So, I just saw on Netflix that if I don’t connect to the main Wi-Fi account at home for a while, I won’t be able to use it. That means I have to regularly connect to my parents’ home Wi-Fi every month. But I’m wondering, if I set up a VPN server at home and connect through it, would that work?
Install Tailscale server on an always-powered device at the home, I use my parents AppleTV (to share all their services). Free service, simple app. Then just select that device as exit node on your other device (laptop, phone, etc).
I’m able to stream directtv, Netflix, etc without issues anywhere in the world (I travel full time to various countries).
I run a vpn at my parents house and rout all their netflix devices to my house so we can continue to share the netflix account with them. Has worked perfectly
They won’t know because your IP at home is owned by an ISP and not by some random data center company.
I just spoke with Netflix support today regarding this issue. I have 2 houses, a regular house and a summerhouse, and apparently Netflix thinks I’ve got nothing better to do than play whack-a-mole sysadm with every household device of every family member.
My issue is that i never open Netflix on my phone, tablet or computer. I always use a TV or AppleTV, meaning every 2-4 weeks things start acting up.
I also have 3 different WiFi networks in each place, “adults”, “kids” and “IoT”, since i don’t wont my kids and their friends to infect every machine in the house with the latest malware they downloaded with a Minecraft addon.
According to support, they don’t use the WiFi name, but your public IP address, so if the account holder is on a public IP with their device, it will be considered part of your household for 2-4 weeks.
So a VPN will surely work.
I’ve considered setting up policy based routing over VPN from my summerhouse and back home, but considering that i pay for this service (Netflix, not the VPN) I’m just as tempted to just cancel my subscription. It’s simply not worth the hassle. I pay for 4 x 4K streams, and i have 4 people using it, which is within the limits of my subscription, and if they can’t handle that, they can find someone else to annoy.
Edit: The “primary household” function only works on “smart TVs”, and part of my problem is that I don’t use smart TVs. I did use one in my summerhouse, but after talking to support today and learning this, I added another AppleTV and got rid of the tv login.
Apparently AppleTV is considered an iOS device, so hopefully that will make it seem like I’m logging in on my “phone” and remove the problem.
Yes. They usually block commercial VPNs with known IP addresses. They won’t block a residential IP address.
That would totally screw my over, and I only use Netflix at home (generally), but nothing that uses it connects to WiFi, like ever. They just want to make sure your device is at your home IP like all the other devices that sign on to that account frequently. Go too long without proving your from that household and it’ll reset until you do prove it again.
Hey question for the crowd. If someone uses the VPN to home, say every Sunday, logs on to Netflix just for a minute, then logs off the VPN. Will it keep that device active the rest of the week without the VPN needed? Like a college kid coming home every weekend but still a household member regardless.
IF you use tail scale as an exit node it won’t know better but make sure your upload is enough to handle the stream.
I guess I should elaborate - This is if you have something like PFsense as a Router with Tail scale installed as a vpn service on it running as a main exit node/DNS.
So, it works pretty good and also allows you to route back through your own internet over an encrypted VPN if you’re at some other location, so your traffic does not travel unencrypted over say the Hotel internet.
Unless they are doing some weird SSID check this will be fine.
I know this is a “dead” thread but I set up an exit node at my parents using a raspberry pi, however upon logging in through their network I still get the “you are not part of the household” message on iPhone/iPad. Apple TV also has it if I’m not mistaken, but haven’t checked in a while
how do you think I have parents still on my account 
for over a year now
Been using Unifi Teleport to reauthenticate Netflix. Just have to download the WiFiman app and ensure Teleport is enabled in the Unifi dashboard. Great native feature of Unifi I never used previously
No.
I host a vpn for about 10 people. For watching one Netflix account. Netflix will never know and i invite them to try to find out
At this point might as well start sailing or go hoarding and set up plex. Streaming is becoming inconvenient
Use tailscale. Connect to it anywhere in world and then specify to use your tailscale connector as an exit node
It depends on which vpn service you use to connect
You can install tailscale on an apple TV and use it as an exit node?!
I have two ISP connections at home. I usually only use one line and the other for fail over, but what would happen if I activate load balancing?
This is bs!
Huh, is this why my Apple TVs don’t seem to be affected? I guess it makes sense, the Apple TV does use something similar to the chipset from whatever iPhone is launched the year a new ATV comes out, wouldn’t shock me if tvOS was just a reskinned iOS.
IP addresses
They don’t actually block single IP addresses, but instead, they block the whole ASN. They could even go so far and block all unknown ASNs and only allow known ISPs.
Edit: For clarity, ASN stands for Autonomos Systemnumber. It is used to announce your own subnets to other ISPs. For more Info: look up the BGP protocol.