VPN for Kodi

BigWaylon

BigWaylon

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loaded Kodi for the first time (Firestick) yesterday...

Lots of discussion around using a VPN, for a variety of reasons. Are those of you that are heavy Kodi users running a VPN client/software?

If so, which one?

Or is it just internet fear-mongering. Do people really get threatening letters about watching certain media, or have their speed throttled when using Kodi?
 
I think Exodus was one of the specific apps/modules/add-ons (whatever the correct term is) that was a potential issue...and it appears to be one of the best sources of movies.
 
My understanding is that some of the addons, particularly live sports addons, use torrent technology, so one should probably treat those addons as they would any other file sharing. Keep in mind that with torrents, anyone connected to a swarm can see all the IP addresses connected to that swarm, which is why some find VPN's useful.
 
Thanks. The guide I was looking through included these sections:

PLEASE READ THIS DISCLAIMER! THERE IS CURRENTLY A DEBATE ON WHETHER KODI ADDONS, SUCH AS EXODUS, ARE LEGAL ACCORDING TO COPYRIGHT LAWS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. TROYPOINT WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR PENALTIES IMPOSED FOR USING VARIOUS KODI ADDONS.

IT IS STRONGLY SUGGESTED THAT YOU USE A VPN SERVICE AS OUTLINED IN VIDEO #3 IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE THOSE ADDONS THAT FALL INTO THIS QUESTIONABLE AREA. A VPN WILL PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY AND MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER OR GOVERNMENT TO SEE WHAT YOU ARE STREAMING OR DOWNLOADING.

Video #3 – Install VPN Service Onto Your Fire TV or Fire TV Stick
A VPN will provide a secure and encrypted connection between your Fire TV/Stick and the Internet. By using a VPN, your Internet Service Provider will no longer be able to see what you are streaming on your Kodi devices. Some of you may have received threatening letters from your Internet Service Provider or law enforcement because they don’t like the content that you are streaming. This will take care of that and mask your activity with a new IP Address and encrypted connection so they won’t know what you are streaming. Many Internet Service Providers also throttle your download speeds when using Kodi and that is another reason to use a VPN, it will cut down on buffering problems.

Everyone who uses Kodi should use a VPN and IPVanish is your best option due to its excellent download speeds as compared to other VPN services.

P.S. Don’t forget to install a VPN per the instructions in Video #3 above. Internet Service Providers are starting to crack down on people using certain Kodi addons.
 
I use PIA VPN for my desktop and multiple cell phones that see heavy internet usage, not just for Kodi. It has been trouble-free for me over the 9+ months I have used it and I have not received any threatening letters (*knock on wood) so far
 
I use NordVPN. It allows upto 6 connections and I paid for 2 years up front. So far it has been worth it. But you won't be able to upload it to the firestick itself. There is plenty of ways to do it if you want to use Nord.

Whatever you decide to go with make sure they do not keep any type of logs.
 
The EU just passed a law that streaming pirated content is illegal. In the good old USA internet providers will be able to sell your internet habits. Use a VPN. Troypoint and several others have YouTube videos on setting up.
 
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Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but this IPVanish app sucks.

My iPhone generally runs ~160MB up and down. I connected VPN and it drops to single digits.

Firestick is connected to the slower 2.4 network and gets 25-35 up and down. Here's what it runs connected to VPN. :mad::mad:

IMG_9123.JPG


That ain't gonna stream anything!!! :confused:
 
BigWaylon said:
Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but this IPVanish app sucks.

My iPhone generally runs ~160MB up and down. I connected VPN and it drops to single digits.

Firestick is connected to the slower 2.4 network and gets 25-35 up and down. Here's what it runs connected to VPN. :mad::mad:

View attachment 10484


That ain't gonna stream anything!!! :confused:
Click to expand...


Dat ping yo....
 
BigWaylon said:
Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but this IPVanish app sucks.

My iPhone generally runs ~160MB up and down. I connected VPN and it drops to single digits.

Firestick is connected to the slower 2.4 network and gets 25-35 up and down. Here's what it runs connected to VPN. :mad::mad:

View attachment 10484


That ain't gonna stream anything!!! :confused:
Click to expand...
Did you get this sorted out?
 
drypowder said:
Did you get this sorted out?
Click to expand...
Yes and no.

I think I may have gotten hung up on a bad server or something...except I'm not sure why it affected both my Firestick and iPhone.

