What VPN for firestick?
Author
Discussion

RizzoTheRat

Original Poster:

29,022 posts

222 months

Monday 1st February 2021
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I'm currently using PureVPN to allow me to watch UK content on my Firestick when I'm abroad. I've been getting quite a bit of buffering though, which I don't get when using a laptop, so had assumed the firestick was struggling. I upgraded to the 4K firestick but am still having the same issue. The firestick is sitting about a foot away from a wifi access point so I'm confident it has a good signal, and a speedtest app showed it getting 120mbs. The only thing I can think is that the PureVPN app must be the problem, although I have no problems on my laptop using the Chrome plugin.

There seem to be several VPN apps available for Firestick (ExpressVPN, NordVPN, etc), is anyone using one without any problems? It doesn't look like any give a free trial to test it before signing up.

xyz123

1,131 posts

159 months

Monday 1st February 2021
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Even though there is no free trial, most main stream VPN sevices offer 30 day money back guarantee.

I am using surfshark on firestick. Not as many locations or as fast as Express VPN but no significant issues for me so far.

RizzoTheRat

Original Poster:

29,022 posts

222 months

Monday 1st February 2021
quotequote all
Th trouble is even the well known names come across as a little scammy when you look at their websites, so I'd rather not give too many of them my bank details biggrin

babelfish

1,020 posts

237 months

Monday 1st February 2021
quotequote all
ExpressVPN do a free trial.

https://www.expressvpn.com/features/vpn-trial

I use them and has been ok for the last 9 months or so.

RizzoTheRat

Original Poster:

29,022 posts

222 months

Monday 1st February 2021
quotequote all
Express, Nord, and Surfshark are the top 3 TechRadar recommend.

Have you guys tried with with iPlayer on the Firestick?

p4cks

7,522 posts

229 months

Monday 1st February 2021
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NordVPN is often very cheap when you go through QuidCo. For example, I paid £65 and got £65 cashback so it cost me nowt.

eein

1,565 posts

295 months

Monday 1st February 2021
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You could consider running your own VPN from your UK based house. This is what I do for travel and it's never blocked as it does not appear on VPN IP address lists used by some providers for blocking, and there's no contention with other users (well apart from the missus if she's at home...!).

Most modern NAS units have super easy VPN servers built in, so you don't really need to know what you're doing.

Du1point8

22,938 posts

222 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2021
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I have Fire TV 4k:
https://www.techhive.com/article/3034576/amazon-fi...

(dont seem to see it anymore)

I put PIA on it after installing a hacked version of apps store (it was in 2017 when I did this)...

Seems to have gotten easier now:

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/insta...

Works fine when I was in Singapore/Sydney/Abu Dhabi for work and I wanted to watch UK telly.

Chozza

808 posts

182 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2021
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RizzoTheRat said:
Th trouble is even the well known names come across as a little scammy when you look at their websites, so I'd rather not give too many of them my bank details biggrin
And yet you ( and many others ) trust them to "protect" you and not share what you have been browsing .

The only secure VPN is one where you own both ends - put your own vpn "server" ( can just be a Pi ) on your network and connect to that

RizzoTheRat

Original Poster:

29,022 posts

222 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2021
quotequote all
I couldn't care less if they know I watched the second series of Staged on iPlayer at the weekend, I'd just like to have been able to watch it on the firestick not via my laptop.

I did wonder about setting up my own VPN, I hadn't realised some NAS's can do it, although mine's pretty old and doesn't appear to. That's also presumably a bit more complicated to set up on a firestick rather than a PC, so it seems easiest just to pay someone a few quid a month for the service.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 2nd February 14:11

ooo000ooo

2,647 posts

224 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2021
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I've been using IP vanish for a the last couple of months on a 4k firestick. Only time i've noticed any buffering is when i selected australia to see what netflix oz is showing.

Chozza

808 posts

182 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2021
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I was using NordVpn on a firestick last year ... with iplayer , netflix etc. and was getting HD ok in Singapore.

Not left the study for since March though .. so dont know the latest - but the big providers can normally respond to blocks fairly quickly.


Nothing beats being woken up at 2 in the morning by Alexa announcing its dinner time in the UK when you forget to switch them off when you leave the country

p4cks

7,522 posts

229 months

Thursday 4th February 2021
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Here's one deal similar to what I mentioned earlier in the thread

Effectively a free VPN

https://www.quidco.com/cyberghost-vpn/?utm_source=...