VPN on your router: protect the TV and anything without an app

Three ways to bring FortiSafe to the TV

Brands that support WireGuard without changing the system

Germany: the FRITZ!Box is the shortest path

If you live in Germany, your router is likely a FRITZ!Box — it is the most common one in the country, and the only one on this list that providers often hand over already compatible. From FRITZ!OS 7.39 it ships with WireGuard built in.

The practical advantage is that it imports the configuration file directly: you type no keys by hand, which is where most people give up.

The menu is usually in German. The path is Internet → Freigaben → VPN (WireGuard) — in English, Internet → Permit Access → VPN (WireGuard).

On the FRITZ!Box, step by step

• Check the version: under System → Update it must be 7.39 or newer. If it is older, update first.
• Download the configuration file from your FortiSafe account, under Devices → Use on a router.
• On the FRITZ!Box, go to Internet → Freigaben (Permit Access) → the VPN (WireGuard) tab.
• Click Verbindung hinzufügen (Add connection).
• Choose Netzwerke koppeln (Link networks) — do NOT choose Einzelgerät verbinden (Connect a single device), which is for the opposite case: reaching your home from outside.
• When it asks whether the other network is already set up, answer yes and upload the file you downloaded.
• Confirm and wait for the connection to show as active.

What to know first (FRITZ!Box)

• There are two different things in the same menu: RECEIVING a connection (reaching your home from outside) and GOING OUT through another network, which is what FortiSafe does. The right option is the one that links networks.
• Most tutorials you'll find online are about the first, not the second. If a step asks for MyFRITZ! or DynDNS, you're on the remote-access path — go back.
• We have not tested this setup on a FRITZ!Box: the above comes from the manufacturer's documentation and the menu path they publish. If you get stuck, tell us — we want to know, and we'll work it out with you.
• If it doesn't work on your model, the other two ways still stand: a streaming device on the TV, or a second router.

Why the ISP router usually won't do

• The box your provider hands you is built to deliver internet, not to join a private network. Most have no such option.
• Comcast, for one, answers that with their equipment the VPN should be installed on your devices, not on the router.
• People who want the router protected usually add a second router to the network they already have — without swapping or returning the provider's.
• If you rent the place, or rent a room in it, the second router is often the only way: you need nobody's permission.

What the router does not do

• It doesn't protect you away from home. On the phone out in the street, the app is still the way.
• Speed drops a little: the router has to encrypt everything passing through, and a simple router has less muscle than a new phone.
• Each router takes one slot in your plan, like any other device.
• The configuration file holds the key to your access. Treat it as a password: don't share it.

Is there an app for Samsung or LG TVs?

• No, and it isn't our choice. The system on Samsung TVs gives apps no network function beyond Bluetooth — there is no way for an app to create the connection.
• It's the same reason no VPN service has an app for those TVs.
• For those TVs, the ways in are the ones in the first table: a streaming device plugged into it, or the router.

Step by step

1. Open your FortiSafe account and, under Devices, open "Use on a router".
2. Add the router and download the configuration file. It's a text file ending in .conf.
3. Open your router's settings in a browser (the address is printed under the device, usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1).
4. Find the VPN section and the WireGuard option. The table above says where it lives on each brand.
5. Import the file you downloaded. Some routers ask you to copy the fields by hand — they are all inside the file, which opens in any text editor.
6. Turn the connection on and check: on a device connected to that router, open a site that shows your internet address. It should appear in the country you picked.
7. If your router has no VPN option, it isn't compatible. Use a streaming device on the TV, or a second router.