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turtle777 · Sep 5, 2010, 12:41 AM

For those of you that travel overseas and would like to keep watching Netflix (on iPad, iPhone or a MB(P), I finally found an inexpensive solution.

As you know, Netflix doesn't allow access if your IP is deemed outside of the US.
Of course, there are tons of VPN services out there that cost a monthly or yearly subscription fee.

Much cheaper and easier: set up your home Mac as a VPN server with iVPN (costs £14.99).

iVPN enables a L2TP or PPTP VPN server on regular OS X clients, a functionality that normally is only available with OS X Server. You use a local WiFI or 3G connection to open up a VPN connection. At that point, your outside world IP becomes the same as your home Mac (acting as a server).
Of course, you better have a ISP that provides sufficient up- and downstream bandwidth.

iVPN is fairly simple to set up, and seems to work well. I have tested it with my iPhone (via 3G), my iPad (via Wifi) and my MBP (Wifi).
Only problem with Airport Extreme: PPTP doesn't work (for some reason), so if you have an Airport Extreme, just use L2TP.

Of course, iVPN allows also all other VPN functionalities, so go and knock yourselves out. Cheers.

-t

besson3c · Sep 5, 2010, 01:04 AM

Interesting idea Turtle, I've been toying with similar sorts of solutions although with OpenVPN and my Linode VPS. What would concern me with iVPN though with watching Netflix and Hulu is whether my home Mac had the upload bandwidth that would be needed to watch video without stuttering, I suspect that it wouldn't.

What happens when you try an anonymous web-based proxy service with web-based services such as Hulu? Any Canadians want to try accessing Hulu movies by entering the URL here?

Online Anonymous Proxy

I suspect there isn't enough bandwidth here either, but...

subego · Sep 5, 2010, 01:08 AM

Note to cheapskates: you can get a VPN going on a regular OS X client (at least in 10.4) by dicking around in the terminal.

besson3c · Sep 5, 2010, 01:11 AM

Originally Posted by subego

Note to cheapskates: you can get a VPN going on a regular OS X client (at least in 10.4) by dicking around in the terminal.

IPSec or PPTP?

subego · Sep 5, 2010, 01:14 AM

It was long enough ago I don't remember.

Edit: looks like PPTP.

besson3c · Sep 5, 2010, 01:19 AM

FYI, if anybody wants a freebie VPN server for OS X (not to take anything away from turtle's suggestion), I'm sure there are others and probably easier ways to go about this, I haven't done any search on Mac solutions, but one possible solution is a VM + OpenVPN running under Linux. OpenVPN is provided in Ubuntu as a very easy-to-install package available through its repository, and config of OpenVPN is pretty much just a single config file + key creation.

Another important thing though if you are looking to get Netflix and Hulu to work...

Make sure the VPN solution you are looking for supports tunneling *all* traffic through it, rather than just traffic to the private VLAN created by the VPN.

besson3c · Sep 5, 2010, 01:23 AM

Originally Posted by subego

It was long enough ago I don't remember.

Edit: looks like PPTP.

Obviously this is not an issue for the objectives of this thread, but just FYI for those researching VPNs in general, PPTP is thought to be fairly insecure compared to IPSec which is what is implemented into newer versions of OS X Server (I believe). I can't really tell you why this is, but perhaps this is worth looking into.

turtle777 · Sep 5, 2010, 02:15 AM

Originally Posted by subego

It was long enough ago I don't remember.

Edit: looks like PPTP.

Yeah, good luck making it work with the Airport Extreme

Plus, not sure if this still works with 10.5 or 10.6.

-t

turtle777 · Sep 5, 2010, 02:17 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

What would concern me with iVPN though with watching Netflix and Hulu is whether my home Mac had the upload bandwidth that would be needed to watch video without stuttering, I suspect that it wouldn't.

Yes, you need a fairly good connection.

It works for me, though. I just watched something on the ABC app on my iPad. No stutters or anything.

-t

subego · Sep 5, 2010, 03:59 AM

Never mind. Slow on the uptake.

brassballs · Sep 9, 2010, 06:57 AM

I would suppose that you would need to travel often outside the US justify setting up you own VPN (or do it as a favor for friends who live abroad).

The only issue that I really see is getting enough bandwidth to make this work with media streaming like Netflix (and aren't most ISP implementing bandwidth shaping nowadays).

I'm an American in north Europe and I using a VPN service based in the US specifically for media streaming (1 Gbit/s Connection) www.VPNTelevision.com

I paid $55 dollars for a year - it is the cheapest solution I have found that is actually reliable and fast enough to watch Hulu or Netflix.

Yet, I will try out iVPN to see how it performs, I have a 10MBit upload bandwidth.

/Brass

turtle777 · Sep 9, 2010, 08:37 AM

Yeah, I travel overseas about once a month.