Much better luck the last day or two. One other issue I had was a couldn't get my Firestick to connect to my 5gHz wireless network. In searching for a solution to the VPN problem, I ran across a suggestion to change the channel from "auto" to 36. I know my 5 network is much faster than my 2.4, and I figured the faster I started the better off I'd be.

My iPhone just ran this without VPN (the Firestick is running Netflix at the same time, plus who knows what else).

IMG_9146.jpg

And then ran this with VPN connected:

IMG_9147.jpg


Then, on to the Firestick. It ran this on the 5 network without VPN:

IMG_9144.JPG

And then this with VPN:

IMG_9145.JPG


Ping is definitely much better, and speed should be enough to stream. I've watched a couple movies over the last several days.

And just for more data points, here's part of the email I sent to IPVanish after they asked which servers I was having issues with:

I've had it set on Best Available city & server.

It just connected to lax-a27.ipvanish.com<http://lax-a27.ipvanish.com> and got:
Ping: 107.617ms
Down: 12.12Mb/s
Up: 13.91Mb/s

That's respectable, although without VPN connected it was:
Ping: 28.654ms
Down: 27.06Mb/s
Up: 35.37Mb/s

I changed it to Atlanta and best server, and it connected to atl.a24.ipvanish.com<http://atl.a24.ipvanish.com> and got:
Ping: 75.386ms
Down: 12.88Mb/s
Up: 13.35Mb/s

Tried again and chose Miami and best server, and it connected to mia-a16.ipvanish.com<http://mia-a16.ipvanish.com> and got:
Ping: 131.576ms
Down: 8.97Mb/s
Up: 13.40Mb/s

I wouldn't expect my speed to drop in half, but it's definitely not as bad as the first day. Maybe I got hung up on a server that was having issues that day?

Tried one more time and chose Ashburn (2nd closest to me besides Atlanta) and it connected to iad.a08.ipvanish.com<http://iad.a08.ipvanish.com> and got:
Ping: 33.837ms
Down: 13.47Mb/s
Up: 10.56Mb/s

^Those^ speeds were all on the 2.4 network.

Could be a lack of "power" in the Firestick is going to limit it over VPN...although the fact it hit almost 80Mb/s may say it should be better?

For now I've left it on Ashburn, and then best server available. Probably going to just stick it out for the first year I prepaid and see how it goes. I've wasted ~$60 on worse things. :D
 
backwoodsshooter said:
I use NordVPN. It allows upto 6 connections and I paid for 2 years up front. So far it has been worth it. But you won't be able to upload it to the firestick itself. There is plenty of ways to do it if you want to use Nord.

Whatever you decide to go with make sure they do not keep any type of logs.
Click to expand...
How have you set yours up? Using it with a Firestick?
 
As info...just signed up for VyprVPN. Main reason was it has an app in the Fire store so no extra effort at all. It's giving faster upload speeds on the Firestick, but the download is about the same.

IMG_9149.JPG


And the numbers on my iPhone pretty much suck.

IMG_9148.jpg


So...off to cancel that one. :D
 
BigWaylon said:
How have you set yours up? Using it with a Firestick?
Click to expand...

So far I am just using it on my computers and phones. If you look at Nords website you should be able to have one of your connection setup in your router.

What router you running currently?

I have Rokus. I haven't really looked into anything else until recently.
 
backwoodsshooter said:
What router you running currently?
Click to expand...
It's the one AT&T provided with my Gigabit Fiber. Logging into it shows it's a Pace 5268AC.

At this point, I'm probably just going to stick with the IPVanish. It works well enough to stream Kodi on the Firestick.

I checked out the PIA mentioned as well, and it's definitely less expensive...but involves all the sideloading or other method. I don't have another Android product to even use.

As of now I have the IPV app on the Firestick and my iPhone, and can load it on other devices if needed.
 
BigWaylon said:
It's the one AT&T provided with my Gigabit Fiber. Logging into it shows it's a Pace 5268AC.

At this point, I'm probably just going to stick with the IPVanish. It works well enough to stream Kodi on the Firestick.

I checked out the PIA mentioned as well, and it's definitely less expensive...but involves all the sideloading or other method. I don't have another Android product to even use.

As of now I have the IPV app on the Firestick and my iPhone, and can load it on other devices if needed.
Click to expand...

Sounds like your all set then lol
 
BigWaylon said:
Have you tried it with a Firestick?

They have a 3-day trial, so I may go sign up and see what happens.
Click to expand...
I don't use firestick, I run Kodi on PC and android boxes. Nord does have an android app, so I would imagine you could put it on firestick. I run the vpn in my router at home when using Kodi. When I connect to public wifi I run the Nord app on IPhone or PC, I'd really consider putting a vpn app on your phone if you often connect to public wifi and do stuff like checking your accounts;)

The one you went with has good reviews.
 
