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Sadly using a VPN for general usage is getting more difficult. Many sites block traffic from known VPN providers (PCPartPicker.com just leaves an unhelpful mes

Sadly using a VPN for general usage is getting more difficult. Many sites block traffic from known VPN providers (PCPartPicker.com just leaves an unhelpful message similar to " we are down right now" of you connect over some VPN providers), and sites like Netflix are blocking all VPNs they can in an effort to stop people from watching things outside their region. I used to run my whole house through a VPN 24/7, but now I need to only turn it on when I know it won't cause issues.

wfunction 10y ago
Do you happen to know/would you mind explaining how Netflix detects VPN usage? Is it through timing measurements?
- Klathmon 10y ago
  I believe they just keep a list of known VPN IP addresses. (How they get them in the first place I'm not sure). It's a wackamole game for sure, but its annoying enough to be a problem, especially for the less technical. I know I can buy my own VPS and tunnel through that, but now that's another machine I need to maintain, secure, and pay for.
  - wfunction 10y ago
    Ahh, that's way less interesting of a mechanism than I thought. Thanks for explaining!
  - kogepathic 10y ago
    > (How they get them in the first place I'm not sure). I don't work for Netflix or Hulu. But why couldn't staff there just sign up for VPN services, log in, note the IP address(es) in use and then block those? Buying a monthly subscription to a few VPN providers seems like a cheap and easy way to solve this. > I know I can buy my own VPS and tunnel through that It would be pretty easy for a provider to block access from a VPS. Data center providers have well known blocks of IP addresses, which are static, and it's pretty unlikely that there are any actually humans in a data center watching Netflix. It would be pretty trivial for Netflix to decide to block certain IP ranges they know to be used by VPS providers to prevent this.
  - eknkc 10y ago
    I installed openvpn on a server. Netflix still managed to block my access so maybe they are checking patterns or something.
  - eknkc 10y ago
    I installed openvpn on a server. Netflix still managed to block my access so maybe they are checking patterns or something.
  - superuser2 10y ago
    It's also easy to discover and blacklist the IP address ranges of known server providers.
whoopdedo 10y ago
What about data center IPs? A pay-by-the-hour VPS can be cheaper than any VPN service. I've been using one recently and it hasn't been flagged by any site I care about.
- ryan-c 10y ago
  I had a bank account locked to the "show up in a branch with id" level for this.
  - michaelmrose 10y ago
    So explain that if it happens again you intend to switch banks.
    - vkjv 10y ago
      Not me. I'm very happen when this happens. When it comes to identity, it's far easier to deal with false positive than theft. For example, my credit card gets flagged for fraud every holiday when I go on a gift card purchasing spree. I have no problem with this.

wfunction 10y ago

Do you happen to know/would you mind explaining how Netflix detects VPN usage? Is it through timing measurements?

Klathmon 10y ago
I believe they just keep a list of known VPN IP addresses. (How they get them in the first place I'm not sure). It's a wackamole game for sure, but its annoying enough to be a problem, especially for the less technical. I know I can buy my own VPS and tunnel through that, but now that's another machine I need to maintain, secure, and pay for.
- wfunction 10y ago
  Ahh, that's way less interesting of a mechanism than I thought. Thanks for explaining!
- kogepathic 10y ago
  > (How they get them in the first place I'm not sure). I don't work for Netflix or Hulu. But why couldn't staff there just sign up for VPN services, log in, note the IP address(es) in use and then block those? Buying a monthly subscription to a few VPN providers seems like a cheap and easy way to solve this. > I know I can buy my own VPS and tunnel through that It would be pretty easy for a provider to block access from a VPS. Data center providers have well known blocks of IP addresses, which are static, and it's pretty unlikely that there are any actually humans in a data center watching Netflix. It would be pretty trivial for Netflix to decide to block certain IP ranges they know to be used by VPS providers to prevent this.
- eknkc 10y ago
  I installed openvpn on a server. Netflix still managed to block my access so maybe they are checking patterns or something.
- eknkc 10y ago
  I installed openvpn on a server. Netflix still managed to block my access so maybe they are checking patterns or something.
- superuser2 10y ago
  It's also easy to discover and blacklist the IP address ranges of known server providers.

whoopdedo 10y ago

What about data center IPs? A pay-by-the-hour VPS can be cheaper than any VPN service. I've been using one recently and it hasn't been flagged by any site I care about.

ryan-c 10y ago
I had a bank account locked to the "show up in a branch with id" level for this.
- michaelmrose 10y ago
  So explain that if it happens again you intend to switch banks.
  - vkjv 10y ago
    Not me. I'm very happen when this happens. When it comes to identity, it's far easier to deal with false positive than theft. For example, my credit card gets flagged for fraud every holiday when I go on a gift card purchasing spree. I have no problem with this.