Google WiFi VPN Activation: How to Use a VPN with Google WiFi

Google Wifi and its updated Nest routers made it a hundred times easier to set up and run a home mesh network. This is convenient because no matter how big your house is and how many devices are connected to your home network, you will still have a smooth, stable network, high speed, and a strong signal.

But even when all of this sounds great and awesome, there are always risks that your privacy might get invaded by hackers. That's why it's crucial to secure your browsing and privacy by protecting your home network. 

That being said, the most effective way to protect a home network is by setting up a VPN. That's because a virtual private network (VPN) achieves an encrypted connection and reroutes your traffic through secret, invisible vaults to protect your data.

Instead of using a VPN on each device you're using; you can protect the entire home network by configuring a VPN connection on the router. This article will help you learn how to perform a Google WiFi VPN configuration and how to use this on your Google Nest system and what you can do to set it up without any issues.
 

Does Google WiFi Support VPN?

Unfortunately, Google WiFi routers do not support VPNs; this is one of the biggest cons regarding this product. So you might be wondering now, "How can I still route Google WiFi through a VPN?"

Well, you answer that you can still connect a reliable VPN to your routers to make sure that your network is protected. However, you will need an extra router to do this. 

What about third-party firmware?
Most of the brands that produce routers allow manual VPN configuration or flashing them with third-party firmware like ASUSWRT-Merlin or DD-WRT. You can find many manuals for different types of models. Moreover, you would be able to flash your router without any problems if you're an experienced user.

However, unfortunately, custom firmware does not exist for Google Wi-Fi routers. But this doesn't mean that you will not be able to use a VPN on Google Nest or that you should change the device because there's a solution to this issue.
 

How to Use a VPN on Google Wi-Fi

There's only one way you can make Google WiFi VPN configuration work, and that's by using an additional router. The way you'll do this is that you'll put a VPN-enabled router in front of your Google WiFi network so that the traffic from the Google WiFi will be redirected through the extra router.

This way, you will use any VPN service provider like Cyberghost, Private Internet Access, StrongVPN, etc. In addition, you can also select specific devices to connect to the VPN directly, as most VPN providers allow you to connect multiple devices simultaneously.

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Pros and Cons of Using a Third Router

Here are the most essential pros and cons of using the method that we mentioned in the previous section to do Google WiFi VPN configuration:

 

Google Nest or Google WiFi VPN Configuration

Here are the steps to do Google WiFi VPN configuration:

Step #1

This is the step that you will prepare for your Google WiFi configuration process.

 

Here are the things that you need for Google WiFi VPN configuration:

1. Google Wi-Fi or Google Nest router.
2. A router with VPN support. Generally, most Asus, Linksys, Netgear, TP-Link, or Xiaomi routers support VPNs. Also, many VPN providers offer preconfigured routers. Read the user manual or contact the VPN provider support to find out.
3. An Ethernet cable to connect two routers.
4. A VPN subscription (we recommend Cyberghost VPN).

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Step #2

In this step, you will connect two routers without configuring a VPN yet. You'd want to make sure that the two routers work correctly and don't block any traffic. Follow the steps below:

1. Change the subnet on the Google Wi-Fi router.

This step is necessary to ensure that the subnets for each router do not overlap. Most brands automatically assign local IP addresses in the range of 192.168.1.xxx. What we need to do is make them different. For example, we will change Google's subnet to 192.168.2.xxx. To do that, you will need the Google Home app, which is available on both Android and iOS.

Here's how you can do that:

• Go to Wi-Fi, then click on Settings, and find Advanced Networking.
• Once you're in the Advanced Networking tab, go to LAN.
• Now, change the Router LAN address field to 192.168.2.1. And click Save.
• Ensure the DHCP is activated as it lets the router allot the unique IP addresses to other devices.

Do the same process on the first router. However, make sure its subnet is something like 192.168.1.1. Again, you can read the user manual on how to change the connection parameters.

2. Next, you need to join two routers together.

Now, you should try to connect both routers using an Ethernet cable. To do that, plug one end of the cable into the LAN port of the VPN-enabled router and the second one into the WAN port of your Google Wi-Fi router.

Your VPN-enabled router must be connected to the Internet. Make sure your fiber, ADSL modem, or other source is plugged into the WAN port.

3. Now, test your connection.

Once you connect the two routers, you need to check the connection. First, connect to your Google WiFi network and check if your connection is working.

If your mesh system behind your primary router works fine, then it's time to configure a VPN on it.

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Setup guides by VPN service

• Cyberghost: DD-WRT | Tomato | ASUS
• IPVanish: DD-WRT | Tomato | ASUS
• NordVPN: DD-WRT | Tomato | ASUS
• Private Internet Access: DD-WRT | Tomato | ASUS
   

Step #3

In this step, you'll be able to configure the VPN-enabled router. If you're using a pre-configured router from your VPN provider, you can turn on the VPN and select the server. If that's not the case, then you can follow the steps below.

1. First, flash your primary router with VPN-supported firmware (if required).

Suppose you're using a device without native VPN support. In that case, you will have to install one of the available custom firmware like DD-WRT, Tomato, Padavan, Portal, Sabai, pfSense, DrayTek, EdgeRouter, etc.

2. Configure the VPN connection

Once your router is flashed and works properly, you have to apply the VPN configuration. The steps are not the same for each service. First, go to the support page of your VPN provider to look for any guides for your router.

3. Test your connection

Connect to your Google WiFi network and make sure that the connection is working correctly. First, disable the VPN and open any website to check whether your connection works or not.
 

Final Verdict

Although Google WiFi and Google Nest routers are great for creating a home mesh network, they don't have VPN support, and you cannot flash them with custom firmware.

However, you can use an extra VPN-enabled router to help you with your Google WiFi VPN configuration. Once you follow the steps mentioned in the articles above, you will be able to do just that!

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