are using SMART DNS to watch Netflix. Their is a work around by blocking Google DNS servers but some routers may not allow this. If you use a commercialVPN it slows things down a lot but unless you have a bit to tech knowledge with Roku 3 you are stuck to a VPN and Hula will know this and block you from viewing Best advise stick to Roku 2

[kjun12]

Roku 3 has big issues if you are using SMART DNS to watch Netflix. Their is a work around by blocking Google DNS servers but some routers may not allow this. If you use a commercialVPN it slows things down a lot but unless you have a bit to tech knowledge with Roku 3 you are stuck to a VPN and Hula will know this and block you from viewing Best advise stick to Roku 2

I have experienced no such problems with my ROKU 3. Perhaps you do not have Smart DNS set up correctly.

[genobkk]

I do tech support from overplay.net says Roku 3 is set up to fall back to Google DNS for netflix. Hula, PA Dora all work but no netflix and my setting are correct

[Johnny9]

On 10/26/2015 at 1:49 AM, genobkk said:

Roku 3 has big issues if you are using SMART DNS to watch Netflix. Their is a work around by blocking Google DNS servers but some routers may not allow this. If you use a commercialVPN it slows things down a lot but unless you have a bit to tech knowledge with Roku 3 you are stuck to a VPN and Hula will know this and block you from viewing Best advise stick to Roku 2

How do you set DNS ? .... Thanks