VPN on router with on/off option?

[chrismsales]

Brand new to anything VPN related and I know just enough about computers to screw things up usually. I currently run IPVanish on (4) firestick devices for IPTV services. I am wanting to use a spare router and set it up as a separate VPN router to eliminate slow speed issues on the firesticks when the VPN is on. The firesticks are hardwired using an ethernet adaptor but the VPN running directly on the firesticks seems to really slow things down still. I have tried Express VPN as well and get about the same download speeds, 12 Mbps with VPN on while over 150 Mbps with VPN off. My normal ISP is 200 down and 25 up.

Really noobie question but is it possible to have VPN directly on the router but to select when it is on or off? Or is it possible to have VPN on only one of the channels, like the 2nd 5G channel? While I can figure out how to turn the VPN off and on, I am afraid my wife and son will not and the VPN blocks Netflix and Amazon. I have the Asus ROG GT-AC5300 and see a setting called VPN Fusion but that seems to only direct the VPN to specific devices on the network.

Thanks!

 

[JJQuin]

Hmm, unfortunately the Asus ROG GT-AC5300 is not supported by Merlin or Entware. Adding a script to control the VPN would be at least difficult if not impossible as far as I know.

Have you thought about coming at it from the other direction? If the VPN Fusion on the GT-AC5300 allows you to do selective routing you can setup a reserved IP address for the firestick in DHCP then set that IP address to go through the VPN. Choose another IP address and set it to bypass the VPN. Since you can root the firestick you should be able to setup a script that can either manually set the IP address or have it auto set. Then the firestick would use the VPN depending on its IP address.

The wiki has a script for Windows PCs. It won't work on the firestick but it will give you an idea of what you need to do. The script asks for which connection you want, but you should be able to change that so it queries the current IP address and changes it based on the result.

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Policy-based-routing-(manual-method)

You may also be able to use an Android app like WiFi static.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.statIc&hl=en

I've never tried it but it had good reviews and allows you to easily change between several configurations. Not sure how it would run on a firestick but its another avenue to research.

Hope that helps!