Thanks... That would help if I could gain access to the vpn but unfortunately PIA has given me the update that its not possible with my Asus Comcast Specific Router (AC2600) and Merlin doesnt support the router as well as DD-WRT and Tomato... thank you all for the kind efforts and time to reply to my inquiry... Godspeed!
P.S. See below for the fore-mentioned conversation with PIA, maybe this will help someone else who may have a similar issue, good luck!
Jeremy C. (Private Internet Access)
Nov 29, 13:47 MST
Hello Francis,
Thank you for the response, attached is the ovpn file that should work however as mentioned default ASUS firmware is not supported as of yet by our services. I would recommend installing Merlin via their site
https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/download. Flashing Merlin is outside of our scope and we are not liable to any damages if they should occur when flashing the firmware. Just make sure you download the correct one for your device it will be listed via model number.
For your convenience I have included the file that you can try on the default ASUS firmware in plain text as well as attached on to this email:
client
dev tun
proto udp
remote
uk-london.privateinternetaccess.com 1198
resolv-retry infinite
remote-random
nobind
tun-mtu 1500
tun-mtu-extra 32
mssfix 1450
persist-key
persist-tun
ping 15
ping-restart 0
ping-timer-rem
reneg-sec 0
remote-cert-tls server
#mute 10000
auth-user-pass
auth-nocache
comp-lzo
verb 4
pull
fast-io
cipher AES-128-CBC
<ca>
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
</ca>
key-direction 0
If you use Merlin you can follow our Merlin guide to use the vpn: which I have included below.
Whilst we cannot officially support Merlin firmware, we've opted to write a setup guide for Merlin as the OpenVPN functionality is based off Tomato firmware. Currently we officially support DD-WRT, Tomato & pFsense.
We will endeavour to ensure that this article is accurate and up to date to the best of our ability.
To Setup Private Internet Access on Merlin firmware.
1. Login to the Asus Router control panel via a web interface.
2. On the left side menu, select the option 'VPN'
3. This will take you to the 'VPN Status' page. Select 'OpenVPN Clients' from the tabs at the top.
4. In this tab, you will be able to configure your OpenVPN clients in order to connect to the internet via your PrivateInternetAccess service.
5. Configure your client as follows:
- Start with WAN: Yes.
This will start your VPN when you connect to your ISP. If this is set to no, you will need to manually start your VPN service at the router level when your router restarts.
- Interface Type: TUN
- Protocol: UDP
- Firewall: Automatic
- Authorization Mode: TLS
- Server Address: Select your address from our server list found here.
In this example we used 'us-east.privateinternetaccess.com' (New York, USA)
- Port: 1198
- Username/Password Authentication: Yes
- Username: Enter your PIA username (for example P1234567)
- Password: Enter your PIA password (for example 12345678)
- Username / Password Auth. Only: No
- Extra HMAC Authorization: Disabled
- Auth Digest: Default
- Create NAT on Tunnel: Yes
6. Click the option next to 'Authorization Mode: TLS' that says 'Content modification of Keys & Certificates.'
7. Download the Certificate Authority from
www.privateinternetaccess.com/openvpn/ca.rsa.2048.crt
8. Open the file with a text editor and then copy and paste the contents of ca.rsa.2048.crt into the Certificate Authority.
9. Scroll down to the bottom and click 'Save'
10. Under Advanced Options, configure your client as follow:
- Global Log Verbosity: 1
- Poll Interval: 0
- Accept DNS Configuration: Strict
- Encryption Cipher: AES-128-CBC
- Compression: Adaptive
- TLS Renegotiation Time: -1
- Connection Retry: 30
- Verify Server Certificate: No
- Redirect Internet Traffic: No
11. Under Custom Configuration, enter the following:
persist-key
persist-tun
12. Click 'Save'.
13. You will now be able to set the '
Service State: On' (located at the top of the options). Service State on will only stay green and On when your service is correctly configured.
14. To see the status of your VPN service, you may check the 'VPN Status' tab located at the top which will actively poll your connection to give you the latest statistics on your connection.
If the VPN Status page constantly says 'Connecting (server address & port)' it indicates potential issues with the connection settings or Certificate Authority. Please refer to steps 5 and 6 and verify that all settings are correct.
Kindest regards,
Jeremy C.
Advanced Technical Engineer
Private Internet Access™
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