I am moving to Mexico soon from the US to be with my spouse (we met here, her travel visa was cancelled while she was back visiting in Mexico, now she’s stuck there for a couple years) and I work remotely.
My work machine uses a corporate VPN. I’d like to make my IP appear to be from the US. And I’d of course rather not try and install a separate VPN software on the work machine.
Is there any workaround to allow my work machine to connect to my internet (wifi or ethernet) and appear from the US?
I’ve heard people say other VPN services or even a travel router, but I am not expert on networking. I have two separate personal desktop machines and 5G mobile service to assist if required as well.
Is it possible? Yes, I’m doing it right now from CDMX. All my internet traffic is going through a remote router in the US, and it gives me a US IP address. I carry a small travel router that connects to the router in the US, so I don’t need to run VPN software on my PC, tablet or phone.
Is this easy to set up, so you don’t get caught? Nope, there a lot of ways your phone and PC gets its location data, outside of just an IP address. You may want to look at the Wiki at r/digitalnomad and search through the postings there, as this is a standard question: https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/wiki/vpn/
You’ll need an internet connection in the US, either at your place if you’re keeping it or at a friend’s or family member’s house.
Your maximum combined upload+download speed will be limited to the slower of the two at the VPN server’s location. So you’ll want somewhere with good upload AND download speeds.
For the device you bring with you, a travel router is a good choice. Many consumer routers either have or can run firmware that has a built in VPN client; that would be the easiest way to go. You’ll have a WiFi network in Mexico that works totally normal except anything connecting to it appears to be at the VPN server location.
I purchased subscriptions and downloaded Connectify & Speedify. Around $200 total. I run both the programs on the windows laptop and make it a hotspot. Then i can log into the hotspot from my work computer as normal & it will think i’m wherever my VPN set up!
My company just started blocking “login attempts” to Microsoft O365 (Outlook/email, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, etc.) from locations outside of the US.
We have a company VPN. I only use Outlook, Teams, and I rarely access files from our department shared drive.
I’m currently in the US, but I have travel plans for this winter. Is there anything I can do? This winter, I won’t need to access any dept shared files, so I’d potentially be able to get all my work done just using the internet from any laptop, but I do need access to Outlook and Teams.
Does a remote router work anywhere in the world? I can set everything up at my parents’ house if that helps.
Since they’re blocking “login attempts” would I still have access if I stay logged in on my devices? The only potential problem I see with that is if I’m required to change my password, but I can do a password update before I go abroad and I think it should be good for several months.
Any info is greatly appreciated. I tried to look up solutions for this particular situation but the remote router you mentioned might be the most relevant solution.
My company just started blocking “login attempts” to Microsoft O365 (Outlook/email, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, etc.) from locations outside of the US.
We have a company VPN. I only use Outlook, Teams, and I rarely access files from our department shared drive.
I’m currently in the US, but I have travel plans for this winter. Is there anything I can do? This winter, I won’t need to access any dept shared files, so I’d potentially be able to get all my work done just using the internet from any laptop, but I do need access to Outlook and Teams.
Does a remote router work anywhere in the world? I can set everything up at my parents’ house if that helps.
Since they’re blocking “login attempts” would I still have access if I stay logged in on my devices? The only potential problem I see with that is if I’m required to change my password, but I can do a password update before I go abroad and I think it should be good for several months.
This group specifies not to name specific providers. If you look through my posts under u/eric0e you will find that in other groups I have posted my setup.
The same type solution I gave to the OP should work in your case. This should work anywhere in the world, but some countries like China, Iraq, Oman and some others are known to try to block VPN traffic, which could prevent it from working in these countries. Also some hotels and Airbnb try to block VPN traffic which can prevent this solution from working using their WiFi.
Having a router at your parents place will make it look like you are logging into your work account from their place, so you should not get blocked on logging in. That said, sometimes Microsoft/Google/Apple employ other location methods, outside of just your IP address to find your location. There are ways to defend from this, but it is complicated.
Fully hiding your location using a VPN is not simple to setup and get right. Can it be done? Yes, but unless you are well versed in working with routers, VPNs, networking, and computer security, I would not recommend trying to work remotely without your companies permission, unless you can afford to be fired.
You’d need the same thing OP does. Separate device to run your VPN client and provide that connection to the work PC. This is to avoid running software on the work computer which could easily be detected.
Travel router is a good choice, and yes it will work anywhere. The internet is global
Bandwidth limitations are the hardest thing to contend with.
Another option is an IP-KVM, possibly a PiKVM or TinyPilot. In that case you’d leave the computer at home and log in to control it remotely. As opposed to bringing it with and tunneling the network traffic back home.
So, I could get two of the routers listed in the guide, preferably the third model that starts with a B for example, and set one up at my brother’s or father’s houses here in the US, and use the 2nd one to connect to my ISP’s router in Mexico. Then I could disable all radio tech and ethernet into the client router, which would relay to the Server router in the US. Did I miss anything by chance?
Your general setup looks correct from a high level, but its the details that will get you, so give yourself a lot of time for testing everything before you leave. I spent many hours in coffee shops and the local library making sure things were working before I left.
