Kodi and VPN

[TrevorB]

I am trying, after a number of years, to get an understanding of Kodi on the firestick. Having done some research on the interweb I'm attempting
to get it working on a number of addons but continue to get 'unable to stream' errors. My investigations appear to lead to the fact that I need to
invest in a VPN which may resolve this issue.

Is there an IT guru out there than can guide me and advise me on what way to go.



Trevor

[Saltire]

Trevor

Difficult to say without seeing your exact setup, but you wouldn’t normally need to “invest” (I.e. spend money) in a VPN. I’d be surprised if your router doesn’t have a VPN capability. That’s how I run mine (although for business reasons, not for Kodi.

You’ve piqued my interest, so I’ll have a look at Kodi on my Fire TV stick and see what results I get. It could be that your firewall settings are blocking it.

[TrevorB]

Trevor

Difficult to say without seeing your exact setup, but you wouldn’t normally need to “invest” (I.e. spend money) in a VPN. I’d be surprised if your router doesn’t have a VPN capability. That’s how I run mine (although for business reasons, not for Kodi.

You’ve piqued my interest, so I’ll have a look at Kodi on my Fire TV stick and see what results I get. It could be that your firewall settings are blocking it.

Jonathan

I do have an Avast VPN on my laptop which I could load to see if that suits, presume that came with Windows 10 could try loading that. Will wait though and see what
you may find.



Trevor

[dapinky]

Trevor,

Who is your ISP? (and, more importantly, what router are you using?)

Basically, if you are with Vodafone, and using a vodafone router, you're buggered! If you are with Vodafone, and (somehow!) managed to get them to give you the settings you need to run an aftermarket (better!) router, then you may have a chance...

If you're with Sky, you shouldn't need a VPN. (as long as the router is 3rd gen or newer)

Not sure about BT - but should be okay without a VPN.

Basically, the only need for a VPN is to bypass certain 'geographical' restrictions on content.... but you should still be able to set your firewall to allow some streaming (Unless you're with Vodafone, who won't tell you the settings you need!!!!!)

[Saltire]

Sounds about par for the course with Voda. I’ve always used a small independent ISP (ICUK at present, previously Zen and others). I buy my own router and I can do what I choose, within reason.

VPN can be about content, but it’s primarily about security of access. All a VPN does is to make it appear to a private internal network that you’re sitting on that network rather than accessing it across the internet. That’s why increasingly anti-virus companies (like Avast), with a strong interest in security and looking to diversify, have moved into the market.

I’d still rather use the router’s VPN if it’s available, because it’s one fewer manufacturer to worry about. However, I’m still puzzled as to why Kodi would need a VPN. I’d have thought the Fire stick would take care of all that.

[TrevorB]

Trevor,

Who is your ISP? (and, more importantly, what router are you using?)

Dave

I am with Virgin and it's their router. I'm not sure if I can get access to it and wouldn't know what to do if I could

Trevor

[lotusles]

I run KODI but on a laptop, you do not have or need a firestick just a VPN
If I want to watch on the tv i just plug it in.

Im also with Virgin and you have to watch what you do, I had a firestick and they wrote to me to say had an illegal device fitted and they would close down my account if I didn't remove.

[dapinky]

Trevor,

If you go to the address box in you browser, and type in "192.168.1.1" (without the quotation marks!) it should take you to the router on your network (unless it's configured differently - but it should be the same for any basic 'home' setup.... if this "address" doesn't get to the router, you will need to open a comand prompt box, and type in "ipconfig" then hit "enter" and it will show what the correct IP adrress for your router on that network is (it may be sub-masked, or set to 192.168.1.2 or similar - but it should be as quoted unless it is a split line, solo static line or similar (unusual in a home setting).

.... from there, you should be able to make chages to the router settings (including firewall settings).

I haven't used Virgin for many years, but when i did, I was using a Netgear router and had it set up to work with that ISP without problems.

As I say, you may need a password access to get into it (which you should have set when installing the router first time), but from there you can change all sorts of things.

Have you tried a google search to see if there is a 'how to' on the internet???

[dapinky]

Im also with Virgin and you have to watch what you do, I had a firestick and they wrote to me to say had an illegal device fitted and they would close down my account if I didn't remove.

Les,

Yep - they don't really like anything on "their" system which acts like a server.....

... when I was developing websites, and wanted to test them by using a laptop as a server, Vodafone said it was against their policy (hidden in the smallprint on page 1204 or something of the stuff no-one reads!), so I couldn't set the firewall to allow external access. I had to change a few settings (which they wouldn't tell me where they were hidden in the router) and they still threatened to close my account. I told them to crack on if they wished to lose a customer (I was out of contract), and I never heard anything else from them.... it was basically a marketing attempt to treat me as a commercial customer, not a home user, and charge me accordingly.

[TrevorB]

Trevor,

If you go to the address box in you browser, and type in "192.168.1.1" (without the quotation marks!) it should take you to the router on your network (unless it's configured differently - but it should be the same for any basic 'home' setup.... if this "address" doesn't get to the router, you will need to open a comand prompt box, and type in "ipconfig" then hit "enter" and it will show what the correct IP adrress for your router on that network is (it may be sub-masked, or set to 192.168.1.2 or similar - but it should be as quoted unless it is a split line, solo static line or similar (unusual in a home setting).

.... from there, you should be able to make chages to the router settings (including firewall settings).

I haven't used Virgin for many years, but when i did, I was using a Netgear router and had it set up to work with that ISP without problems.

As I say, you may need a password access to get into it (which you should have set when installing the router first time), but from there you can change all sorts of things.

Have you tried a google search to see if there is a 'how to' on the internet???

Dave

I'm into the router but nothing there obvious to me what to change, anything I should be looking for?

Trevor

[dapinky]

Every router is set up slightly differently, and you are looking for the firewall settings so that you can manually allow some specific ports to be open (probably in a 'hidden' menu to prevent muppets from messing it all up ).

Without having a Virgin router, I can't help you much.... but this thread may assist.

[TrevorB]

Every router is set up slightly differently, and you are looking for the firewall settings so that you can manually allow some specific ports to be open (probably in a 'hidden' menu to prevent muppets from messing it all up ).

Without having a Virgin router, I can't help you much.... but this thread may assist.

Hi Dave

Thanks for link and I followed those instructions and have reconfigured router accordingly but still experiencing same issue. Once again any research on the
problem advises on connecting to a VPN which should solve the problem. So further investigations needed to see if I can get a free VPN with Windows 10 on
my laptop or going down the extra expense of a paid one, there are some good deals.



Trevor

[dapinky]

Trevor,

Avast will do a 14 day free trial of their VPN, which may be enough to see how you get on with it....

....Personally, I use Tunnel Bear as it is free(ish)..... You get a very small amount of bandwidth each month for free, but can add to it as and when required. I don't use it a lot, but it can be handy to have sometimes.

I'm sure that there are plenty out there that will work, but I have no knowledge of them, and what is required (specifically) for Kodi to work on a Virgin media system.

[Fredjohn]

I have an Android box which runs Kodi. The software and links of the box need to be updated regularly to get it to work.

Sadly I can never remember how to do it!