My wife and I have Sling TV, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon video, and I am signed up for Game Pass International which requires me to be connected to a non-North American server to use. The only service I theoretically NEED a VPN for is the Game Pass, since its the Int version (US version doesn't play regular season games live). I originally signed up for Express VPN, and that is what I currently use for GP. I also signed up for Smart DNS upon someone else's suggestion, and that also works with GP.
The issue is that after a few minutes of watching a game, the quality will go to complete crap if I'm on Smart DNS. Likewise, we've found that a lot of our streaming services (especially Sling TV) drop considerably in quality when running on the regular home network or on Smart DNS. I assume this is the asshole ISPs doing what they do best...being money grubbing POS assholes. We pay for all of these services - hundreds of dollars a month - its all legit...no piracy here. We shouldn't be watching 8-bit video games in 2019.
So I've been trying to find a solution that works for everything, and this is where I'm having problems:
Game Pass - Needs VPN or Smart DNS
Sling TV - Works on Smart DNS. Will not work on VPN (though the Firestick app version seems to work on my router VPN when I give location permissions)
Sling AirTV (HD antenna) - Doesn't appear to work on VPN, though I don't think it's even necessary considering its an antenna, right? Shouldn't expect throttling on it, since its not from ISP...
Netflix - I believe works fine on Smart DNS. Will not work on any VPN configuration I can think of to try. It detects the VPN somehow.
Hulu/Amazon video - Honestly have no idea, never even watch them...wife does
Chromecast - Needs VPN router to use VPN, but source device must match Chromecast (VPN-VPN, No VPN-No VPN)
So related to the last item, the Chromecasts, in order to get my Eagles games on an actual TV...I need to use a Chromecast. So I had to figure out a way to get them working. Only way I found out to do this was to flash Express VPN firmware to my Asus RT-AC68U. I didn't realize that their firmware was a completely new OS/UI...so I went from a TON of control/flexibility in AsusWRT to basically zero control in the Expres VPN firmware. I can't do shit on my router anymore...can't even see what devices are connected!
I don't like this one bit, so I'm considering picking up another AC68U as a base router and keeping my current one as strictly a VPN router. Is this my best solution? I'm not really sure what else to do. If this is the best option, should I still to another AC68U, or should I opt for a different router? I do love the Asus UI, but I was having a lot of connectivity issues with this Asus router...kept kicking off my Ecobee every other day and giving intermittent connection issues on other devices. Would switching to a different manufacturer be problematic for connecting the VPN router?
The issue is that after a few minutes of watching a game, the quality will go to complete crap if I'm on Smart DNS. Likewise, we've found that a lot of our streaming services (especially Sling TV) drop considerably in quality when running on the regular home network or on Smart DNS. I assume this is the asshole ISPs doing what they do best...being money grubbing POS assholes. We pay for all of these services - hundreds of dollars a month - its all legit...no piracy here. We shouldn't be watching 8-bit video games in 2019.
So I've been trying to find a solution that works for everything, and this is where I'm having problems:
Game Pass - Needs VPN or Smart DNS
Sling TV - Works on Smart DNS. Will not work on VPN (though the Firestick app version seems to work on my router VPN when I give location permissions)
Sling AirTV (HD antenna) - Doesn't appear to work on VPN, though I don't think it's even necessary considering its an antenna, right? Shouldn't expect throttling on it, since its not from ISP...
Netflix - I believe works fine on Smart DNS. Will not work on any VPN configuration I can think of to try. It detects the VPN somehow.
Hulu/Amazon video - Honestly have no idea, never even watch them...wife does
Chromecast - Needs VPN router to use VPN, but source device must match Chromecast (VPN-VPN, No VPN-No VPN)
So related to the last item, the Chromecasts, in order to get my Eagles games on an actual TV...I need to use a Chromecast. So I had to figure out a way to get them working. Only way I found out to do this was to flash Express VPN firmware to my Asus RT-AC68U. I didn't realize that their firmware was a completely new OS/UI...so I went from a TON of control/flexibility in AsusWRT to basically zero control in the Expres VPN firmware. I can't do shit on my router anymore...can't even see what devices are connected!
I don't like this one bit, so I'm considering picking up another AC68U as a base router and keeping my current one as strictly a VPN router. Is this my best solution? I'm not really sure what else to do. If this is the best option, should I still to another AC68U, or should I opt for a different router? I do love the Asus UI, but I was having a lot of connectivity issues with this Asus router...kept kicking off my Ecobee every other day and giving intermittent connection issues on other devices. Would switching to a different manufacturer be problematic for connecting the VPN router?