Xbox is one of the most demanding gaming consoles of all time. Competing with the likes of PlayStation, Nintendo and PC games, Xbox has achieved considerable success in the gaming industry.The Xbox 360 and Xbox One store is known for its regional restrictions and varying game release dates. If you’ve been a victim of a beta release you couldn’t access, you will feel the pain I felt. (Participate in our giveaway contest and win free Xbox one gift card codes. )
But, that’s all in the past, it’s the age of VPN now you can access all Xbox stores with a single tweak and get latest beta releases and region restricted early game releases even if they are geo-restricted. The following Xbox One VPN guide will teach you how to setup a VPN in order to stream and play countless multiplayer games.
Our guide will help you learn more on how to spam your location to a specific region (e.g. USA) in addition to helping you setup the fastest gaming VPN services directly on your devices and routers. Have a look at our top ranking cheapest VPN for games providers:
A VPN allows you to hide behind an IP address from a particular country and virtually change your location to that region. This allows full feature access letting you buy games and trial beta releases without having to worry about geo-blocks. The cherry on top you can simply configure the VPN directly on your router and even on your Xbox consoles.
There are two main techniques through which you can setup a VPN on your Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Now that you know the many reasons why to use a VPN for Xbox One and Xbox 360, here is our guide to setting up the service on your console.
We will try to keep the guide as simple as possible, and make sure that you can easily set it up without requiring any technical abilities.
One of the methods of setting up Xbox One VPN is by tunneling your service via router and then connecting your gaming console and other devices to the router. Note that the setup may vary according to the router you use and the instructions provided by the VPN provider.
Use the following steps to configure a VPN service on your router:
Now you can connect your Xbox to the router either through Wi-Fi or through Ethernet cable and can enjoy using VPN on your Xbox 360 or Xbox One.
You can also configure a VPN service on your Xbox through sharing the VPN connection on your personal computer with the gaming console.
Firstly, set up a VPN connection on your computer:
If you already have a VPN configured on your computer, use the following steps to connect it to your Xbox:
Although you cannot setup OpenVPN on your Xbox One console, you can always share the OpenVPN connection on your laptop. Here are the prerequisites you will require to setup OpenVPN on your Xbox One using Windows connection sharing:
Once all essentials are in order, let’s setup OpenVPN on your Xbox One using connection sharing.
PureVPN is not really renowned for its gaming ping & data transfer speeds over consoles but we did test it using a dedicated VPN IP address over Battlefield One. We cannot guarantee you will get the same 35ms ping like we did since Xbox VPN require several factors to make it work perfectly. Ideally, the best time is during the day when we tested it, but during the evening we experienced a higher ping.
PureVPN dedicated servers, what I noticed were quite useful when I tested them with DOTA2 on my PC too. Usually, my ping in Europe comes around 145ms not letting me play in that region. Connecting through a dedicated UK server I reduced it to 110ms with a very powerful 60Mbps broadband connection.
Going back to the Xbox One VPN testing, it is a decent step to try PureVPN with Battlefield One and a few other games. Not all servers will give you the same performance either, so make sure you test the service with the money back guarantee and then subscribe for the long run. PureVPN offers dedicated servers in:
Depending on your location you can choose from a huge list of IP addresses or rent a complete dedicated server for yourself.
ExpressVPN is one of the most revered privacy providers in the world established with a great service offering powered by its very loyal fan base. While there is no equal to Express VPN when it comes to online streaming & live IPTV, the service doesn’t work all that well with gaming.
I tested the ExpressVPN on my Xbox One for Destiny the multiplayer FPS that has been making headlines since 2014, and my experience, APPALLING. I tried Destiny with servers in the Netherlands, UK, Korea, and USA. The best ping test was 170ms over a very fast broadband connection, considering I was using ExpressVPN’s P2P servers I anticipated better ping.
This, however, has nothing to do with ExpressVPN, the essence of a gaming Xbox One VPN is in the security and network topologies used to transfer the data between two devices. Since I am miles away from Europe the experience was bound to be very poor.
Ivacy is a decent streaming and browsing VPN provider mostly known for its low pricing and ability to unblock websites. Not really the ideal Xbox One VPN since its servers are not meant to help reduce ping rather it is an unblocking service for Netflix, HBO, HULU, YouTube, and others. The most you can achieve while gaming is 1ms to 3ms and that during off-peak hours.
Although Xbox One itself does not implement any region-specific restrictions on games, users may run into problems when watching content from third-party services. These limits pose quite a problem, not only for those living in the US, but in other countries too. To ensure that you gain complete Xbox One access with no content blocks, consider securing your gaming device with NordVPN.
The provider offers its own router, but you can also setup the VPN on your home router. This removes any content restrictions from all devices connected, which includes the Xbox One. Since all your traffic passes through an encrypted tunnel through a different IP address, users can easily access different movies and TV shows. NordVPN also increases your protection against DDoS attacks.
IPVanish is another service that offers compatibility for Xbox One. All you have to do is setup the VPN on your router and the provider will let you experience real online privacy with just a few clicks. The service even comes with DNS leak protection, which guarantees that whatever you search/watch on Xbox One remains completely anonymous and private.
The VPN will route your internet traffic through remote servers around the world. This not only hides your IP address but protects your private data. Since IPVanish does not log any user information, nobody can trace your identity back to you. Pricing for IPVanish starts at $10 per month. However, if you opt for the 1-year plan, you only have to pay $6.49 per month, translating to $77.99 annually.
