Hi all. I've been dipping in and out of here for a while as I've found it a really helpful source of information. Finally got round to registering as need some advice on what to upgrade to. I currently have a AC68U running Merlin (albeit a fairly old version) and it's been ideal for my needs and 100% reliable. I now have need to set-up a OpenVPN client on the router and apply Policy Rules that Merlin allows. Got the VPN client (expressvpn) and Policy Rules (with a bit of Googling on CIDR notation - I'm a total novice at this) set-up and working successfully, only issue being that download speeds dropped by approx 75% with the OpenVPN client running on the router. I have a fairly modest service that tops out at approx 32Mbps download - but running this with OpenVPN client on the router this drops to about 8Mbps. Running the Win 10 expressvpn client on laptop saw speeds back up to approx 30Mbps.
Beyond the basics, I know very little about IT networking so naturally my first thought was I'd done something wrong with router set-up. But at least from what I've managed to search it seems that it's the AC68 hardware that may be the main reason for this bottleneck more than anything else.
Thought I'd ask for advice here though firstly to check, is it the AC68 hardware that is resulting in this loss of throughput?
If it is, is my best bet to upgrade to a AC86? I'm happy with Asus routers and like the fact that Merlin is also easy to get to grips with for a newb like me whilst providing the additional functionality I need.
Are there any other alternatives I should consider? Have also looked at Netgear's R7800 but as far as I can see I would need to flash Voxel/other firmware to get OpenVPN client functionality on it - and although I'm not afraid of trying these things I wonder if they offer too much functionality for what I need?
And whilst the AX88 looks very impressive for my usage needs it's OTT and would just be a waste of money. I've also come across posts on various hardware issues with the AC86 - I guess YMMV applies but I'm ok with returning if it comes to it.
Thanks.
Beyond the basics, I know very little about IT networking so naturally my first thought was I'd done something wrong with router set-up. But at least from what I've managed to search it seems that it's the AC68 hardware that may be the main reason for this bottleneck more than anything else.
Thought I'd ask for advice here though firstly to check, is it the AC68 hardware that is resulting in this loss of throughput?
If it is, is my best bet to upgrade to a AC86? I'm happy with Asus routers and like the fact that Merlin is also easy to get to grips with for a newb like me whilst providing the additional functionality I need.
Are there any other alternatives I should consider? Have also looked at Netgear's R7800 but as far as I can see I would need to flash Voxel/other firmware to get OpenVPN client functionality on it - and although I'm not afraid of trying these things I wonder if they offer too much functionality for what I need?
And whilst the AX88 looks very impressive for my usage needs it's OTT and would just be a waste of money. I've also come across posts on various hardware issues with the AC86 - I guess YMMV applies but I'm ok with returning if it comes to it.
Thanks.