I will be working from home this winter and want to set up multiple VPNs. Right now, my employer has a split VPN to the office which works fine for now at home. However, when I use random Wi-Fi, I’d like to set up a VPN router to my VPN provider to protect all my traffic, including my work traffic even if I shouldn’t need to, but oh well.
One problem with using the VPN provider is that they would assign a datacenter IP, which might get blocked by my work. I need to check with them about this. If that’s an issue, I’m thinking about a VPN to my home. I have a Virgin Media hub (I live in the UK) that doesn’t support a VPN.
So, I think I’ll need to buy a Raspberry Pi, install VPN software, and open a firewall port on the existing router to allow access to the Raspberry Pi. Is that right? I don’t want to change settings on the existing router because others use it, so I don’t want to set it to modem mode.
Given all this, is this the best and most affordable way?
Elliot said:
Check out piVPN. Setting it up is really easy! You’ll need to forward a port on your router, but that’s not too hard if your router allows it.
So I think I need to buy a Raspberry Pi, install VPN software, and open a firewall port on my existing router to allow access to the Raspberry Pi. Is that correct? I don’t want to change the settings on the existing router since it’s shared with others, so I don’t want to set it to modem mode.
Is your router fully open to the public internet? I’m not sure how things work in the UK, but in China, the residential internet is often behind an ISP firewall. If that’s true, you’ll have to ask your ISP:
For a static IP address so you can always connect to the same IP at home
To open the port you want to use on their firewall.
One more thing to keep in mind is if anything on your router is exposed to the public internet, it can quickly become a target for port scanners and automated attacks. If you take this route, make sure to use a really strong password and keep your firmware and software updated!
Page said: @Finnley
Ideally, I’ll update a DNS record in Route 53 with my changing IP. I’m not sure how I would do that, though.
You could set up a script that checks icanhazip.com regularly, then automatically updates the DNS record when it changes. I’ve used the Cloudflare API for something like that.
I want to set up a VPN router to my VPN provider to protect all my traffic, including my work traffic which I shouldn’t need to, but oh well.
Just to be clear, if your work traffic goes through the split VPN, then there’s really no need for a second VPN to hide it. That would just be unnecessary.
If you care about your personal traffic, then it could make sense, but I argue that using VPNs just to secure your browsing traffic on public Wi-Fi is usually overblown. Most websites use HTTPS, which is more than enough to keep your login details and other sensitive information safe.
Page said: @Ridge
I’ve always wondered about the safety of using random Wi-Fi and VPNs, considering, as you mentioned, that most websites are encrypted.
Definitely. VPN ads often exaggerate the issues. They make it sound worse than it really is. The reality is that probably about 90% of internet users don’t really need a VPN even on public Wi-Fi, but a VPN provider isn’t going to tell you that. They’ll offer solutions to problems that aren’t really there.
In my opinion, nowadays, commercial VPNs mainly cater to people who Torrent or want to bypass geo-restrictions. Those are the main reasons that still matter.
Decide if you want to run the VPN through your router or directly on each device. Running it through the router takes more setup, but it covers everything connected to your network without needing different apps. But if you install a VPN app on each device, you’ll have more control over how and when you use it.
For the VPN itself, a good starting point is that VPN Comparison Table pinned in this forum. It’s a handy tools to help narrow down and compare different options.