What VPN Setting for PIA

[squirrellydw]

So I just flashed my AC68U with Merlin 380.57 and I would like to know what VPN setting I should use. I see there are a few options such as L2TP, PPTP, OpenVPN etc. What one should I use with PIA?

Thanks

 

[sfx2000]

You should probably ask your VPN provider... they'll guide you thru the steps...

 

[L&LD]

You might want to try hggomes firmware based off of RMerlin's. It includes PIA VPN natively since the first of this month.

I also seem to remember john9527's firmware (also based on RMerlin code) to be including PIA soon? Just checked and it is ready to enjoy.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/fork-update-for-374-43-available-v16e1.18914/


The following is the @hggomes firmware changelog (partial). PM for a link to those files.

CHANGES:
=======

380.57.4: (3 FEV 16)

- FIXED: MiniDLNA not working due to wrong symlink filename.


380.57.3: (1 FEV 16)

- NEW: Private Internet Access VPN support.
- FIXED: ASUS WEBUI missing code.
- FIXED: RT-AC56U/S TX Power code.
- FIXED: WEBUI Media Server code.
- UPDATED: Curl to 7.47.0 version.
- UPDATED: JPEG to v9b version.
- UPDATED: LibUSB to 1.0.20 version.
- UPDATED: OpenSSL to 1.0.2f version.
- UPDATED: PCRE to 8.38 version.
- UPDATED: SDParm to 1.10b2 version.
- UPDATED: SQLite to 3.10.2 version.
- UPDATED: USB_ModeSwitch to 2.3.0 version.

KNOWN ISSUES:

- MiniDLNA not working due to wrong symlink filename.

 

[squirrellydw]

So would you suggest hggomes or john9527 firmware? Why doesn't hggomes post his publicly?

 

[L&LD]

So would you suggest hggomes or john9527 firmware? Why doesn't hggomes post his publicly?

You'll have to ask him. Any threads you can find now have had his responses removed (for the most part) for this specific question.

 

[Wisiwyg]

Regarding PIA VPN...

I have it set up on an AC68R running Merlin-John fork, latest available, with Blowfish 128 encryption. Without VPN, throughput is ~100 Mbps. With VPN 'On', throughput drops to about 20 Mbps. I have Comcast service near Denver and using speedtest.comcast.net to test. Termination for VPN is in Phoenix, so when testing I select the Denver server for VPN off and Phoenix server when VPN is on. Is this drop in throughput typical? I've done what I can find about optimizing the setup. Is this the best I can expect if using the AC68R? This is my first foray into VPN, so I don't know what to expect for real-world use. TIA.

 

[AndromancE]

I have the AC87. while it has slightly better CPU, when first tried using PIA OpenVPN I couldn't go past 38 in best cases. So I opened a thread here in snbforums to seek more knowledge and assistance in order to increase the speeds. And with other issues that arose (5ghz drops) I was on the verge of returning it to amazon. But in a last attempt I overclocked the CPU to 1200mhz and turned the encryption to AES 128. Before that I had already tried the router with AiProtection, DHCP, NAT acceleration, traffic monitoring, Firewall and USB 3 turned off to see which can have the biggest impact on speeds. And found that NAT acceleration is the biggest OpenVPN speed dragger with AiProtection far second. Firewall is a must and USB 3 is preferable although their impact on speeds are negligible. But with CPU overclock came the biggest surprise. It jumped from 36-38mbps to almost double 72mbps. The router runs without active cooling, only on vertical position, and the temps are also more than acceptable 70c for CPU and 60c for 5ghz wireless.

Please note that I have two PIA connections running through the router. Each connected to different server and each with special routing to few devices inside my LAN. I am using Merlin's latest FW, and I don't see any necessity in using other forks unless you want something that doesn't exist or malfunctioning in Merlin's original.

I'll later provide my PIA settings on this thread if you want (I'm not near the router now and I disabled remote access for security). But in the meantime you may go and check my previously opened thread for more information.

Kind regards.