topic Re: Router VPN Compatible in Mobile Broadband

Router VPN Compatible

Mariuk — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 16:47:48 GMT

👋Hi folks,

TL;DR: Is the EE B625- 261 Router VPN compatible? 🤞

I have an EE B625- 261 Mobile Router and a subscription to Surfshark. Am I able to install the Surfshark VPN onto this router? 🤔

If not, what are my options? 👀 Can I buy a compatible router (recommendations most welcome) and just insert the EE sim card?

Thanks in advance,
Mari 😊

Re: Router VPN Compatible

XRaySpeX — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 17:55:51 GMT

@Mariuk : You can't install a VPN on a router but you may use VPN thro' it.

You may insert your EE SIM in any router.

Re: Router VPN Compatible

Mariuk — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 21:10:33 GMT

Thanks XRaySpeX 👍
I'm probably understanding this wrong then 😳 - I thought you could run a VPN on a router (as opposed to just having a VPN installed on devices that connect to the internet via the router).

The Surfshark website talks about running a VPN on the router so that you can get the benefits on devices like smart TV's:

https://support.surfshark.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003103833-How-to-set-up-a-router-with-Surfshark#h_c22e9109-791e-419a-9dc7-d845f96fe553

Re: Router VPN Compatible

XRaySpeX — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 21:13:27 GMT

Maybe you can, I dunno, but not on any EE router.

Re: Router VPN Compatible

uStoleMyCredit — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 11:48:07 GMT

https://support.surfshark.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010780059-What-routers-are-not-supported-

"You will not be able to use these routers with Surfshark (at least with their default firmware):

Arris
Belkin
Cisco
Linksys (except Tomato supported routers from this list)
TRENDnet
TotoLink
Ubee
Google WiFi
****Most ISP-provided routers*****"

5G mobile routers are expensive and you would need one that hasn't been locked down by the ISP, most of the second hand ones are former "THREE" or "EE" branded ones so will have their custom firmware.

I don't know if your EE router has a "modem" mode like Virgin cable routers which allowed you to plug your own router into it so you wouldn't need to buy a 5G SIM router. If it does you can buy one of surfsharks recommend routers and plug it into the EE router. If it doesn't have a "Modem" style mode it might cause other problems and possibly not work at all.

The cost of a new router might exceed what you want to pay to get your smart TV working the way you want it to. I think some people use amazon firestick for this which would be cheaper than a new router so you might want to research doing it that way instead.

https://support.surfshark.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018591494-How-to-set-up-Surfshark-on-Amazon-Fire-TV-Stick

Also if you have a laptop you might be able to install the vpn software on the laptop, connect the laptop to the EE router with a network cable then use a free hotspot program ( eg https://mypublicwifi.com/publicwifi/en/index.html) to make a hotspot using the laptops wifi which you could then connect the TV to; this seems a very convulated way to get VPN working on your TV but won't cost you anything to try if you've already got a laptop.

https://support.surfshark.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003103833-How-to-set-up-a-router-with-Surfshark#h_c22e9109-791e-419a-9dc7-d845f96fe553

"For general guidance, we recommend routers running AsusWRT firmware, which is really easy to set up with a VPN. Here are several Asus models running this firmware: RT-N66U, RT-AC56U, Asus N-16, RT-AC66U, RT-AC68U, RT-AC87U, RT-AC5300, RT-AC3200, RT-AC3100, RT-AC1750, RT-AC88U, RT-AC66R"

Re: Router VPN Compatible

Mariuk — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 11:57:52 GMT

Thank you uStoleMyCredit.
Casting from my laptop (which has the VPN installed) or a Firestick seems like the way to go.