The purpose of a VPN (virtual private network) is to secure your connection to the Internet (which we recommend you do when you travel). Unfortunately, a drawback of many VPN services is receiving just a single licence, only good for connecting one device at a time.
As a traveler these days, you probably have multiple devices that you wish to connect to the Internet at once, but you may not want to pay for several VPN licences which could add up to hundreds of dollars per year.
Below, I’ll show you how to connect to the internet using your VPN, and share that secure connection with other devices, such as smartphones, tablets. or other laptops over wifi using Connectify and VPN service from Witopia.
This article is a bit more advanced than our usual, so if you are already a bit lost, you can read more about Connectify from our previous article here, and learn about the basics of VPNs in our article “5 Reasons You Should Be Using a VPN.”
NOTE: Before we start sharing your VPN access, you will need to download and install a copy of Connectify for Windows (free or Pro), and have a paid service plan for Witopia.
How to Share Your Witopia VPN Connection With Connectify
Right click on the Witopia icon from your System Tray (the area by the clock). Choose Gateways, and then choose a gateway you would like to use.
Wait for the VPN to complete the connection. When it does, you will notice that the Witopia icon turns from white to blue. You can also check the location by double-clicking the Witopia icon in the System Tray.
Start Connectify. Configure a hotspot name and password if you haven’t already.
Click the “Internet to Share” pull down menu. Choose “Viscosity Virtual Adapter V9.1”
Click the “Share Over” pull down menu. Choose “Wi-Fi”.
Click “Start Hotspot” or “Apply Settings” if your Connectify hotspot was already running.
Now your VPN is connected, and shared out over WiFi with the network name you chose above. Connect to this network using the password you created on any other devices you may have, including other notebooks, tablets, or smartphones.
You can test that your connection on these devices is connected through the VPN by going to a website that shows your IP. It should match the location of the gateway you chose in Step 2.
Why Would You Want To Do This?
First off, the purpose of a VPN is to secure your Internet connection, and if you only use it on one of your devices, you may be leaving yourself and your data open to snooping on the other devices.
Secondly, you can save on the cost of multiple VPN licences, assuming you typically have your notebook computer connected.
In my case, here in Kalaw (a small town in Burma / Myanmar), I was unable to connect to Gmail at the local internet cafe, and I often cull my e-mails on my Android phone.
Instead of disconnecting my VPN access on my laptop to connect to it on my smartphone, I shared the connection instead. Once connected, I was able to download all of my messages.
Do you travel with multiple Internet devices? Do you use VPN connections, and if so, when do you choose to use them?
Main image via Mickey Free
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Comments
Interesting that you chose to highlight Witopia for this, as I chose Witopia around the time of this article because it met all of my needs. One of them specifically was that it allowed for 2 devices to be logged in at once (we’ve had 4 logged in to try it and it still works fine). Most of them advertised only a single connection at a time, but Witopia allowed 2 from the get-go.
And it usually works great, so we’ve just renewed for the third year.
Hi, thanks for information. With such way can I use my Roku via VPN tethered from Lap Top? I live out of USA and need to connect Roku in hotels via a VPN connection.