Finally got my VPN to work with my router so that it protects all the devices in my house. But checked the IP address using https://www.ipaddress.my/ and they have it flagged as a “Abuse IP”. Is that a problem for me?
Wouldn’t be surprised if pretty much all non-static IP’s from VPN providers are flagged. They get used by a lot of people for a lot of activities. They will get flagged automatically by websites. For example Google will see many different clients, languages, locations etc from this adress, making it suspicious. They will then force you to do massive anti-bot stuff like selecting cars, cross walks etc more often when on VPN.
You are all good. If you really end up on a non-workable internet because of the IP flags consider getting a static IP. This IP won’t get assigned to someone else when you are offline.
Do you have/pay for a static Ip that doesn’t change? It might prevent you from loading some sites over your VPN. Requesting a new Ip may or may not fix it.
When you start getting blocked from websites because of this, you will rethink having the vpn on your router. It’s too much of a PITA to turn it off/on compared to a client on a single device.
If you don’t need to hop between regions, just run your own VPN server on a VPS for $5/mo. You get a dedicated IP and it costs less than many VPN services.
It’s called the bad neighbor effect. You’re using the same IP address as thousands of other users. All activity on a VPN server will appear suspicious, because all it takes is one person associated with that IP to do something illegal or just generally reprehensible. This is true for literally all (commercial) VPNs.
If this is a shared IP address of VPN, it is likely that someone has been abused the VPN server.
It is very common in the shared VPN connection, However, switching between servers and protocols may resolve the issue by assigning another random IP.
It is also important which database you are looking for IP health, not all the IP health websites are legitimate, Furthermore, IP as an abusing IP is not hurt for every internet activity, it impact some particular area only while surfing on the internet.
I will give you an alternative take. If your VPN IP address is being listed as abusive, you should be happy. Let me explain.
The VPN business model works by sharing IP addresses and resources between dozens, if not hundreds, of users. So, the IP address you are using could be used by other folks.
It is probable that the VPN IP address you are using is being shared by a bot or is associated with some abusive activity from another user sharing the IP address. The website sees that IP address and labels it as an “abusive IP” address. Sometimes they will go as far as to label the entire range as “abusive”. Reporting an IP address as abusive does not require you to show much reason. These reports are mostly generated via crowdsourcing.
Now, the reason you should be happy is that the VPN you are using likely does not retain any logs (although this cannot be guaranteed). VPNs operate on limited resources, and if their IP addresses getting marked as abusive, it can ruin the experience for other users as abusive IP addresses frequently encounter captchas and heavy filtering. To prevent this, some VPNs may conduct log analytics and ban “abusive” users. This is not very common, but it does happen. The fact that your VPN provider has an abusive IP could mean that they have no clue what is happening on their server and likely do not keep logs.
This is why Tor IP addresses are always considered absolutely abusive IPs - because there are no logs whatsoever.
One other question: I saw that if I purchase a static IP, I pick the country. But sometimes I need the VPN to originate from Canada or UK, sometimes from US. Would I be able to change the country of the static IP once I purchase it?
I want to cast from my phone to my tvs and also use my other smart devices like alarm, door locks, and thermostat. I can only do that if all my devices are on the same network
Just make sure you keep it patched and secured…
ip geolocation is kinda fucky/voluntary - they’d probably want to give you a new static IP
depending on what vpn you use there’s probably a way to let local traffic bypass the vpn. up to you if that’s worth the security tradeoff.
As it is on most routers, but you still have to connect and login to the router to do that. And it affects every device.
It’s actually the default behavior. Local network traffic doesn’t go through the VPN. Only traffic destined for the outside. So given OP’s stated desire, it’s not necessary to have a VPN.
Yes I agree but there’s still that bit about it affecting all users, right?