I looked into commercial providers, but thought the yearly fees of at least $50 were a bit steep.
Since I have the bandwidth, iVPN is really a cost-effective solution.

-t

Phileas · Sep 9, 2010, 09:22 AM

For those living outside the US, strongvpn.com is cheap, fast and reliable, at $55.00/year.

Edit: Never mind, VPNTelevision and Strong VPN are the same company.

turtle777 · Sep 22, 2010, 11:38 PM

I'm sad to report: didn't work from Europe.

There is something that Netflix does to detect that kind of VPN setup.

I'm sure the VPN worked, since I was able to use the ABC app to watch via VPN, but Netflix just wouldn't work.

Weird.

-t

besson3c · Sep 22, 2010, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

I'm sad to report: didn't work from Europe.

There is something that Netflix does to detect that kind of VPN setup.

I'm sure the VPN worked, since I was able to use the ABC app to watch via VPN, but Netflix just wouldn't work.

Weird.

-t

Are you sure that your VPN filters all traffic through it and doesn't just create a private network like most VPNs do by default (I believe)?

reader50 · Sep 23, 2010, 02:04 AM

It's possible Netflix is blocking your VPN's IPs. The solution would be to try a different VPN with different IP addresses. Some offer a free trial, others you'd have to buy one month from for testing.

What kind of error messages are you getting? Have you tried turning off your other network connections, to force Netflix to go through the VPN?

turtle777 · Sep 23, 2010, 07:16 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Are you sure that your VPN filters all traffic through it and doesn't just create a private network like most VPNs do by default (I believe)?

Yes, I had the "all traffic" button checked.

-t

turtle777 · Sep 23, 2010, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by reader50

It's possible Netflix is blocking your VPN's IPs. The solution would be to try a different VPN with different IP addresses. Some offer a free trial, others you'd have to buy one month from for testing.

Not really, since my VPNs IP is my home IP (using iVPN on my iMac).
I can watch Netflix at home w/o a problem.

It's something else. I can't figure it out.

-t

Cold Warrior · Sep 23, 2010, 09:20 PM

What did you go with, l2tp or pptp? Any ipsec or encryption?

Maybe it's a NAT & UDP issue, if netflix uses udp to stream.

turtle777 · Sep 23, 2010, 09:35 PM

L2TP (PPTP doesn't work with Airport Extremes, it's a bug in the AEX).

Not sure re: ipsec or encryption - I assumed that VPN traffic is automatically encrypted (I checked "send all traffic" on the clients).

What's weird is that it works when I use the VPN from a US-based WiFi router.

-t

Cold Warrior · Sep 23, 2010, 10:36 PM

If not a wifi router, what's the setup you were using?

turtle777 · Sep 23, 2010, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior

If not a wifi router, what's the setup you were using?

At home (Server):

Cable Modem - Airport Extreme - iMac (running iVPN) [all connections ethernet]

iPhone, iPad (Client):

WiFi hotspot - WiFi - VPN

-t

ibookster · Oct 13, 2010, 02:57 PM

I live in Denmark and I have used the Netflix on both the iPhone and iPad with great success. I have written a tutorial on the subject here: How to Use Netflix on the iPad From Outside the US | Danish webdesign - Copenhagen based freelance webdesigner Thomas Fals

Cold Warrior · Oct 13, 2010, 10:38 PM

I've been using strongvpn for a few weeks while in and out of hotels and have been happy with it.

Still seems odd though that it wouldn't work with iVPN. It smells like NAT & UDP problems. VPN servers can create a subnet for clients, not necessarily bridging and assigning IPs on the home LAN subnet. And you may run into issues if the remote client's LAN is using the same private IP and subnet scheme as the VPN network.

Next time you travel you could try directly connecting your iMac to the cable modem, cutting out one NAT and allowing you to try PPTP. Another option would be to set the airport's 'default host' to your iMac, that way your iMac is in the DMZ, which should remove it from the airport NAT and PPTP issue (maybe).

turtle777 · Oct 14, 2010, 03:45 AM

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior

Next time you travel you could try directly connecting your iMac to the cable modem, cutting out one NAT and allowing you to try PPTP. Another option would be to set the airport's 'default host' to your iMac, that way your iMac is in the DMZ, which should remove it from the airport NAT and PPTP issue (maybe).

Thanks, good idea. I'll try that next time.

-t

arcadiabc · Jan 7, 2011, 10:53 PM

Hi,

How did you get this working with ivpn? On my network settings I tried turning on "Send all traffic over VPN connections" but it wont work. When I try to browse I dont get any connections. When I turn it off I can browse just fine, but not traffic is going through my vpn.

To make sure all is working as it should, I can VNC and manage files just fine. I am just not able to tunnel browesing traffic to be able to use Pandora or Netflix.

