How to get around (or avoid) an IP Ban on PS3 with a VPN

[RiotDX]

If you've ever gotten a console ban from Sony, they may have taken the extra step of banning your IP address as well. This can obviously be quite an annoyance, especially if you have another Sony console that isn't banned. Or perhaps you're one of the growing group who has gotten an IP ban seemingly at random. Or even worse, your computer may have been hijacked by viruses that used your connection for DDoS attacks, which can also get you banned (definitely look for a good antivirus program for this). Well, the easiest way around the IP ban is to use a VPN. Fortunately, there are a number of inexpensive VPNs available (I wouldn't recommend trying to use a free one; they can be rather slow, disconnect often, and some even give away your internet usage to third parties). These VPNs are easy to set up on your computer, and come with good instructions to walk you through the steps to get up and running. Unfortunately, they are not properly configured to work with your consoles. Here's how to get around that on your PS3:

1. Purchase a subscription to a VPN of your choice and set it up on your computer.
2. You must connect your PS3 with an ethernet cable directly to your PC.
3. Open your Network Connections window under Control Panel. When you connect to your VPN, an extra ethernet connection should pop up that represents your VPN connection.
4. Right click on the VPN ethernet connection, and click on Properties.
5. Under the Sharing tab, check both of the boxes and in the drop-down box choose the ethernet connection to your PS3.

Alternately, you could configure a router to connect to your VPN directly, but this makes it difficult to manage your VPN settings.

As an added bonus, most VPNs allow you to mask your IP to make it look like you're connecting from another country entirely. This makes it possible to, among other things, watch things on Netflix on your PS3 that aren't otherwise available in your region.

This should work for all VPNs, but some of them may require additional steps. I'd be happy to share which one worked for me with no additional steps in a private message, but I'm not going to use this tutorial as a public advertisement for them.

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