Getting an error message when trying to watch ITV from Budapest - worked earlier this week

oldernonethewiser

PhotoMan said:

oldernonethewiser said:

PhotoMan said:

oldernonethewiser said:

Done the cleared cookies and refreshed the browser thing?  Is there another UK link on the VPN you can try?

Thanks for the thought. I had changed from London to Manchester.
I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't thought of clearing cookies.

Since then I have disconnected from the hotel WiFi and reconnected and it worked again.

Sounds like you are sorted - good.

I spoke too soon. Not working this morning.

Oh - annoying

[Deleted User]

oldernonethewiser said:

[Deleted User] said:

Save your money and set up a VPN server at home, never understand why people pay for VPN services for travelling abroad when you can run one at home for free and most likely get better results because your endpoint won't be an abused IP address that thousands of other people are using.

Some folk want a simple solution without any great tech input.

Seems like the "simple solution" isn't working though so I'd argue my comment is relevant given the OP can't get the "simple solution" to work.

Setting up a VPN server at home is neither complicated nor expensive. Most decent routers include a VPN server:

eg just 6 steps to set up
https://www.asus.com/uk/support/FAQ/1008713/

or with a £30 raspberry pi3 / £50 pi4 (both cheaper than a year of commercial VPN access)

https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn/raspberry-pi/

oldernonethewiser

Agree that it currently isn't working for the OP but many people do want a simple plug n play solution.

Thanks for providing the useful links though.

PhotoMan

[Deleted User] said:

oldernonethewiser said:

[Deleted User] said:

Save your money and set up a VPN server at home, never understand why people pay for VPN services for travelling abroad when you can run one at home for free and most likely get better results because your endpoint won't be an abused IP address that thousands of other people are using.

Some folk want a simple solution without any great tech input.

Seems like the "simple solution" isn't working though so I'd argue my comment is relevant given the OP can't get the "simple solution" to work.

Setting up a VPN server at home is neither complicated nor expensive. Most decent routers include a VPN server:

eg just 6 steps to set up
https://www.asus.com/uk/support/FAQ/1008713/

or with a £30 raspberry pi3 / £50 pi4 (both cheaper than a year of commercial VPN access)

https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn/raspberry-pi/

OP here. Back home now and have watched the home nations' matches on ITVX. Thank you to everyone who read my problems and tried to help out.

I have Googled my router and found instructions for how to set up a home VPN. I wonder how this works when it is set up? Does it connect to the web of other IP addresses for free? So when set up I can just use this instead of any paid service? It mentions an Android app, so I could install that on my phone and use it when away from home? As long as my router is running.

It seem I can also set up a home NAS. Will I be able to plug a portable HDD into the USB socket on the router and then set up software on all my Windows home computers to use that as storage with a letter assigned?

[Deleted User]

PhotoMan said:

[Deleted User] said:

oldernonethewiser said:

[Deleted User] said:

Save your money and set up a VPN server at home, never understand why people pay for VPN services for travelling abroad when you can run one at home for free and most likely get better results because your endpoint won't be an abused IP address that thousands of other people are using.

Some folk want a simple solution without any great tech input.

Seems like the "simple solution" isn't working though so I'd argue my comment is relevant given the OP can't get the "simple solution" to work.

Setting up a VPN server at home is neither complicated nor expensive. Most decent routers include a VPN server:

eg just 6 steps to set up
https://www.asus.com/uk/support/FAQ/1008713/

or with a £30 raspberry pi3 / £50 pi4 (both cheaper than a year of commercial VPN access)

https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn/raspberry-pi/

OP here. Back home now and have watched the home nations' matches on ITVX. Thank you to everyone who read my problems and tried to help out.

I have Googled my router and found instructions for how to set up a home VPN. I wonder how this works when it is set up? Does it connect to the web of other IP addresses for free? So when set up I can just use this instead of any paid service? It mentions an Android app, so I could install that on my phone and use it when away from home? As long as my router is running.

Yes, so you just need to get your head around the client-server relationship in a VPN and it should make sense, but glad you can make use of this as it may benefit you.

So most people use a VPN in this scenario....

VPN Client = your laptop / PC / phone / tablet / firestick etc which connects to a VPN server, sending all the data encrypted in a VPN "tunnel".

VPN Server = usually is the paid provider eg SurfShark / NordVPN etc - they receive your encrypted data from the client, unencrypt it, and send it on its way to wherever eg ITVX and it appears to be coming from their IP address located wherever the VPN provider might be (you can usually choose the country)

Now when you use your home router, the VPN Server is now your home router, and all your traffic appears to come from your home IP address to ITVX.

Routers with this feature have often made this quite easy to set up, load up the router web interface a few clicks to enable, and then for the client, download an app, etc, some are more complex and require a bit of fiddling with keys / passwords etc.

Worth trying out because it is free, more private/secure than a commercial VPN, and will avoid the issue you had where the commercial VPN's IP address has been blacklisted by streaming services - more and more common these days.

The "but" is your home broadband bandwidth. The bottleneck will be your upload speed rather than download and on some non-fiber connections that could be a poor 10mbps or less which might be a squeeze for streaming video. For me, I have 1 gig up/down so no issues, but your mileage may vary.

PhotoMan said:

It seem I can also set up a home NAS. Will I be able to plug a portable HDD into the USB socket on the router and then set up software on all my Windows home computers to use that as storage with a letter assigned?

Yes, this is a handy feature, however as I work in the IT and am aware of security principles, I wouldn't be connecting data storage to what we call an "edge" device that is exposed so closely to the internet. The principle is: no extra functionality on edge devices other than routing / networking / firewall etc.

Also you will find the performance isn't great, most router CPU's aren't optimise for handling USB / filesystems etc. 

But, don't let me stop you, I'm probably a bit OTT for IT security.

PhotoMan

tallmansix - thank you for that.

In terms of security I too am cautious.

Does using the VPN feature of a router not have the same risks?

[Deleted User]

PhotoMan said:

tallmansix - thank you for that.

In terms of security I too am cautious.

Does using the VPN feature of a router not have the same risks?

No, the VPN on your router won’t have the same risks and is reasonably secure if:

1. The VPN will be authenticated using a complex public-private key which is incredibly difficult to break. 

2. The VPN won’t expose any of your internal data or systems (it can if you want). It is situated on the firewall side of your router which is impassible into your home network. 

3. VPN’s don’t advertise their presence, if somebody probed the open port they will not get a response unless they provide the correct keys in step 1 so is reasonably obscured. 

Nothing is ever 100% secure but using a self hosted VPN is used worldwide by big companies and hobbyists alike because it is one of the more secure methods of connecting and communicating. 

debitcardmayhem

I have an ASUS router, it works perfectly as an Openvpn server, I user openvpn apps for android and apple and export the certificate from the router. Only had one problem in 4 years, some semi drunken sot forgot to turn off o:)airplane mode on his ipad.