Hi- first time VPN user so apologies in advance. Just bought the 2 year PIA deal on ozbargain and successfully installed on this computer (green man at bottom right).
Question : this is one of 3 computers in the house- NBN through TPG. How do I allow the other computers to go through the VPN also? What about the wifi?
Im assuming the Netcomm wireless modem somehow needs to access it?
Any suggestions greatly appreciated- not getting much joy from google on this…
I second this - PIA is really easy to install on different devices. I have one account installed on a PC, android tablet and an iPhone, all work off the same username/password and I haven't really had any issues.
You're going to need a fairly high end modem or a decent router to support VPN out of the box.
Remember your router must support being a VPN client (i.e of PIA) rather than the more common VPN server (where you tunnel into your own router from OS for example). Then everything connected to the router by wireless or by cable would be going through the same VPN.
I use an Asus RT N66U Router running custom firmware (Merlin) that can do this. I think the newer ones do it out of the box?
If you do this the advantage of course is that no device on your home network will have public IP, the govt can't harvest your metadata etc (except for the fact that you are using a VPN), however all your devices will be connected at the same time through the same provider/server/ip address, and this may be a security risk depending on your particular scenario.
PIA is quite fast, but it depends on the server, and obviously if you have a VPN connection to Sweden it would be sub-optimal for games, for instance. If you have the VPN installed on each phone and device, you can easily use different servers for different purposes (Australia for un-geoblocking AU content and fast pings, UK for unblocking BBC, Switzerland for discretion, etc etc), but the disadvantage is that you forget to turn it on sometimes, and on phones the VPN client chews battery on occasion.
There are overheads associated with the use of the VPN on any device, e.g processing power, and your internet speed is limited by PIA's max, not your ISP's max. You can test speeds with online tools. My last router couldn't handle the overhead of running a VPN client and the numerous connections opened by BitTorrent without slowing down significantly.
I have an Asus Rt-AC66U. I have a static IP with my NBN provider and just don't want to have my metadata harvested. Is there any difference with in using VPN through the router or through each device (computer, android phone and tablet)? You mention something about "all your devices will be connected at the same time through the same provider/server/ip address, and this may be a security risk depending on your particular scenario." Do you mind elaborating the security risk on doing this?
How's PIA for you and speed wise?
PIA is reliable and for my purposes speed is fine. If you are downloading torrents and they are being throttled by your ISP then PIA would actually be faster. Otherwise it's dependent on the server, but will still be, in some cases, significantly slower than your normal connection.
For metadata privacy there's no real security risk in all connecting through the one PIA connection in your router - it's better (as long as you trust PIA ;-).
However if you all connect through the router, then you are logging into Google, Spotify, Banking, using Android devices with location, Browser fingerprinting etc etc, so obviously this increases the opportunities for cross referencing data and establishing your identity in retrospect.
With individual clients if you forget to activate, or visitors and televisions etc bypass then it's recorded.
PIA does use shared IP addresses, providing more plausible deniability at least.
https://helpdesk.privateinternetaccess.com/hc/en-us/articles…
One of the disadvantages of this is site blocking or Captcha requirements because sites detect 'unusual activity' coming from 'your' IP - inconvenient if it can't be easily turned off.
I just received an access denied message when I tried to post this - I was connected to PIA in Romania. Ironic.
I think using it per device is fine for your purposes, you'd still want an install on your phones for your mobile data connections anyway. No reason you can't tinker with it, though.. :-)
A cheap $20 router with ddwrt would be the best option. Find a used tplink on eBay preloaded with ddwrt.
Worst option, performance would be terrible.
Worst option, performance would be terrible.
it depends on op's nbn. we get full cable speed here.
edit. on second thought. the nbn isn't the issue, but rather the vpn endpoint. that will be the true bottleneck.
It's not the Op's internet speed that is the concern, rather the lack of processing power and RAM a $20 router will have which will result in awful speeds.
rather the lack of processing power and RAM a $20 router will have which will result in awful speeds.
that's true. we run a dozen devices on a wdr4300 with no noticeable problems. op could get away with a used $20 to $50 with ddwrt + openvpn.
It can be very convenient to be able to turn the VPN easily on and off and change locations (when looking for flights, shopping or searching local information). Easier done when PIA VPN is running on each device than when done through router.
You'll get the best performance in terms of stability and speed by installing the client on each PC you want on the VPN.
Gives you the added flexibility of easily changing servers and additional features built into the client.
thank you everyone- much appreciated- followed advice of putting onto each computer- was not aware could do that with the one account!
I just got a rt-ac68u. Any recommendation on VPN or can i set it on the router? I have no idea what I am talking about or how to set it up. I am on fttp thou
PIA is good.
Easiest way for you, install it on all your computers, I think PIA can have 5 accounts.
Or Configure your modem to use the PIA, possible on some Modems/Routers but not sure will work for yours.
Google VPN PIA yourmodem model and make :)
Or Configure VPN on raspPi run your traffic through that.
Advantage of having it on every PC that you can turn it on and off when needed.