After analyzing a multitude of Reddit threads, we came across some of the best VPN providers to subscribe for use on Xbox One. In addition to the aforementioned, ExpressVPN, PureVPN, VyprVPN, and Hide.me are good options for using on Xbox One. Each service offers fast streaming speeds, along with good privacy features — ensuring you enjoy an uninterrupted online experience on Xbox.Xbox gift card generator is an online tool that lets you generate free Xbox Live codes.
Netflix is constantly looking for new ways to block VPNs from accessing the streaming website. If by any chance Netflix detects a proxy, it will immediately block your IP address. Since most VPNs use static IPs, this results in a huge list of users not being able to access the website. However, there are still a few providers that work for Netflix, which include ExpressVPN, Buffered, StrongVPN, and PureVPN.
Gamers also wish to change their default Xbox store location to buy games and cash in on limited time offers. Begin by connecting your Xbox One or Xbox 360 console to your flashed router according to the guide provided above.
The next step requires that you create a Revolut Payment Account. With Revolut you can make payments easily with credit or debit card using a valid mailing address and spam your location to a particular location. You can add money to your Revolut account using your own debit card or PayPal account.
Here’s what you need to do next:
The official US Xbox website offers many deals for gamers on weekly basis. These deals are available for gamers that have a US Xbox Live account only, but those based outside US can make an account following the steps provided in the step by step guide provided above. You will find the following on the renowned US Xbox Store:
Gamers may also receive $10 Xbox one gift cards when pre-ordering specific titles. There are titles that are initially released only in the US store and gamers can purchase and download these titles with a VPN and changing their Xbox Store location.
Before we go ahead and explain the procedure of setting up VPN on your Xbox 360 and Xbox One, many advantages of using an Xbox VPN is given below.
For starters, there are numerous notorious players out there who are trying to take advantage by attacking your network with DDoS attacks. This is usually done during live tournaments in order to clear the path for victory — however, you can protect yourself from such unethical attacks using Xbox 360 and xbox one loopholes.
Similarly, cybercriminals look to take advantage of your sensitive information when you are connected to Xbox Live. Imagine someone using your account to purchase latest gaming titles and then gifting them to themselves (mind you, they aren’t cheap). I know that I would be outraged — but through the security protocols and data encryption, you can protect yourself using a VPN for Xbox.
Then there are geo restrictions which are buzzkill when you are trying to download and access content from different locations. There are multiple games and content available on Xbox Live Marketplace that cannot be accessed unless you are located in that particular region. (one user from Japan needs to know about xbox router connectivity through vpn)
Using a VPN for Xbox, you can overcome these restrictions and easily access all the geo-restricted content. This is especially helpful if your Xbox is used as the main hub for all your media streaming. Web content like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, Pandora, etc. can all be accessed using a VPN.
Lastly, you can test out your gaming skills all around with world with the help of Xbox One VPN. By lifting the geo restrictions, you will be able to play in almost every location on the planet, against all sorts of players around the world.
The Xbox is designed to perform optimally on high-speed internet connections rather than free VPN. A free VPN for Xbox One lacks the capability to even get you logged in to the dashboard of the console let alone let you in any play games online. Several restrictions including the speed that can be consumed, the servers that can be used and the data available for use limit free VPN for performing with the Xbox One.
I did manage to get hold of three free VPN providers that can be used together with the Xbox One, but there is no surety the console will work properly with these free services:
The only possible choice that will allow you to use bandwidth is the Hotspot shield service. The absence of evidence and testing leaves us nothing to work with. Hotspot Shield can be installed on a Windows PC or Mac from which you can share the internet connection to use with the Xbox One. There is no other way to use the free version with the Xbox One, making the process longer & difficult. (Read complete hotspot shield review here)
Hotspot VPN’s free version offers the following features:
Canadian based TunnelBear also offers a free version that you can use with the Xbox One. That is until you run out of the 500MB data limit, but you can always tweet TunnelBear to get 1GB more. While the paid version is unlimited and offers connecting to more than 10 locations around the world, the free TunnelBear plan is highly restricted to one device and comes with a 500MB data limit . The most you can do is visit the Xbox store but do no more. TunnelBear’s free plan includes:
The only other free VPN for Xbox One that qualifies is, Betternet. The US-based provider offers a free plan that has no data limits but is heavily throttled and restricts connectivity. Betternet free includes the following features:
I will recommend if you wish to use a VPN with the Xbox One consider a high-speed premium VPN service. Consider our list of services including gaming optimized IPVanish, VyprVPN, and super speed ExpressVPN. (Read complete betternet review here)
To sum everything up, an Xbox 360 and Xbox One VPN will protect you from many threats and help you enjoy an unparalleled gaming experience. It will allow you to compete in online tournaments without the risk of being cheated by other competitors and access Geo-restricted content.
Our guide will help you select the best VPN for Xbox One and Xbox 360 and how to setup VPN service on your gaming console. There are many guides available out there and to be honest, all of them are highly technical and very difficult to comprehend.
In light of that, our guide is simple, quick, and easy to use — allowing you to setup VPN on Xbox One or Xbox 360 through either of the two ways and experience the true benefits of Xbox One VPN.