Two ways to get a VPN on your Samsung TV
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Samsung Smart TVs feel ubiquitous nowadays – and that’s mostly because they’re there. With hundreds of millions of buyers all over the world, they are one of the most popular Smart TVs ever to come on the market.
Most of my friends who have one at home have started using a VPN with them, so they can get around geo-restrictions to access tons of content without breaking the bank. In this guide, I will show you how to set up a VPN on your Samsung Smart TV so you can unblock content that is currently blocked in your region.
Why do I need a VPN on my Samsung Smart TV?
As mentioned in the introduction to this article, having a VPN on your Samsung Smart TV can help you unblock media that you wouldn’t be able to watch without a VPN.
But VPNs also have security and privacy elements to them as well – VPNs are the only real, affordable way to enhance your online safety in a fast and efficient manner. Having a VPN on your Samsung Smart TV means that all of your traffic will be sent through an encrypted tunnel before reaching the Internet. Whether you are worried about your government or hackers, a good VPN provider will help you. Check out our guide for more information on the pros and cons and a list of the best VPNs for Samsung TVs.
How to set up a VPN on Samsung Smart TV
There is a great deal of conflicting information online about Samsung Smart TVs – especially regarding the operating systems they use – so I’ll try to clear that up before we go any further.
The two main ways to do this are to install a VPN on your router and share your computer’s VPN connection with your Samsung Smart TV
Samsung Smart TVs originally used the Orsay operating system, but since this was discontinued in 2015, all Samsung Smart TVs produced since then use the Tizen OS. Operating systems — like Chrome OS for Chromebooks or iOS for iPhones — lie between the physical hardware inside your computer and the software you’re running.
At the moment, there is no native VPN support for either Orsay or Tizen, which basically means that you can’t load VPN software directly into it like you can on another device running an operating system like Android, which VPN providers tend to have apps with on the Google Play Store. But fear not – there is still a way to connect your TV to a VPN without it.
The two main ways to do this are by installing a VPN on your router and sharing your computer’s VPN connection with your Samsung Smart TV. You can also use Smart DNS to unblock content, see our guide on how to change Smart DNS settings on Samsung Smart TVs for more details on this.
Use a VPN router to connect to another country
If you want to have all the protections and content-related freedom of a VPN on a device that doesn’t natively support one (Samsung Smart TV or otherwise), one way to do that is to download the VPN directly to your router. All devices using this router to connect to the Internet will now be protected as if they had native support. For now, one of these statements about your router will be true:
- Your router comes with a VPN pre-installed
- Your router has VPN firmware, but you haven’t installed a VPN
- Your router is not set up with the relevant firmware to house the VPN
If your router came pre-installed with a VPN…
Then great! You will already be protected and be able to unblock all the content you want from any device on your network.
Remember that the average life of a router is only about five years, so if you don’t have a VPN installed and you’re experiencing other issues associated with this kind of stealth technology (slow connections, low bandwidth, etc.) Interesting! If you think it’s time to invest and don’t know where to start, here is our analysis of the best VPN routers on the market.
If your router is set up with VPN compatible firmware…
So you’re half way there, but not all the way yet. You still need to install your VPN on the appropriate VPN router. There will be a slightly different setup process depending on the router, but broadly speaking, this is how:
- Loading configuration files Available on the website of your chosen VPN provider.
- Go to file router control panel via your browser.
- find VPN Client In the Control Panel, usually in “Services” or “Advanced Settings”.
- Set the OpenVPN client to “Maybelet Configuration panel is open.
- Follow the directions * On your VPN provider’s website to add the server and connection details.
- Connection to your chosen VPN server.
* Most good VPN companies, such as NordVPN, will have setup instructions accessible through a landing page like this one, which will show you how to enter your connection details on a number of routers with VPN-compatible firmware.
If your router is not set up with VPN compatible firmware…
The only way to change this is to install a VPN-compatible firmware on your router, which is often referred to as “flashing” your router. This is a very difficult process and can, if not done carefully, culminate in “cutting” your router – breaking it to the point that it is no more useful than a brick.
The two most popular firmware types for this task are DD-WRT And tomatoes. However, there is also OpenWRT, But if this is the first (or even second or third) time you’ve flashed the router, there are more straightforward options. On top of this firmware, some companies that manufacture routers, such as Asus, have corresponding firmware.
Each setup will vary depending on the firmware you’re using and the brand of router you’re trying to update. Here is an example of Asus VPN routers:
- Loading Latest firmware for your Asus router from their website.
- Go to WebGUI (http://router.asus.com) in your web browser.
- Enter Username and password to the login page.
- go to ‘Advanced SettingsOn the lower left side.
- Select “Management”, then “Firmware upgrade“.
- click ‘Loading“.
- Select the firmware you downloaded and press “to open“.
Connect the VPN to your TV using a PC
The other way to reroute your Samsung Smart TV data traffic through a VPN is to share your computer’s Internet connection with your Smart TV. This is probably an easier way to do it than flashing your router, and if you’re thinking of buying a pre-powered router, it’s cheaper too.
This can be done with an Ethernet cable and wirelessly over Wi-Fi. Again, it will be different depending on whether you are using a Mac or Windows operating system.
In 2019, one of our writers put together a comprehensive guide on how to share your VPN connection with a smart TV — as well as devices like game consoles — which can be found in our How to Share a VPN Connection Guide. This guide will show you how to do that on the two operating systems mentioned above.
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