Bdtyktl

My security/privacy-minded housemate just put a VPN on the whole network (probably on the router), and it's causing me troubles. Netflix won't connect, ping in video games is ~100 ms higher, etc.

My question is basically whether there is a way for both our needs to be met, ie Can I not be on the VPN, but all of their family's devices automatically are on the VPN?

If this is possible, is it difficult to achieve? (He works in IT so unless its very arcane, I'm sure he can manage it.)

I don't want to cause my housemate to have to undo all of his work, but he didn't really consult anyone before doing this so I won't have much choice if we can't figure something out. Alternatively, could I buy a router of my own or something?

First off, without knowing the complete setup, it impossible to say what can and cannot be done.

Have you discussed your issues with your housemate? He might not be aware of the issues you are having. If he set it up and it is possible, he might be able to exclude you from the VPN.

As for getting your own router, this may be possible. You need to talk to your ISP. It may be possible to set up and pay for your own internet service at your location.

Whether this can be done or not is entirely dependent on the router settings. The two most likely possibilities to solve this problem are :

1. Have a dual router setup, where the inner router has a VPN connection, and to which all "VPN protected" gear is connected. This inner router connects to an edge router - You would connect up to this edge router as well, thus bypassing the VPN. This is probably the simplest solution.




2. If the existing router is very powerful, you may be able to do source (policy based) routing such that your traffic is handled differently. This can be done through dd-wrt. (It can be done manually, but there may also be an option on OpenVPN for Policy Based Routing which allows you to list IP ranges to be routed down the VPN using the web Interface - I've not tried this myself though).

Unless you can get your own connection or put your router between the current router and ISP, getting your own router will not fix the VPN issues.