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NordVPN issue on Asus RT-AC3200 (OpenVPN)

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Apnomis

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Hi, not sure if you guys can help me but I found this site after lot's of Googling and hopefully I've ended up in the right place! Basically I've just purchased a Asus RT-AC3200 router and configured it with the latest Asus-Merlin firmware. I've also just bought a NordVPN subscription with the intention of running it directly out of the Router using OpenVPN. Unfortunately when I turn on the VPN my speed drops significantly - I'm not talking a little bit, I'm talking dropping from around 150-180mbps to under 50mbps - at a lot of the time under 10mbps! I tried speaking to NordVPN support but they fobbed me off saying OpenVPN isn't very good and the router doesn't have enough CPU power to encrypt the signal so it would be a lot slower - I don't buy this, I never saw anything like this when researching which router to buy, also the system status in the Merlin config page shows the router is using hardly any CPU or RAM resources (I don't have any of the AI features or Adaptive QoS turned on). I've tried a few different server config files (UDP) and tried a few different settings that I've spotted people mention on various websites (including changing the Custom Configuration section) but nothing has improved it yet if anything some of my tinkering make it slower. I have a 200Mbps service from my ISP, I can't justify getting 6Mbps just to get VPN on the router! This is surely a settings issue? Could someone please share their settings for NordVPN that gets them good speed results? TIA

P.S. I'm a newbie when it comes to VPN and Network/Router configurations...
 
NordVPN are right, the cpu in that router lacks hardware accelerated encryption support so 50mbps is about the best you can hope for.

The AC86U or AX88U do support hardware accelerated encryption and can do 200mbps through a vpn easily
 
Hi, not sure if you guys can help me but I found this site after lot's of Googling and hopefully I've ended up in the right place! Basically I've just purchased a Asus RT-AC3200 router and configured it with the latest Asus-Merlin firmware. I've also just bought a NordVPN subscription with the intention of running it directly out of the Router using OpenVPN. Unfortunately when I turn on the VPN my speed drops significantly - I'm not talking a little bit, I'm talking dropping from around 150-180mbps to under 50mbps - at a lot of the time under 10mbps! I tried speaking to NordVPN support but they fobbed me off saying OpenVPN isn't very good and the router doesn't have enough CPU power to encrypt the signal so it would be a lot slower - I don't buy this, I never saw anything like this when researching which router to buy, also the system status in the Merlin config page shows the router is using hardly any CPU or RAM resources (I don't have any of the AI features or Adaptive QoS turned on). I've tried a few different server config files (UDP) and tried a few different settings that I've spotted people mention on various websites (including changing the Custom Configuration section) but nothing has improved it yet if anything some of my tinkering make it slower. I have a 200Mbps service from my ISP, I can't justify getting 6Mbps just to get VPN on the router! This is surely a settings issue? Could someone please share their settings for NordVPN that gets them good speed results? TIA

P.S. I'm a newbie when it comes to VPN and Network/Router configurations...
Your observations are accurate for that model of router. I had a AC68U and AC3100 and both maxed at 50 like @Jack Yaz says. My AX88U seems to be far more capable VPN router.
 
Thanks both, that is disappointing, I didn't read anything about that when I was researching what model to get :(

The AX88U is very expensive and out of my budget range, what about the AC86U? Would that be any better or would that be about the same as the AC3200?
 
Thanks both, that is disappointing, I didn't read anything about that when I was researching what model to get :(

The AX88U is very expensive and out of my budget range, what about the AC86U? Would that be any better or would that be about the same as the AC3200?
The AC86U is a very capable router (source: I own one)
 
Thanks both, that is disappointing, I didn't read anything about that when I was researching what model to get :(

The AX88U is very expensive and out of my budget range, what about the AC86U? Would that be any better or would that be about the same as the AC3200?

I did the same discovery for some time ago, I had 6-8mbps on my AC3200 with NordVPN, when I change to the AC86U the speed went up to 80-100mbps. I have a 250mbps fiber line from my ISP.
 
I did the same discovery for some time ago, I had 6-8mbps on my AC3200 with NordVPN, when I change to the AC86U the speed went up to 80-100mbps. I have a 250mbps fiber line from my ISP.

Thanks - are there any 'downsides' of going to the AC86U? I'm guessing it's a newer version of a lower spec model, so does the newer hardware outstrip any losses in other features of the AC3200 - e.g. tri-band, wi-fi range, wi-fi speed etc?

Really wish I would have known this before buying the AC3200, but you live and you learn - I shouldn't take too much of a hit on eBay (where I got it from).

I've also seen the AC88 going for cheap second-hand - would a second-hand AC88 be a better bet than a brand new AC86 or is there not much in it?
 
Thanks - are there any 'downsides' of going to the AC86U? I'm guessing it's a newer version of a lower spec model, so does the newer hardware outstrip any losses in other features of the AC3200 - e.g. tri-band, wi-fi range, wi-fi speed etc?

Really wish I would have known this before buying the AC3200, but you live and you learn - I shouldn't take too much of a hit on eBay (where I got it from).

I've also seen the AC88 going for cheap second-hand - would a second-hand AC88 be a better bet than a brand new AC86 or is there not much in it?
Ac88 is actually an older model, and does not have hardware accelerated encryption
 
Ok final question - I can get the AC86 for ~£135, or the AX88 for ~£270 - is the AX88 really worth paying double for?
 
and AX specs still not finalized!
you will get an AX router for much less in 2 years and then you will have 2 routers for the price you will pay for this one right now.
you wont get much better than RT-AC86U for your needs!
 
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Thanks all - I'm going to buy the AC86 instead, annoyingly I very nearly bought this to start with but decided to go with the AC3200 because I stupidly thought the higher model number and tri-band and more antenna etc made it the better choice. It never even occurred to me there had to be special hardware acceleration for OpenVPN as I thought having it supported was all you needed to worry about. Lesson learnt - makes me feel old, back in the day I would have been all over this as I was always building systems and tinkering with setup, but I stopped following hardware developments years ago...
 
Thanks both, that is disappointing, I didn't read anything about that when I was researching what model to get :(

The AX88U is very expensive and out of my budget range, what about the AC86U? Would that be any better or would that be about the same as the AC3200?

I see you've decided to buy the RT-AC86U and that is the right choice for you it seems. :)

Be happy to note that for VPN use, the RT-AC86U and the RT-AX88U are equivalent. :)
 
Thanks all - I'm going to buy the AC86 instead, annoyingly I very nearly bought this to start with but decided to go with the AC3200 because I stupidly thought the higher model number and tri-band and more antenna etc made it the better choice. It never even occurred to me there had to be special hardware acceleration for OpenVPN as I thought having it supported was all you needed to worry about. Lesson learnt - makes me feel old, back in the day I would have been all over this as I was always building systems and tinkering with setup, but I stopped following hardware developments years ago...

Chasing OpenVPN performance. Here is a snip of a comparison test:

upload_2019-6-7_20-33-22.png
 

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