VPN for BBC iPlayer and Now TV (etc) abroad

pajada

I'm in Portugal right now. Nord VPN works brilliantly for BBC iPlayer (I had issues with Express VPN last year and regularly had to hop between its servers). However, I can't get Nord VPN to work for Now TV. 

sausage_time

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81846502#Comment_81846502

Hi @Frozen_up_north - just to say this worked perfectly during my recent trip. Thanks!

DarthDaisy

I had this problem when I went to LA many years ago, I was able to resolve it by nuking every cookie and other fingerprint I left, in the end I created a new user on my laptop.

I was tasked with finding a better solution for a trip for my Daughter to Spain paid for by a family member who has a place out there. As always I turned to my brother and he involved my nephew who is very technical.

We did quite a lot of planning and ended up being able to make a free solution, my understanding is that we used a different kind of VPN, not a paid service but a site to site VPN.

We were able to test it at home using a paid wifi hotspot.

It involved

1. Buying a second hand router to take with them to Spain (keep eBay receipt to avoid tax at both ends)
2. Installing new firmware (based on Linux and called OpenWrt) onto the second hand router
3. Using a Raspberry Pi which was plugged into the router at home.
4. Installing something called Wireguard VPN in both 2nd hand Router and Raspberry Pi

We connected to the wifi of the second hand router which was configured as a wireless bridge in our test to wifi hotspot, but it was plugged into the Spanish router via a WAN port in Spain by Daughter.

Both had the same result when the usual what is my IP location sites were loaded, it showed the UK ISP IP address.

Everything else worked for them as it would at home, including TV Sticks they took with them, they were configured to use the wifi of the second hand router

In theory two Raspberry Pi devices could be used but we were concerned whether they could handle comms and video.

The second hand router was not too bulky but a decent beast from some years ago.

My understanding is you are creating a site to site encrypted tunnel, my nephew did the configuration of the Wireguard so I am totally clueless on that side of it.

I did look at the 2nd hand router admin and it seems pretty straight forward. I also got another 2nd hand router in order to familiarise myself with the firmware side of it, again pretty straight forward, you upload one file from the factory firmware setup page, then reboot and load a second part from the rebooted firmware, then set a password, define wifi's and you are done.

This experience helped me gain some networking experience as this firmware has many configuration options including a firewall, switch and more complex stuff. I won't pretend I understood all of them but it makes it easier than I expected.

If you build something like this you can also connect it to a hotel wifi but you have to log into the 2nd hand router admin, search for the Hotel wifi and enter the credentials, that will not work as fast as using a wired connection.

There is a support forum for OpenWrt and they have info on Wireguard over there.

I am not technical, I know some things but forgive me if I can't answer deeper questions, I am sure others will chip in.

Grumpy_chap

That sounds like an immense amount of effort to go to just to watch BBC while on holiday.

Especially given the frequency with which I seem to hear in my circles people bemoaning that there is never anything worth watching on TV.

The BBC should be proud of how much effort people will go to and could use this thread showing the importance of BBC services to justify the licence fee ;)