VPN disconnecting every minute.

[deepskydiver]

This is an odd one.

The router is an ASUS RT AC-86U. The symptom occurs when using a VPN through the router and downloading more than about 10 Mbps. The router times out the VPN connection for 10 to 30 seconds. This happens every minute or so. I'm running the latest merlin firmware. I can't know exactly when, but at some point point between say 1 and 4 months ago it went from working normally to this.


Here are the other factors:
The VPN works fine with Windows client through the same router.
Other devices see the same symptom running through the router.
When the VPN is down the router's diagnostics (ping and traceroute) show the ISP link is still up.
The VPN problem happens with two separate VPN providers using OpenVPN on one hand and PPTP on the other.
I've changed the wireless modem.
There is no spike in the router's CPU or RAM.
I just bought a brand new router (same type), loaded the latest Merlin firmware and imported the .ovpn file and setup a wireless network. Nothing else. I'm seeing the same symptom.
The router log will look something like this:

Jan 5 17:47:31 ovpn-client2[1480]: read TCP_CLIENT: Connection timed out (code=110) Jan 5 17:47:31 ovpn-client2[1480]: Connection reset, restarting [0] Jan 5 17:47:31 ovpn-client2[1480]: SIGUSR1[soft,connection-reset] received, process restarting Jan 5 17:47:31 ovpn-client2[1480]: Restart pause, 5 second(s)

I'm bewildered..

 

[CaptainSTX]

What firmware including the version are you running on the AC86?

Who is your VPN provider? And what other provider did you try? Are they paid accounts or "free" VPNs?

What are you trying to download?

Who is your ISP and what are your WAN speeds when not connecting through the VPN tunnel?

When the VPN times out are the clients connected using Ethernet or WiFi.

With a little more information perhaps someone can provide a solution.

 

[deepskydiver]

What firmware including the version are you running on the AC86?

Who is your VPN provider? And what other provider did you try? Are they paid accounts or "free" VPNs?

What are you trying to download?

Who is your ISP and what are your WAN speeds when not connecting through the VPN tunnel?

When the VPN times out are the clients connected using Ethernet or WiFi.

With a little more information perhaps someone can provide a solution.

Thanks, here's some more:

It is the latest Merlin firmware (I'm at work so can't give you the details. Older versions give the same symptoms.

I'm using vpn.ac (open vpn) and PureVPN (pptp). Both paid accounts.

My ISP is Optus (wireless broadband). I get 50 to 130 Mbps.

I have clients connected via wireless and one (Windows pc) over Ethernet. Symptom is the same.

The problem occurs with any of streaming video (YouTube, vimeo, Netflix ), downloading large files, torrenting.

 

[michaeljustin]

Which VPN are you using? paid or free.
for the reason is that your VPN did not compatible with your Asus Router RT thats why it disconnect again and again. many VPN users asking compatibility issues in various platforms. In my opinion you go with surfshark vpn because that is compatible with unlimited devices and routers

 

[L&LD]

@deepskydiver, are you doing a full M&M Config after flashing the RMerlin firmware? Again: which version are you running?

Are you doing a minimal and manual configuration of the router afterward to secure it and connect it to your ISP?

Or, are you simply 'restoring' a saved backup config file? (Which is not recommended, even between identical models)