Check if your school has restrictions on VPNs and find ways to access them safely.
Check if your school has restrictions on VPNs and find ways to access them safely.
I've checked all the available VPN services you mentioned—NordVPN, Windscribe, SoftEther, OpenVPN with Tunnelblick, and various free options on Google. The only one that seems to function is Hotspot Shield (free), but it only connects to US servers and is quite slow. For a Mac user needing low-latency streaming at school, I’m looking for Canadian-based VPN suggestions or the possibility of setting up your own VPN/VPS at home. Also, I found Parsec works well if you have compatible streaming software installed.
I work on a Mac, but in the worst scenario I can switch to Windows using a dual boot setup.
They’re using either Layer 4 filtering or a built-in VPN restriction via the router. Are you visiting their website directly?
The websites are restricted, but downloading the VPN locally and using it in school works, so the problem isn’t there.
You're wondering if using a hotspot could work similarly to your phone data or a private VPS, but you might still face restrictions like other VPNs you've tried.
Layer 4 focuses on packet filtering. It mainly depends on the router or firewall you're using. At home, such restrictions are rare unless everyone uses a mandatory school VPN. Go back to basics. Use a proxy site to navigate around filter blocks at schools. We’d connect to a proxy server and browse their domain safely. For example, visiting proxy.com/cornhub/singles-looking-to-get-husked-in-your-area.html would let you access it without triggering restrictions.