I am in a foreign country and have an Orbi RBK50 mesh. I want to connect dumb devices (i.e. a tv, amazon echo, etc). I would like to connect to a to my friend's VPN using openvpn. I tried to set up VPN service but that did not work. Any ideas? I want to be able to stream and whatnot using that VPN because I can't access some websites or streaming services if the IP is a foreign country. Home Depot is an example of site I can't use.
I tried to set up VPN service but that did not work.
It usually helps to say a bit more than "did not work".
A good start would be to say you did and where it went wrong?
VPN isn't the easiest thing to configure and depends a lot on the service you are using. It is hard to see where your friend's VPN comes into the picture. Again, too little information for anyone to do more than guess at what is going on at your end.
If I understand correctly what you are trying to do is have your friend be the VPN server and your Orbi be the client and route all traffic through your friend's network. Orbi supports VPN only as a sever (I.e. when you're not home you can connect to your home network). If I understand correctly keep reading, otherwise ignore 😉
a couple of options could be installing a VPN client on your streaming devices (if you have something like a firetv) or installing Voxel which also has OpenVPN client on the Orbi.
Please explain more about Voxel. I do not have fireTV they are android or roku. I have openvpn on the devices that support it but the TV's (as far as I have been able to determine} do not. I also would like Alexa to use the client VPN.
If I understand it correctly, Voxel is alternative firmware that can replace Netgear's official version.
Advice on that is best obtained from the people who write the firmware. Netgear does not support it, and there probably aren't many Voxel users here who can help.
In my opinion routing only done devices is a lot of work. If you want since devices to be routed through a VPN tunnel and some devices go out through your regular ISP you might want to install a raspberry pi or something like that.
If you want to route ALL your traffic through the VPN tunnel then you should check out Voxel. See http://www.snbforums.com/forums/netgear-ac-wireless.53/, make sure you have the right stock firmware and then flash the latest Voxel firmware. Please remember how doing this at your own risk and you should be comfortable flashjng firmware and if needed restoring the stock firmware with TFTP.
