I need a reliable VPN Router

[McGreggor]

Hello,

I need a good router which can handle VPN traffic pretty well on multiple devices connected to it. I currently have a router with VPN functionality but it's really crap, sluggish and disconnects like 8 times per day which is not very stable.

I need to be able to squeeze 60 Mbps/10Mbps which is actually my fibre connection or at least close to it. I have been recommended the following devices :

Asus: RT-AC88U, RT-AC3100, RT-AC5300
D-Link (DD-WRT): DIR-885L, DIR-895L
Linksys (DD-WRT): EA8500, EA9500 (no DD-WRT available yet), WRT1900ACS, WRT3200ACM
Netgear (DD-WRT): R7500, R7800, R8500, R9000

I was thinking about getting Linksys WRT3200ACM as someone here recommended it as they had 200/80 connection and was able to get 120/80.

Any recommendation or tips ?
Thanks

 

[CaptainSTX]

Hello,

I need a good router which can handle VPN traffic pretty well on multiple devices connected to it. I currently have a router with VPN functionality but it's really crap, sluggish and disconnects like 8 times per day which is not very stable.
mbps
I need to be able to squeeze 60 Mbps/10Mbps which is actually my fibre connection or at least close to it. I have been recommended the following devices :

Asus: RT-AC88U, RT-AC3100, RT-AC5300
D-Link (DD-WRT): DIR-885L, DIR-895L
Linksys (DD-WRT): EA8500, EA9500 (no DD-WRT available yet), WRT1900ACS, WRT3200ACM
Netgear (DD-WRT): R7500, R7800, R8500, R9000

I was thinking about getting Linksys WRT3200ACM as someone here recommended it as they had 200/80 connection and was able to get 120/80.

Any recommendation or tips ?
Thanks

Test your VPN provider's speed running a VPN app on a PC with a wired connection to your router.

Some VPN providers particularly if you are connecting to a distant server won't be able to give you 70+ Mbps speeds. If you can't get the speeds you want on a PC find another VPN provider then look for a high powered router.

 

[SeaConn]

Any recommendation or tips ?

I'm using the new Asus RT-AC86U on Merlin's Alpha3 build and am getting 200/200 Mbps with AEC-256-CBC. It has hardware AES acceleration (new Broadcom BCM4906) vs the plain old pound-the-CPU crypto that the old Broadcom chips use. The OpenVPN is stable, plus it has Merlin's policy based routing. See here for Merlin's speed tests.

I'm not a fan of DD-WRT. I always had issues with it dropping the VPN and allowing clients to leak. Asuswrt-Merlin has an option to block clients if the VPN disconnects. So far, it's never failed. I use PIA VPN, though, which is incredibly stable.

As far as I'm aware, the RT-AC86U is the fastest OpenVPN consumer router currently on the market. If you're okay running the Merlin Alpha3 firmware for a while (VPN is functioning perfectly) and don't care about a buggy Adaptive QoS feature, then go that route. RMerlin and others are doing an outstanding job of supporting the new 382.1 Asus code and are actively working on the AC86U.

 

[sfx2000]

I'm using the new Asus RT-AC86U on Merlin's Alpha3 build and am getting 200/200 Mbps with AEC-256-CBC. It has hardware AES acceleration (new Broadcom BCM4906) vs the plain old pound-the-CPU crypto that the old Broadcom chips use. The OpenVPN is stable, plus it has Merlin's policy based routing. See here for Merlin's speed tests.

Actually - we know better on that device

There is an improvement over the earlier Asus (and other devices) based on the dual-core ARM cortex-A9's...

It's alpha, and the new broadcom chip is looking interesting, but it's not at the same level at the Intel comms focused chips, even on the low-end with Rangley on the Netgate/Lanner appliances.

If one wants truly reliable VPN performance as a server, client, or Gateway - pfSense on Intel is a good place to be.

 

[sfx2000]

I was thinking about getting Linksys WRT3200ACM as someone here recommended it as they had 200/80 connection and was able to get 120/80.

I won't say much about WRT, except that the Marvell chip is pretty good there with regards to VPN work - Armada 38x is probably the best ARMv7A solution compared to the low end Intel chips based on Silvermont/Airmont - the newer Denverton chips are much better, but hard to find economical boards at the moment.

 

[Iclark31]

Hello,

I need a good router which can handle VPN traffic pretty well on multiple devices connected to it. I currently have a router with VPN functionality but it's really crap, sluggish and disconnects like 8 times per day which is not very stable.

I need to be able to squeeze 60 Mbps/10Mbps which is actually my fibre connection or at least close to it. I have been recommended the following devices :

Asus: RT-AC88U, RT-AC3100, RT-AC5300
D-Link (DD-WRT): DIR-885L, DIR-895L
Linksys (DD-WRT): EA8500, EA9500 (no DD-WRT available yet), WRT1900ACS, WRT3200ACM
Netgear (DD-WRT): R7500, R7800, R8500, R9000

I was thinking about getting Linksys WRT3200ACM as someone here recommended it as they had 200/80 connection and was able to get 120/80.

Any recommendation or tips ?
Thanks

There is this service, privacyhero.com which works with your existing router and supports up to 90Mbps VPN connection.

 

[SeaConn]

There is this service, privacyhero.com which works with your existing router and supports up to 90Mbps VPN connection.

The advertisement is misleading. The Asus RT-AC86U costs $200 and does 200/200 Mbps. Merlin's AsusWRT fork is now in beta. The OpenVPN functionality is solid. I'm very happy with mine.

 

[Iclark31]

The advertisement is misleading. The Asus RT-AC86U costs $200 and does 200/200 Mbps. Merlin's AsusWRT fork is now in beta. The OpenVPN functionality is solid. I'm very happy with mine.

Like the website? That would be very good if you can get 200 Mbps on a vpn router, can you confirm? Is that with OpenVPN? This forum speaks about it specifically and the consensus is the Asus 86U is the bottleneck for speeds when used as a VPN router.

 

[SeaConn]

Like the website? That would be very good if you can get 200 Mbps on a vpn router, can you confirm? Is that with OpenVPN? This forum speaks about it specifically and the consensus is the Asus 86U is the bottleneck for speeds when used as a VPN router.

RMerlin tested it here. I can confirm his results.

I'm pretty sure the dude on the Whirlpool forum has a DSL-AC68U. The RT-AC86U wasn't even on the market in August when he posted that.

 

[SeaConn]

Is that with OpenVPN?

Yes. OpenVPN using AEC-256-CDC.