VPN Router with a satellite modem

Hi Guys, I'm new to this forum and would like your input on a problem I've been having with a Netgear FVS318G VPN router. I live in the country and have internet thru a satellite modem. I can only use this service for basic internet and no streaming video due to the restriction on data usage. I have a wired network to all computers and video devices using this modem. However the internet access is very intermittent. I have found some info. that VPN is not compatible with satellite modems due to the high latencies created by the satellite link. I have tried Netgear tech. and they weren't very helpful. can I use this router and disable VPN ? If not any suggestions on a router that would be a better fit. I do have a NAS drive that streams video thru the router so I need one that has the capacity to stream video to several devices simultaneously. I do have a wireless router now but want to use it as an access point only. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

actually VPN can be helpful in this case where you can have an external server to act as a cache. The way it works is Your router connects to some server you have in a nearby datacenter before accessing the internet. Before passing data such as http or video it will compress it over the tunnel.
When using a VPN or tunnel you can use compression and IP packing.

You will also need an internal cache as well which involves having a normal hard drive. You can cache downloads, http, updates with updates being an important to cache because multiple clients updating each tend to use their own seperate bandwidth. With a proper router like pfsense, mikrotik or cisco you can use the firewall to redirect update traffic to your cache server instead.

a cache, compression, packing and a router/proxy altogether does increase latency but it will make your connection more stable

Thanks for your input. I'm afraid I don't have the knowledge to configure my system as you suggest. I am certainly willing to try but need a starting point. I wouldn't know what features to look for in purchasing a router or how to set it up with my existing system. My experience has been limited to using the provide software to setup the router. My internet connection is stable when connected to the LAN card of the computer. I prefer to use a non wi-fi router to connect my home network and it seems the only routers I can find with good thru put capacity are VPN. Any recommendations on a router that would work with only basic configuration settings or "plug and play"software.

G Webb said:

Thanks for your input. I'm afraid I don't have the knowledge to configure my system as you suggest. I am certainly willing to try but need a starting point. I wouldn't know what features to look for in purchasing a router or how to set it up with my existing system. My experience has been limited to using the provide software to setup the router. My internet connection is stable when connected to the LAN card of the computer. I prefer to use a non wi-fi router to connect my home network and it seems the only routers I can find with good thru put capacity are VPN. Any recommendations on a router that would work with only basic configuration settings or "plug and play"software.

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I get the feeling you don't actually know what a VPN is and how it works.

Routers labeled as VPN routers just means that they have VPN features. If you don't configure and enable those features the router behaves like any other none VPN capable router.

i suggest installing pfsense on a PC with 2 NICs. PFsense is very easy to configure since it has a nice GUI for you to do that with.

You should look at
- cache
- configurable firewall
- VPN/tunneling section
- IP packing and compression via the VPN or tunnel
- local network services such as DNS, NTP, etc.

You than need either some server or virtual private server somewhere with good internet like a local datacenter which will be running a full fledged linux serverOS which you will than need to look at
- VPN/tunneling
- IP packing and compression
- Connection buffer so data that fails to reach you from satellite will still be on the server and will be resent. This is important because it means you do not need to redownload the whole file if it fails half way.

You might want to look into using downloaders that can handle errors. You use the configurable firewall to hijack common traffic and redirect it to your router/cache which would be the pfsense router. This means hijacking all DNS, NTP and web traffic and making it processed by the router which will act as a server for these services. Using a transparent proxy config you could also cache OS and software updates.

For the novice this is a lot of work and research but is worth it if it means saving bandwidth and reducing WAN traffic.

The server at the datacenter acts as your gateway to the internet so it is like this
[pfsense]-------[satellite]---------[datacenter server]------internet

More steps but on a very unreliable connection it can make a lot of difference

But if you believe your router is the problem than theres pfsense, linksys and asus. Dont go for VPN routers of any brand as they are unreliable if they have VPN in their name mainly because the platform they use is unstable and the VPN throughput is the same as a high end consumer router. If you need VPN performance in the hundreds of megabits while being stable than use pfsense on an x86 box or a mikrotik router that has a PPC CPU with IPSEC or TILEGX CPU.

Thanks for the help. That's a lot to process, but it gives me a starting point. I'm sure I will be visiting this forum again for further help.

I understand the purpose of a VPN. However the router I was using the Netgear FVS318G was giving me intermittent service thru my satellite provider. . I contacted Netgear tech support and was told I could not disable the VPN function. When I requested a replacement all they could recommend was a Wi-Fi unit. I'm not opposed to using one however we only need a wireless connection for basic browsing with tablets. The Netgear router worked fine as a network router able to stream video to 3 separate TV's from my NAS drive with no problems. However internet access was intermittent. I will not be connecting with my network from a remote location and don't leave my system connected to the net when I'm not using it so I'm satisfied my security software is sufficient to protect my system. A router that will give me the performance I need for video streaming and allow me to configure an access point for Wi-Fi would be perfect.

Typically satellite connections these days come with a modem\router. Not like in the old days where you had to run software on a PC and share it out.

What I'm trying to get at is your satellite Internet issue is most likely due to a cabling issue, the dish being out of alignment or the service itself is the problem.

My modem is strictly a modem, no router function at all. I have also had the satellite system checked. It's all working properly. The Internet is rock solid connected to my computer LAN, it's also fine connected to an old E2500 Linksys wi-fi router. However that router is not able to handle all the network traffic generated by streaming 3 separate videos to 3 separate TV's. The problems started when I added the additional smart TV's. That's when I started looking for a stand alone router that will support a gigibyte LAN connection . I can then use the 2500 as a access point.

Well that narrows it down to the NetGear router than. Only option is to swap it out since you've gone through support already.

Dont get a router specifically made for VPN such as the ciscoRV. Such routers have been unreliable. Almost any consumer router will do better except for dlink.