Asus ROG GT-AC5300 VPN client (not server) setup

[Marin]

Received this router yesterday and I am still trying to become familiar with its VPN feature. Does anyone have any advice on how to set up client access on it? I tried to do so through VPN fusion tab and although it seems that everything was set up currently (showing as activated and connected) I am unable to go online. Is it because I have to manually add certain devices to go through the tunnel? I was under the impression that as long as you did not make any exceptions, every device would access VPN. It seems that on the RT-AC5300 model VPN setup (client vs server) was more intuitive.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Xentrk]

Received this router yesterday and I am still trying to become familiar with its VPN feature. Does anyone have any advice on how to set up client access on it? I tried to do so through VPN fusion tab and although it seems that everything was set up currently (showing as activated and connected) I am unable to go online. Is it because I have to manually add certain devices to go through the tunnel? I was under the impression that as long as you did not make any exceptions, every device would access VPN. It seems that on the RT-AC5300 model VPN setup (client vs server) was more intuitive.

Thanks for your help!

This blog post shows how to set up the TorGuard OpenVPN client on an RT-AC88U which may be of some help.
https://x3mtek.com/torguard-openvpn-2-4-client-setup-for-asuswrt-merlin-firmware/

 

[Marin]

Thank you. The problem that there isn't Merlin firmware available for this router. I followed Asus instructions for setting VPN up under the VPN Fusion section and it seems that any time I turn it on, the internet stops. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I have heard that many people have had issues with particular section of the original firmware. I have Express VPN and when I try the same setup on the original RT-AC5300 firmware, the internet works just fine.

 

[Lukas Faulkner]

I am in the same boat! I use Express VPN, and have the same router (GT-AC5300). I have contacted ASUS and they suggested changing the channel from auto to 1 in the wireless settings. This did not help me but maybe it will help you. I then contacted ExpressVPN for support and they asked me to send sc of my routers settings, and are getting back to me. My last step was to contact my ISP about the problem but they have yet to return a call/email. Will update when I hear back!

 

[Marin]

None of that worked for me. And your ISP is not going to help either as they will not be too excited that you are using a VPN to begin with. From reading some the comments on previous Asus forums it appeared that some users had a better experience with ExpressVPN when they downgraded to the 20648 FW. When I tried that Express VPN worked for me too but speeds suffered quite a bit. After I upgraded again to the 21045 FW, it stopped working. Somehow NordVPN was immune to all of this and seems to works a lot better. I get very good speeds with their servers and everything works just fine at this time.

 

[Lukas Faulkner]

UPDATE: contacting ISP, like you said did nothing but waste 2 hours of time on hold. Also, express VPN genuinely tried to help but in the end couldn't figure it out and kept assuming that my router wasn't running stock firmware as they aren't use to the ROG Raptur (GT-AC5300) UI.

Finally, I found a similar solution! I also used nordVPN, but as I was trying to use Hulu out of the USA, nordVPN is not sufficient enough, as the app can tell if your using something to hide your IP. My work around was to manual set the DNS on the device I was trying to use Hulu (Apple TV 4). I used ExpressVPN DNS Servers combined with NordVPN and it works great. I also used my internet as my default, and added exceptions to use the VPN. I am receiving speeds very similar to my max provided by ISP, however Ping is 45-60 which is expected using a USA server, which is why all gaming platforms use direct connecting to the internet.

 

[Xentrk]

Finally, I found a similar solution! I also used nordVPN, but as I was trying to use Hulu out of the USA, nordVPN is not sufficient enough, as the app can tell if your using something to hide your IP. My work around was to manual set the DNS on the device I was trying to use Hulu (Apple TV 4).

I had a friend have issues recently with his Apple TV. Router is AC86U. I set it up to policy route the Apple TV to OpenVPN. I had it working for him for several months. One day it stopped working. Someone had changed the region setting on the Apple TV. From my experience, one must configure the region setting to match the region you want to connect to. I also changed the OpenVPN tunnel to use DNS 1.1.1.1.