How to use VPN with Roku - cant connect VPN to router

VPN
1

I want to buy a Roku but a VPN is absolutely required for any media player I get to watch the shows I want. The router I have is the only one accepted by my internet provider, you must use theirs which they supply and they dont accept VPNs.

Is there some way to add it to Roku, like a DNS, and if not what similar media players exist where I can instead add a VPN without using the router?

2

get a secondary router and see if you can put your ISP hardware into bridge mode. If you can’t put it into bridge mode then use the second router anyway, it will just be a double nat.

3

Look into the GL.iNet travel routers. These can be setup with either a Wireguard or OpenVPN client. Connect the GL.iNet router to your ISP’s router for upstream connectivity. Setup a WiFi network on the GL.iNet router that the Roku can connect to. This will make the Roku be “behind” the VPN client on the GL.iNet router.

4

Stumbled on a solution for anyone wanting to connect a device, e.g a Roku streamer, to a VPN. Need a Windows 11 computer and a VPN subscription to a provider who offers a ‘Windows secure hotspot’. Windscribe does so you can test the idea with their free 10GB/m tier. The steps seem simple though I’ve yet to test them.

  1. Enable the secure hotspot in the Windows Windscribe app, set a password and a new WiFi name will appear on your network.
  2. Connect to it with your Roku or what have you.

Edit: With some more tinkering I’ve found another solution for creating a VPN hotspot that doesn’t require a PC. Doesn’t work for Roku though, see below. There’s an Android app called Netshare. Install it on any Android phone or even a tablet.

  1. Have Windscribe installed and turned on.
  2. Launch Netshare and from another device and connect to the Netshare hotspot.
  3. Connection must have a manually configured proxy per simple steps in the app.

This worked for me with Windows, Android and iOS as the media consumption devices. I googled whether Roku streamers allow connecting with a manually set proxy and it seems not. But will check when I get access to my Roku puck next time just in case there’s a way.

Even so, the above is a way to lash up a VPN’d hotspot for some purposes. In my tests it did drop the local 300 Mbps WiFi down to 20 Mbps, but it still streamed adequately.

5

Can I DM you for more info? Ive heard of this solution briefly before but dont know the specifics

6

Thank you for this comment! I had no idea these existed! After looking into them, it’s a perfect solution for me. My wife works overseas and much of our typical streaming services don’t work there. This hopefully solves that, while providing extra security. Thanks again!