Is Your Router Blocking VPNs? Here’s How to Fix This

A lot of ISPs configure their equipment to block VPN solutions. There are obvious reasons for doing so, which makes the VPN in today’s state of the internet — an irreplaceable user resource.

A lot of users have issues with routers blocking their VPN service/routers blocking Ethernet VPN with varying reasons for this occurrence.

Ever wondered what router can block VPN? Just like you, other users wondered whether an Asus router can block VPNs, a Netgear router can block VPNs, or a CenturyLink router can block VPNs.

For that reason, we recommend contacting either your VPN or ISP tech support, as they’re responsible for the execution of the application.

How do I know if my ISP is blocking my VPN?

The biggest giveaway is that you can establish an Internet connection, but once you try to connect to your VPN, you are suddenly offline.

If your VPN doesn’t work on any device on your local network, but the connection is up otherwise, then it’s very likely that the router is blocking the VPN.

Luckily, there are ways to make your VPN connection untraceable so your ISP won’t know what to block in the first place.

Why is my router blocking the VPN?

Here are a few things to consider when facing this issue:

• Your router and VPN are not compatible
• The VPN protocol of your client isn’t supported by the router
• If you use two routers, make sure your main router allows VPN passthrough
• Security – check your router’s settings and make sure you allow VPN through the router firewall

These are just a few quick things you can try. Moving on, we will show you more in-depth fixes with step-by-step explanations so you can use VPN on your router in no time

How to unblock VPN when blocked by the router (ISP)?

1. Change IP address

It’s possible that a certain server/IP location is blocked, in which case switching to another server can help. Head to your router’s control panel and configure a new VPN connection with another OpenVPN server.

A good VPN to configure on your router, with OpenVPN support for all its locations is ExpressVPN. Here’s how to configure it:

1. Get an ExpressVPN subscription plan.
2. In a browser, access your ExpressVPN account.
3. Head to the manual router configuration page on the ExpressVPN website.
4. Select your router or firmware model and download the OpenVPN configuration files for the server you want to connect to.
5. Head to your router’s setup panel and create a new VPN network profile.

You can also install ExpresVPN natively, on all devices on your network. It offers dedicated apps for PC, Android, iOS, macOS, and more.

If you don’t have a compatible router, you can still install VPN if you flash your router. Check our guide on how to set up a VPN on Huawei routers for more in-depth information.

Our recommendation goes to ExpressVPN because it’s a world-leading VPN solution with a massive network composed of 4 000+ servers in 94 different countries.

Bypassing restrictions is what ExpressVPN does best (while protecting your data with the highest level of encryption, of course), be it from your ISP, country or regional blockages, admin restrictions or regulation infringements.

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2. Change the protocol

Lots of routers block standard VPN protocols, like Point-to-Point Tunneling (PPTP) or SSTP.

There’s probably an option that allows you to allow these protocols to communicate freely, but it’s easier to manipulate settings within the VPN tool itself.

What you can do is switch between the available protocols until you find the one which will likely work. Our best bet is to stick with the OpenVPN universal protocol which is the up-to-date protocol.

In addition, it hardly gets any blockage by default from the ISPs, which is, in this case, the most important trait.

3. Check router settings

If you’re, on the other hand, limited to PPTP, you’ll have a hard time with certain internet providers. It operates on predetermined ports that can get locked.

And, in order to avoid this, you’ll need to either add an exception for the VPN, forward dedicated ports or disable the native Firewall.

We recommend googling your exact router for better insight into how to do that. Even though the options are the same, the login access credentials vary.

Also, you can disable Windows-native Firewall or, even better and much more secure — add an exception for your VPN. That way it’ll communicate freely.

With that, we can conclude this article. In case you have a recommendation or question, feel free to post them in the comments section below.