Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts

Found the internet!

Posts Wiki Digital Nomad Jobs

40

Posted by

u/More_Breakfast2084

2 hours ago

Easy Remote Work with VPN guide (No Software Required)

Business

After tries and fails, this is the knowledge I can share with you. This is a practical guide and have tried to keep it to point.

If you have ethical issues in doing this, skip this post.

I am currently working in another country discreetly, so this only works for people who have flexible, mostly remote arrangements.

Here is how to leverage VPN to work remotely in another country:

(Step 1 can be skipped, but this will ensure 100% succes, VPN software can be blocked by some WiFi routers)

Buy GL-AR300m router. I got this off amazon from a blog worth mentioning IndieTraveller, and was quite cheap. TIp: buy a router that supports .ovpn files.
Get a subscription from NordVPN. I have tried SurfShark and ExpressVPN; only NordVPN bypassed sharepoint's cloud defender. I got a discount for NordVPN from r/vpnnetwork their community website: vpngrades.
Tip: always get the latest .ovpn file from Nordvpn's website. E.g. I use uk2502.nordvpn.com [notice 2502 is the latest server]. Using older version of ,e.g. uk1605, resulted in corporate Sharepoint app's being blocked due to VPN detection!
Download OpenVPN config file for your country from here: NordVPN's .ovpn files. I downloaded TCP but connection which was too slow, solved by using UDP file version.
Turn off location services in work laptop. By doing this your teams and browser's time zone are synced to VPN.
Manually set time zone to default at your desired location within your OS as extra measure.
Turn off WI-FI completely (prevents accidental connection to local network giving away your location) and using VPN router's cable to connect directly to ethernet port of your laptop.
Last but not the least, test your IP address and location before connecting the cable to your work laptop.

Note: it is advisable to setup your VPN firmware on your personal PC first, check IP address, and then connect via ethernet cable to your work laptop.

Warning: not all Wi-Fi router's will allow connection to VPN server. You might need to change to a different server. Keep testing and trying until it works.

Enjoy being a digital nomad. All of the steps and tips above are taken from practical experience of tries and failures.

19 comments

16 people here

Comment as vert1s

|

level 1

AutoModerator

Mod

· 2 hr. ago · Stickied comment

Your post appears to be a very commonly asked question or thread here relating to VPNs and/or hiding your location. Please check out the VPN Wiki for common answers to these common questions. You can also find other recent posts related to this topic here

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Vote

level 1

dmacdonal9

· 1 hr. ago

Many folks may find their work firewalls block well-known VPN providers like Nord.

It's generally just good practice because so many attackers hide behind these public VPNs when they're probing systems or running DDOS scripts.

This is why you generally want to move to a self hosted VPN server at a residential IP if you can.

14

level 2

koosley

· 1 hr. ago

If you care about hiding your location, you'll need to self-host. Nord VPN won't work for changing your location. I've had issues with Netflix, Ticketmaster and a ton of other sites using commercial VPNs. You're 'protected' using them, but its trivial for these sites to know if you're using a VPN and just blocking it.

5

level 2

Raezul

· 45 min. ago

Do you use a raspberry pi?

3

level 3

dmacdonal9

· 14 min. ago

I actually run WireGuard in a beelink u59 mini pc running Ubuntu. A pi would be great too.

2

level 2

SpoonsInTheFootPowdr

· 31 min. ago

Another possibility is using a cloud service like AWS or Azure. I haven't been blocked by Netflix so far, but it potentially could pose the same risk as other VPN providers.

This open source project has a guide (it's not mine): https://github.com/trailofbits/algo

2

level 1

Raezul

· 1 hr. ago

Is there a kill switch? GL.iNet routers a great choice

2

level 2

TheFakeCake

· 47 min. ago

yep, i have this router and it has a kill switch setting

1

level 1

idoescompooters

· 26 min. ago

Could someone re-make this guide but for self-hosting at a family/friend's house? For noobs of course. Thanks :)

2

level 2

_huggies_

· 5 min. ago

Second

1

level 1

knickvonbanas

· 1 hr. ago

This is a pretty foolproof setup ngl

0

level 1

emw9292

· 1 hr. ago

Saving

1

level 1

kevysaysbenice

· 49 min. ago

Here is a question: I want to self host a VPN from my home, but raspberry pi's are so silly expensive (or maybe they're reasonably priced because of supply and demand, but they feel really expensive compared to a few years ago!). 150 bucks roughly for a Raspberry Pi 4 B.

Are there alternative, easy, simple, reliable options for self hositng a VPN that doens't require something like repurposing a computer / running a desktop all the time, etc? My router has a VPN option, but it's not super reliable and I don't really want t couple my router with the VPN software in case I need to / want to reset my router while I'm out of hte country.

1

level 2

shreddedsasquatch

· 46 min. ago

Get a better home router to host the vpn server on, or do so at a friends/parents house

2

level 3

kevysaysbenice

· 45 min. ago

Thanks for the reply! I have a good home router (one of the top picks for mesh routing) and it's been rock solid and reliable. I just prefer to decouple my VPN server from my router to be honest.

1

level 4

shreddedsasquatch

· 43 min. ago

Pi is the only other self host way I know of with reasonable ease of use

1

level 4

shreddedsasquatch

· 42 min. ago

The other option, and what I ended up doing last year, was installing a 2nd internet line and using a VPN router on that line with no other traffic

1

level 4

gizmo777

· 41 min. ago

Get a second router? Idk why you're opposed to using a router as your VPN server. You're worried about needing to reset your router - if you have a second separate router for your VPN, why would you need that? Might you need to reset your raspberry pi for similar reasons?

Ultimately a VPN server is just a piece of hardware that's capable of doing the networking logic to be a middleman for you. You'll be best off getting hardware that's made to do that kind of thing highly efficiently, e.g. a router.

1

level 5

kevysaysbenice

· 33 min. ago

sorry I probably wasn't very clear. I'm not opposed to having a second router acting as a VPN server at all. If that's a good option, I'm very open to that.

My primary concern is yes, wanting to make it easier in the event that I decide to reset my primary router for whatever reason (I've had random issues in the past that I just decided to do a hard / factory reset to resolve vs trying to troubleshoot) that I don't end up having to re-do all of my VPN configuration.

1