Computer Help and Support

I'm able to do things that my ISP won't send me nastygrams over and that saves me lots of money.

But there are issues. I bought a router that I was able to install ExpressVPN onto. It replaced the factory operating system. This gives me lots of control; I can set up some devices to be on the VPN and some to be off of the VPN, and I can set different locations for different devices.

Sometimes Netflix on a smart TV or Firestick won't have some items, or Netflix will throw up a "you're on a suspect IP address" warning. In one test case, I had the VPN off the living room TV and on the bedroom TV, and Netflix would not show "NCIS" on the bedroom TV, even though my VPN location was in NJ. I wound up putting the TVs and the Firesticks with no VPN for the sake of simplicity.

My security cameras run though the VPN, as does my PC and my wife's phone and our laptops. I have ExpressVPN installed on my laptop but don't use it at home, because I'm already using the router. The option is there for being on other networks, though.

My son's gaming PC downstairs, he has ExpressVPN installed on it. So he's also "no VPN" on the router, and if he wants to turn it on he can do it on his computer as he needs to. He usually has it off because it adds a bit a latency to his games. Also, if he needs to be punished, I can simply turn off internet service for his computer until his chores are done or whatever.

I have Express VPN installed on my phone and keep it on all the time, so I don't have my phone on the router VPN. It makes me feel very safe, even on public WiFi systems, to know that my traffic is encrypted and my phone (and all the data it contains) ins protected. Sometimes you only have public WiFi to work with, after all.