Being a Kodi user for quite a while, I have resisted the urge to get a VPN mainly because I ditched sat tv to save money, got kodi to watch shite and dont want to pay someone just so I can say I have a VPN.. I think the folks who push the VPN services are in the fear market just to sell this crap. NOpe, no can do.
 
Deplorable me said:
Being a Kodi user for quite a while, I have resisted the urge to get a VPN mainly because I ditched sat tv to save money, got kodi to watch shite and dont want to pay someone just so I can say I have a VPN.. I think the folks who push the VPN services are in the fear market just to sell this crap. NOpe, no can do.
Click to expand...

To each their own but:
Kodi CRACKDOWN - European court rules streaming on a Kodi Box is ILLEGAL
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/797734/Kodi-Ban-European-Court-Ban

I know. That is in the EU. But in the good old USA:
ISPs can now collect and sell your data: What to know about Internet privacy rules
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...ur-data-what-know-internet-privacy/100015356/

As Silver Bullet stated "I'd really consider putting a vpn app on your phone if you often connect to public wifi and do stuff like checking your accounts." I would include tablets, laptops, etc. VPNs are not just for Kodi (and Kodi itself is not illegal. The Addons are what is questionable).

And as BigWaylon stated "I've wasted ~$60 on worse things."
 
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So Spectrum just cut my internet off for running PopcornTime. Gonna be looking for a new internet service provider. I don't need a ISP who monitors everything I do.
 
DCGallim said:
So Spectrum just cut my internet off for running PopcornTime. Gonna be looking for a new internet service provider. I don't need a ISP who monitors everything I do.
Click to expand...
My earlier post applies to PopcornTime.
drypowder said:
My understanding is that some of the addons, particularly live sports addons, use torrent technology, so one should probably treat those addons as they would any other file sharing. Keep in mind that with torrents, anyone connected to a swarm can see all the IP addresses connected to that swarm, which is why some find VPN's useful.
Click to expand...
Copyright holders connect to these torrent swarms and collect the IP addresses. Then they look up who the ISP is for that IP and send a letter.

Did Spectrum give you a timeout and will let you renew service at some point in the near future?

DCGallim said:
Is there any ISP that don't do this shit?
Click to expand...
No. Because ISP monitoring isn't the reason they booted you, as described above.
 
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easternnc4me said:
To each their own but:
Kodi CRACKDOWN - European court rules streaming on a Kodi Box is ILLEGAL
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/797734/Kodi-Ban-European-Court-Ban

I know. That is in the EU. But in the good old USA:
ISPs can now collect and sell your data: What to know about Internet privacy rules
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...ur-data-what-know-internet-privacy/100015356/
Click to expand...
It's going down the path of Napster, so I imagine a court in the US will eventually rule similar to Europe.

But this will kill video piracy just like ruling against Napster killed music piracy. It didn't . . . in fact, it increased it by drawing so much publicity to it. And just like music piracy immediately worked around the death of Napster, so too will video piracy work around whatever legal roadblocks get thrown up.

The music industry did ultimately win the battle against music piracy, but not by enforcement. They made legal music so cheap and so much easier to access that pirating music was a huge PITA by comparison. Ain't nobody got time to pirate music when they can use Pandora or Spotify.
 
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My wife called and played stupid so they turned it back on. Guess we'll be looking into a VPN, we only use the laptop for popcorntime or kodi. I'll start doing my research on it and figure out the best/cheapest option.
 
.Just out of curiosity, did you download or stream with PopCornTime? Downloading with any of them is a big no no. Heard someone who was hawking his "Kodi box" say "Always stream. Never download." This is probably the reason why.
Drypowder, I believe you are correct regarding the road it is heading down. When everyone and his brother is selling boxes it would seem it is unavoidable for the companies not to notice. On a side note, with people cutting the cord and streaming, I believe in the future you will see Direct, Dish, etc offer more streaming services to areas with internet. This would cut down on their cost of equipment (dish, receiver, etc) which should allow them to offer cheaper packages which would slow down the amount of customers jumping ship. A lot of people would give up other things, such as cable, before they would their internet. People in rural areas without internet will still need equipment.
 