A mini guide would greatly help to those who might be considering spending money on this.

Thanks,

Athens · Jan 7, 2011, 11:06 PM

I've been using hotspot shield for a year to get access to Hulu and US networks with locational restrictions. Works for the most part pretty good. Though sometimes I have to connect twice to get through. Once in a while it will detect its a proxy.

turtle777 · Jan 7, 2011, 11:07 PM

Actually, if you read carefully through the posts, you'll notice how I couldn't get it working when traveling in Europe.
The VPN setup generally worked in the US.

I haven't gotten around testing it some more, maybe later this month.

-t

arcadiabc · Jan 7, 2011, 11:47 PM

Thanks for the Reply.

I am in Hong Kong for the month and will continue testing. If I have any success I will report back.

Dex13 · Jan 11, 2011, 06:58 AM

ssh [email protected] -D 12345

use firefox or system preferences

done

indigoimac · Jan 11, 2011, 11:24 AM

As a simple check if you go to something like IPchicken is the IP displayed your US one or your current one? I kind of doubt that hulu or netflix are putting much effort into blocking people beyond checking their IP.

I just set up something similar using osx server and l2tp for a friend of mine travelling in europe and it's quite touchy on the client side. All that said, I'll report back as to what happens. If I have any doubt it would be with netflix which seems to be a little bit more elaborate, but stuff like cbs, hulu, etc should work fine with just an ip check.

Also, to whoever asked, you can setup l2tp via terminal in client as well -- ivpn (and whatever the other one is) are just guis for raccoon -- as is the osx server panel.

turtle777 · Jan 11, 2011, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by indigoimac

As a simple check if you go to something like IPchicken is the IP displayed your US one or your current one? I kind of doubt that hulu or netflix are putting much effort into blocking people beyond checking their IP.

Actually, I think they definitely do.

If you read above, I had setup a VPN on my US iMac, and connected to it from my iPhone in Europe.
The IP displayed in Safari was the US IP of my iMac. However, Netflix would NOT work.

The same setop DID work whn I used the VPN over 3G in the US.
=> Netflix checks more than just the IP.

-t

indigoimac · 12:26 PM

I think the real question assuming something else isn't screwy is what is the difference in routing between what osx can handle as a vpn and what those paid services offer?

Some google'ing has also uncovered that people have gotten away with actually killing the vpn connection after starting a film and having the traffic flow normally -- post I found was as recent as mid-december. So something is up in the air here -- and I'm suspicious it's ivpn -- their implementation of a gui is a bit janky, but that *shouldn't be an issue*. (I actually couldn't get ivpn to work worth a damn for another project, but that's my own mystery)

Have you tried like cbs or hulu? Also, what error were you getting from netflix? Was it the "you're not allowed you silly traveler, how dare you pay for a service and expect it to work worldwide" or some sort of connectivity error?

I'll report back in a couple days and see what my friend discovers.

turtle777 · Jan 11, 2011, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by indigoimac

I'm suspicious it's ivpn -- their implementation of a gui is a bit janky, but that *shouldn't be an issue*. (I actually couldn't get ivpn to work worth a damn for another project, but that's my own mystery)

I agree, the GUI is wanky, but the underlying VPN is OS X level implementation, AFAIK the same that's used on OS X server.

Originally Posted by indigoimac

Have you tried like cbs or hulu?

I didn't try CBS or Hulu, but the ABS player on the iPad *DID* work in Europe (through the above described setup).
I'm back in Germany end of the month and will do some more testing.

Originally Posted by indigoimac

Also, what error were you getting from netflix? Was it the "you're not allowed you silly traveler, how dare you pay for a service and expect it to work worldwide" or some sort of connectivity error?

The former.

-t

Steve Bosell · Jan 13, 2011, 04:04 PM

Why not just forward port 22 to your home computer, and from the remote computer tunnel port 80 to it?
ssh -L 1202:127.0.0.1:80 [email protected]

then use 127.0.0.1:1202 for your proxy in your browser.

turtle777 · Jan 13, 2011, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Bosell

Why not just forward port 22 to your home computer, and from the remote computer tunnel port 80 to it?
ssh -L 1202:127.0.0.1:80 [email protected]

then use 127.0.0.1:1202 for your proxy in your browser.

Because I'm using an iPad. L2TP (or PPTP) is the only way to go.

-t

indigoimac · Jan 27, 2011, 05:40 PM

So just to update this -- my friend over in Europe has had no issues accessing netflix through l2tp. The key seemed to be that she needed to logout then back in again of netflix through the vpn... it appears to have been smooth sailing since.

Hulu, etc. have been seamless as expected.

For those just joining this is through a l2tp vpn configured on 10.5 server.

turtle777 · Jan 28, 2011, 07:13 AM

What hardware is she using ?

-t