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Having a hard time getting devices to stay connected

I'm struggling to get any of my devices to stay connected to NextDNS. I've been using the main tiktok website as my test point to see if it's working, and I'm just having endless issues with nearly all of my devices.

Android seems to be the most consistent at working. Even when I enable Proton VPN, it still seems to be going through NextDNS (blocked websites still show up as blocked). I have two android devices that I use regularly. I set both of them up with Settings > Connections > More Connection Settings > Private DNS. I set them up with an identifier so I could see which device is which. It's working fantastic. I can see my work phone and personal phone separately on NextDNS's analytics, and like I mentioned, even with Proton VPN enabled, I cannot bypass the filter to get to tiktok, which probably means all of the other tracking and ad network blocking I set up is working. Maybe this is a sign that my VPN is not working at all?

iOS seems to be the only one going flawlessly. Installed using their custom profile generator, set it up in settings, I can bypass it with VPN on, I can't bypass it with VPN off. Everything seems to be working nicely.

Windows is not going so hot. It breaks often, and I cannot fix it. It sometimes fixes itself for no apparent reason, and I don't know why. I tried setting it up with DNS over HTTPS, but it didn't work, so I went ahead and grabbed NextDNS for Windows, which worked the first time I set it up, but has had issues on and off ever since. Currently, it just says I'm using Cloudflare. If I enable my VPN on here, it says I'm using Datacamp Limited, so I think the VPN is working, but NextDNS is extremely inconsistent here. Even now as I write this, it's flickering back and forth between Cloudflare and "All good!"

MacOS seems to be working well most of the time, just like iOS. I'm surprised these two work the best. Sadly, ProtonVPN does not support custom DNS on Mac, so I'm stuck choosing one or the other.

I haven't even dared to try Linux yet, given the issues I'm having elsewhere.

And finally, on my TP Link router, it's also not working. I have one Windows computer that does not have NextDNS on it at all. That's how I've been testing how well the router works. If I take my laptop out of the house and connect to a different router, it asks me to update my linked IP with a little refresh symbol. If I do that, then the router at home no longer uses NextDNS. If I open it at home, the little refresh symbol is there again.

The router is the main place that I want it to function, but I'm struggling with it the most there. Based on everything I've said, especially regarding Android, Windows, and the Router, does anyone have suggestions for me on troubleshooting steps? Please let me know if I can provide more information, and I will gladly do so.

4 replies

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    • Calvin_Hobbes
    • 9 days ago
    • Reported - view

    If you're not married to ProtonVPN, you might consider Tailscale plus Mullvad.   Tailscale is free for personal use and Mullvad add-on is 5 USD/month which is slightly less expensive than subscribing to Mullvad directly.   Tailscale has specific instructions on how to use their service with NextDNS.

    https://tailscale.com/kb/1218/nextdns

    https://tailscale.com/blog/nextdns

      • BadAtNetworking
      • 9 days ago
      • Reported - view

      I'm not particularly married to it, I mostly just use it because it comes with Proton Unlimited, which I'm already using, and I feel foolish doubling up on subscriptions.

       

      I'll at least give it a shot though. What does this setup accomplish in the end? Do you set up NextDNS on your router and then you use Tailscale and Mullvad to constantly pretend like you're on your home network?

       

      If so, my two followup questions would be, how would that solve the issue of NextDNS randomly not working on my router? Aside from using a computer that doesn't have NextDNS client on it, I'm not actually sure if there's a good way to test if it's working. And is it safe to remotely connect to my home network all the time, especially through some of the sketchier, less secure public networks out there? I'm guessing the VPN is supposed to protect against that.

      • Calvin_Hobbes
      • 9 days ago
      • Reported - view

       The documentation at Tailscale can explain the process and the topology much better than I can.   There’s no need to install anything on the router as long as you have an always on device with Tailscale installed inside the house and on your mobile device.  The mobile device and the device at home will create a private “tailnet”

      In fact, you don’t need a separate VPN service if all you want to do is use your mobile device to securely connect to home network.   The device at home can also act as an exit node to reach the internet through your house ISP.

      i use an Apple TV in the house.  There’s a tailscale client designed specifically to do all the work.  You could use just about any always on device, it doesn’t have to be an Apple TV it just needs to run the tailscale client software.

      Within the tailscale admin panel is a place to configure your DNS settings.   You can specify your NextDNS configuration there, or you can configure it within the tailscale client.

      I will likely stop using the Mullvad add on because my mobile device safety connects to the home network and uses NextDNS.  I’m not really concerned about the traffic going through my ISP, but if you are, that’s where the Mullvad add on is needed.   Tailscale is designed to work with both mullvad and NextDNS.  It might be possible to use a different VPN service, i haven’t tried doing that.

       I’m not sure if this will fix the issues you are having.  It works quite well for me and it seems much easier than trying to make an other VPNs and NextDNS work together.

      • BadAtNetworking
      • 8 days ago
      • Reported - view

      Yeah, I probably will end up using the addon, as I do like to have a VPN running 24/7 to encrypt stuff through my ISP. I'd think it also makes it more secure, but I'm not good enough at networking/engineering stuff to really understand the security implications of it in the first place.

      That would definitely solve the issue on my devices when I'm on the go, since the only device I'd need it to work on is my router. I'll give it a go and see what I can come up with, thank you!

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Content aside

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