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easternnc4me said:
On a side note, with people cutting the cord and streaming, I believe in the future you will see Direct, Dish, etc offer more streaming services to areas with internet. This would cut down on their cost of equipment (dish, receiver, etc) which should allow them to offer cheaper packages which would slow down the amount of customers jumping ship.
Click to expand...
In case you haven't seen it...DirecTV already has a streaming only option. It's been a pretty big success. Initial offering was their top package at a reduced $35/mo, and you'd stay grandfathered in at that price as long as you maintained service. On top of that, you got a Firestick free with one month of paid service, or an Apple TV free with three months.

I work for AT&T so I see internal news items about it all the time. I'm not sure I've seen any of the others offer a streaming only service? Biggest downside so far is very little as far as local channels.
 
easternnc4me said:
On a side note, with people cutting the cord and streaming, I believe in the future you will see Direct, Dish, etc offer more streaming services to areas with internet. This would cut down on their cost of equipment (dish, receiver, etc) which should allow them to offer cheaper packages which would slow down the amount of customers jumping ship. A lot of people would give up other things, such as cable, before they would their internet. People in rural areas without internet will still need equipment.
Click to expand...
As @BigWaylon noted, it's already here.

Got a whole thread on it, but here's the gist:

drypowder said:
Just for reference, the TV skinny bundle services that stream over the internet currently include:
  • Sling TV
  • Playstation Vue (no Playstation required)
  • DirecTV Now (no satellite dish required)
  • Youtube TV
  • Hulu Live TV
Will probably be a couple of more before 2017 is over.

Most of these are 40-50 channel 'skinny bundles' with options to add on additional channels; and most of these are no-contract.

With 40-50 channels plus all the content on the internet, it's difficult to understand why people would pay for 200+ channel packages. They're ain't enough time in the day or enough quality programming to warrant that many channels.
Click to expand...
 
drypowder said:
As @BigWaylon noted, it's already here.

Got a whole thread on it, but here's the gist:
Click to expand...

I knew of most of those services (especially Diret's streaming). If/when the crackdown comes I expect SlingTV subscriptions to skyrocket. Even with the $35 reduction, Directs programing is not worth what they charge. I have Direct. If it wasn't for the kids, I would have got rid of it by now.
 
easternnc4me said:
I knew of most of those services (especially Diret's streaming). If/when the crackdown comes I expect SlingTV subscriptions to skyrocket. Even with the $35 reduction, Directs programing is not worth what they charge. I have Direct. If it wasn't for the kids, I would have got rid of it by now.
Click to expand...
If you happen to be an AT&T Mobility customer as well, you can get a $25/mo video credit if you have the unlimited data plan. And I see they have the free Firestick as well.

So, for somebody that's already a wireless customer, that's a fairly slick offer to get some TV (maybe not all you want) for $10/mo.

They've had the DTV NOW out for awhile, and still haven't released an employee discount to us. I only pay $10/mo for actual service, but you can't currently load the normal DTV app on a Firestick. I can watch it from my iPhone, but I'd really like to have it on my Firestick.
 
BigWaylon said:
If you happen to be an AT&T Mobility customer as well, you can get a $25/mo video credit if you have the unlimited data plan. And I see they have the free Firestick as well.

So, for somebody that's already a wireless customer, that's a fairly slick offer to get some TV (maybe not all you want) for $10/mo.

They've had the DTV NOW out for awhile, and still haven't released an employee discount to us. I only pay $10/mo for actual service, but you can't currently load the normal DTV app on a Firestick. I can watch it from my iPhone, but I'd really like to have it on my Firestick.
Click to expand...

AT&T's reception sucks around here. Verizon or US Cellular (we have US Cellular) have better coverage.
 
DCGallim said:
My wife called and played stupid so they turned it back on. Guess we'll be looking into a VPN, we only use the laptop for popcorntime or kodi. I'll start doing my research on it and figure out the best/cheapest option.
Click to expand...
There was a big thread on this a while back. Yes they do try to monitor and analyze your content, and they want to be permitted to sell the info for their profit (go GOP$ $$$ fap fap fap $$$$). Start here: https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/

You need to get your exit pipe out from under the nose of your ISP. A VPN will do that, as will a simple Linode one you can set up yourself using OpenVPN and you can pick the country to host it (get out of the US). I don't trust the Nords since the Julian Asange incident which you know is just a way to try to extradite him to here.
 
So I downloaded Vyprvpn today and so far it's worked great. No problems streaming on the computer and there's an iPhone app to use.
 
I need to get set up with a VPN. I cant get the UK channels anymore without it but all the good VPN's want money for it. Not willing to do that just yet.
 
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