Routers and OpenVPN

[Screwdriver]

How much strain does OpenVPN cause a router. Meaning, does a router with a better CPU help with it being able to achieve the best speed?

Running OpenVPN on my Asus RT-AC66U and am curious if a better unit would help with speeds.

 

[L&LD]

That is a direct relationship (a better processor will give better performance).

It also depends on your ISP speeds too (they may be capping your performance, instead or only, the router).

If you can test your VPN connection on the fastest (desktop or laptop) computer you own and compare it to the (rather weak) VPN performance the single core 600MHz RT-AC66U gives you, you'll get an idea of how much a newer, more powerful router may help.

If you do find you have good/great ISP speeds and a new router is in order, the RT-AC1900P (a Best Buy exclusive, right now) is your best bet. It features dual core 1.4GHz processors (a nominal 225% faster than your unit, plus dual core too) and you can use the excellent RMerlin firmware on it too (use the firmware for the RT-AC68U models).

All older Asus AC1200 (or better) class routers than the RT-AC1900P will get you increased VPN performance over your model too, but the best bang for the buck right now is the 'AC1900P from BB.

 

[Screwdriver]

That is a direct relationship (a better processor will give better performance).

It also depends on your ISP speeds too (they may be capping your performance, instead or only, the router).

If you can test your VPN connection on the fastest (desktop or laptop) computer you own and compare it to the (rather weak) VPN performance the single core 600MHz RT-AC66U gives you, you'll get an idea of how much a newer, more powerful router may help.

If you do find you have good/great ISP speeds and a new router is in order, the RT-AC1900P (a Best Buy exclusive, right now) is your best bet. It features dual core 1.4GHz processors (a nominal 225% faster than your unit, plus dual core too) and you can use the excellent RMerlin firmware on it too (use the firmware for the RT-AC68U models).

All older Asus AC1200 (or better) class routers than the RT-AC1900P will get you increased VPN performance over your model too, but the best bang for the buck right now is the 'AC1900P from BB.

Thanks!

Sometimes I need to think things out at times. A lot of issues I seem to be having was because of the slow degrading of my VPN provider and trying to get VPN working reliably under LibreELEC on my Odroid C2. So I installed the VPN on the RT-AC66U.....which was as slow as a PC with the VPN. Whatever.....So, I shopped for a new VPN and tried five companies last night and PIA was by far the best....but still ran the same as my old VPN on the router.....

Anyhow...going to get a better router, but hope it can match the PC and Odroid C2 (they match VPN speeds)

 

[Screwdriver]

Thanks!

Sometimes I need to think things out at times. A lot of issues I seem to be having was because of the slow degrading of my VPN provider and trying to get VPN working reliably under LibreELEC on my Odroid C2. So I installed the VPN on the RT-AC66U.....which was as slow as a PC with the VPN. Whatever.....So, I shopped for a new VPN and tried five companies last night and PIA was by far the best....but still ran the same as my old VPN on the router.....

Anyhow...going to get a better router, but hope it can match the PC and Odroid C2 (they match VPN speeds)

Another question. My main thing is, I want to feed a few devices with the router instead of running clients on each device. So I read that OpenVPN is single threaded and going from a single core router to duel will see a benefit. All the clients will be hardwired, so I am curious how a RT-AC56U would do....If I could get 50mbps, I would be happy....and it is $79 locally.

 

[L&LD]

Depending on how you can configure the VPN, 50Mbps is possible on the RT-AC56U. However, I would recommend the RT-AC1900P with it's 1.4GHz dual processors (75% faster than the 800MHz 'AC56U), even if it costs significantly more.

I'm not familiar with the Odroid you have, but it seems like a very underpowered system (like most routers are)?

What is your ISP speeds that you're paying for and what can you actually achieve on your fastest 'real' computer directly connected via Ethernet cable? It may be that a faster VPN router or other device may not be the limiting factor here?

 

[Screwdriver]

Depending on how you can configure the VPN, 50Mbps is possible on the RT-AC56U. However, I would recommend the RT-AC1900P with it's 1.4GHz dual processors (75% faster than the 800MHz 'AC56U), even if it costs significantly more.

I'm not familiar with the Odroid you have, but it seems like a very underpowered system (like most routers are)?

What is your ISP speeds that you're paying for and what can you actually achieve on your fastest 'real' computer directly connected via Ethernet cable? It may be that a faster VPN router or other device may not be the limiting factor here?

It's funny, I pay for 50mbps, but over the last few months my speed has creeped up to around 110mbps. Running the PIA client on my i7-4790k comp, I am seeing about 95mbps.

The Odroid C2 is a SBC like a Raspberry Pi. Runs a Quad Core Amlogic ARM Cortex-A53 @1.5ghz. Where my RT-AC66U pegs the CPU at 100% when running a speed test, the C2 only hits 20% on a single core. I get 10mbps with the Asus on OpenVPN, and the C2 is getting near 100mbps.

I'll look at the Asus RT-AC1900P and might get one....

Thanks for you help.

 

[L&LD]

It's funny, I pay for 50mbps, but over the last few months my speed has creeped up to around 110mbps. Running the PIA client on my i7-4790k comp, I am seeing about 95mbps.

The Odroid C2 is a SBC like a Raspberry Pi. Runs a Quad Core Amlogic ARM Cortex-A53 @1,5ghz. Where my RT-AC66U pegs the CPU at 100% when running a speed test, the C2 only hits 20% on a single core. I get 10mbps with the Asus on OpenVPN, and the C2 is getting near 100mbps.

I'll look at the Asus RT-AC1900P and might get one....

Thanks for you help.

Yes, the RT-AC66U's processor is severely limiting VPN performance. Thanks for the insight into the Odriod. Seems much more powerful than I initially gave it credit for!

 

[pcowner]

Hello,

Is it possible to connect Raspberry Pi or your Odroid to the Internet via a usb WiFi antenna at a distance and connect to the Rasberry via Ethernet cable from my laptop and put laptop into Airplane mode? So, I was thinking of putting my laptop to the Airplane mode and use Rasberry Pi as my “guinea pig” that will connect to WIFI and my laptop will connect to it via Ethernet (wired).

the plan is to use RPi as a router (maybe even with a firewall) and use my laptop to connect though it (with wired Ethernet) to the Internet. I have Alfa AWUS036NH, a WiFi usb card. I found a thread on Open WRT, but don’t know if it helps. Would Odroid do a better job at this? What parts do I need and how will I do this project? Thank you

 

[sfx2000]

I'm not seeing odroid or rpi3 as a good solution here... it's not the cores, but the fabric around them.

maybe a minnowboard on the low-end - but even there, the maker boards are a bit bandwidth constrained...