Help choosing my next wireless router - OpenVPN a requirement.

[FrankDeRyder]

Hi guys,

New to the forums but been reading SmallNetBuilder for a few years.

I currently have a DIR-655 wireless router which has been fantastic for the last 4 years or so. Still providing me with a solid 56 - 72Mbps wireless connection and wouldn't really be looking to upgrade but could do with a few more features.

Due to the increasing use of ISP based website blocking, stupid traffic management and the uneasy feeling that everything I'm doing online is being monitored I would like to go down the route of connecting to the internet through a VPN.

I had a 1 month subscription with these guys to try out a VPN service:-

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/

And I was able to get my Synology NAS using its built in OpenVPN client connected without much hassle. Performance was a bit poor though, barely hitting 1MB/s download which I put down to the fact it is only a DS209 and would be doing the encryption/decryption purely on its CPU.

I would now prefer that I perform the OpenVPN connection at the router level, thus protecting every device on my home network without having to install clients etc.

I've read a little about the Asus RT-N66U and the Tomato firmware which will provide an OpenVPN client.

Can anyone tell me if this will achieve what I have described above?
How is the performance when connected to an OpenVPN connection?
Is there a better alternative to what I am trying to achieve?

Any help with this query would be most appreciated.

Regards,

Frankie

 

[fltundra]

Frankie,
I'm kinda trying to do the same thing you are. I running an RT-N66u currently and getting 10MBps down, and 15MBps up with open VPN running and 65MBps down, 15MBps up straight to wan. I purchased the new RT-AC56U and it will be delivered this afternoon, I can get 40-50MBps down with VPN client on my laptop. So we will see if the new model, being it has the new ARM duel core does better with VPN bandwidth. I'll post this evening with my results.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Vpn

With the highest power (fast processor, lots of RAM) SOHO router you will being doing very well to get 80% of your upload and download speeds using a SOHO router.

If you want all your speed you need to have a specialized set up with a higher speed processor and lots of RAM. A couple of options are to use a router and VPN accelerator from Sabai Technology or load DD-WRT on a PC and then using it as router/server.

I use an E3000 running Sabai's dual gateway software and a VPN accelerator. I turned to this setup so I could stream video from geo blocked sites. Without the accelerator I could not stream video in HD on my 5 Mbps connection. The VPN accelerator handle also the VPN processing using an Atom Processor and 1.2 Gigs of RAM.

 

[fltundra]

The Asus RT-AC56U is a total failure for me. The improvements were miniscule, plus i lost half of my 2.4 ghz range. Vpn picked up to between 5 and 10MBps, still not what i was looking for. I'm returning it today! Don't buy the RT-AC56U if your looking for more power, my Rt-n66u more then doubles the range in exact same location. Beam forming my butt! I'll probably go the VPN accelerator route.

 

[stevech]

The Asus RT-AC56U is a total failure.

That opinion might not be widely supported.

 

[sfx2000]

If you're going OpenVPN - basically forget doing this in the router itself - most don't have the horsepower to deal with the overhead and do their day jobs, routing packets.

Seriously - most Smartphones have more horsepower that the majority of the devices on the shelves - and OpenVPN takes some horsepower to get a good experience.

If you're serious about VPN, find a router that supports the right packet type pasthru's (not all consumer routers do pass the traffic correctly) and have an OpenVPN server inside your network with the appropriate ports exposed to the public internet.

it's a bit more work, but worth it.

sfx

 

[FrankDeRyder]

Thanks for the input guys.

I will take a good read through and will no doubt have more questions to post

Cheers!