ANSWERED Using DD-WRT router and Virgin Media broadband router?

[the1lemming 4]

Hello,

 

I have a plan which I have been thinking about, and preparing, for many months and now I have finally grown a pair to start doing but I don't know how to go about it without screwing things up.

 

The plan is to have a router being, and I may be wrong with the terminology, a VPN client.  I'm hoping that I can use my Router at home to feed out a wifi signal to all my kit so that they can use the AirVPN service as one device.  And when I say all my kit, I mean laptop and phone.  Not exactly a lot of kit but there you go.

 

My problem is that I get my broadband through Virgin Media's Cable network and not a telephone line.

 

I would be most grateful if somebody could explain how I would set up my Virgin Media 'Super Hub 2' router and my Linksys E4200 router together?

 

I have just got round to successfully flashing DD-WRT onto my Linksys router.  I have had the router since November but was too nervous to do the procedure until this evening.  Yep, it took me that long to grow a pair.

:-)

 

I would be most grateful for any and all advice however I would be most grateful if you could dumb down the advice to a novice/punter level.  Sadly my IT skills don't go beyond my O' level from school.

 

Cheers

[the1lemming 4]

Hi

 

Is it possible to connect my Linksys router to my Virgin Superhub router and have everything work from the Linksys router?

[~Daniel~ 11]

Although I don't know specifics about your hardware, I think I know what you are trying to do.

 

Does your Virgin Superhub provide the connection to your ISP, and you want to put your newly flashed DD-WRT behind it (it gets internet access from your Virgin Superhub) so that it can establish your VPN connection/tunnel.  Then you want to have all your devices connect to the DD-WRT and only reach the internet through the tunnel.

 

I used to know more about this back when I was playing with my SonicWall, but if I am on the right track, maybe that puts more information in this thread for folks with fresher ideas/experience to chime in.

 

I'm actually thinking of trying something like this myself, so it will be interesting to watch this thread.  Just not sure if I want to build a pfsense router from an old PC, try DD-WRT, or see if my SonicWall TZ190 (can't recall if it supports OpenVPN; I'm thining not) still works (or if I can remember how to configure it)... but the principals should be the same.

 

I'm also going to be looking to go one step further... I'll want to establish a second VPN tunnel (via hardware) so that my cell phone (can't VPN connect via OpenVPN) can connect (through my data plan or wifi hotspots when not at home) to my home setup, and then loop back out over the AirVPN tunnel.  Tunneling through another tunnel is going to hurt bandwidth, but I'll take that over an exposed wifi hotspot any day.

[bluesjunior 43]

I am also a Virgin Media user and previously I ran my PC etc through my DD_WRT upgraded Buffalo router connected to my Virgin Media Superhub. To do this you must reboot the Superhub to Modem mode. Everything worked fine but once I upgraded to Virgins 200MB package I found I wasn't getting any more speed/bandwidth than with the previous 100MB package. To cut a long story short unless you are installing an expensive router then most of the standard ones only run to 100MB while your PC's Ethernet card and the Superhub are capable of 1GB this results in a bottleneck at the router and severely reduces speed. You can of course set all your devices to run through the Linksys router via the superhub but I think you will suffer speed issues.  Not sure if this helps you or not but here is a forum link to more information on using Virgin Media and AirVPN, https://airvpn.org/topic/17378-how-to-fix-connection-drops-and-bandwidth-issues-with-virgin-media-while-using-airvpn/?p=39996

[the1lemming 4]

Hello,

 

So far I have turned my Virgin router into a Modem and I am using a Linksys router with DD-WRT to connect to the internet.  And that is as far as my skills and knowledge get me.

 

I have tried to follow the DD-WRT walk-through but the screen shots do not match mt version of DD-WRT and my skill level is not good enough to fill in the blanks.

 

I would very much appreciate any and all help and advice is configuring a Linksys Router with Firmware version DD-WRT v24-sp2 (05/27/13) mini.

 

https://airvpn.org/ddwrt/

 

I very much would appreciate help with:

 

Finding the correct Air VPN DNS for the server I want to connect to.

I am assuming that I want a server for the country that I live in, if I want to use the BBC stuff?

 

The next bit is sufficiently different from the screenshots as to have me completely confused and not knowing what to do.  When I navigate to the "Services" tab then select "VPN" tab I do not know what to do next especially when non of the required changes are available for me to set up.

 

Also, the AirVPN configuration file is a collection of files.  Do I select to save them as a zip-file for later use?

 

I will admit, I am way out of my comfort zone.

 

Cheers

[neon555 0]

I'd be more than happy to give you a hand with this if you would like to send me over a PM.

 

I'd also advise that you DO NOT use any server located within the UK. This is due to the recent implementation of the "Investigatory Powers Act", which give the UK government an enormous amount of control over the internet, allows them to legally carry out "mass surveillance" - or as they call it "bulk collection" (also known as dragnet surveillance), requires ISP's & telecom companies to hold on to all data for 12 months, forces you to decrypt any and all devices on demand or face an instant 4 year term in jail, etc etc etc. I'm aware this kind of service is designed to help fight against that, but no solution is bullet proof, and if you are sending data from servers into the UK and you visit an unencrypted site, there are ways and means of which they can follow routes back - regardless that is your choice, but you are correct that you must come from a UK IP address to access BBC services online.

For any other activity, I would recommend another country - perhaps not a hugely developed one - which does not have the capacity of the NSA or GCHQ when it comes to keeping your privacy.

Of course all of this depends on how paranoid you want to be, what you've got to hide and whether you're a likely high profile target for said regimes. 

[Staff 9973]

I'd also advise that you DO NOT use any server located within the UK. This is due to the recent implementation of the "Investigatory Powers Act", which give the UK government an enormous amount of control over the internet, allows them to legally carry out "mass surveillance" - or as they call it "bulk collection" (also known as dragnet surveillance), requires ISP's & telecom companies to hold on to all data for 12 months,

 

UK government has been recently defeated on the EUCJ (decisions on joined Cases C-203/15 and C-698/15, Dec-21-16 ) on a key part of this law which is not operating at the moment for what it pertains to mandatory and indiscriminate data retention. No data center and no ISP is forced to inspect and log traffic indiscriminately at the moment. UK government announced an appeal against the decision. Note that when UK will get out of the EU, and therefore will be no more bound to respect human rights as enshrined in the EU charters,  any law like the mentioned one (if enforced) will frame the UK in those countries that we consider "controlled by a regime hostile to human rights" and we will act accordingly.

 

Kind regards

[the1lemming 4]

I'd be more than happy to give you a hand with this if you would like to send me over a PM.

Hello,

 

Yes I very much would appreciate any help to create a VPN Client.  Unfortunately I am unable to PM you as I don't have permission.

 

Cheers