Router recommendations for VPN client please?

[the1lemming 4]

Hello Vimes

 

I am using the DD-WRT firmware on my Router.  I found this a straight forward exercise where I encountered no problems flashing the firmware.  I then used the 'easy to follow' tutorials from the site's forums and got confirmation form the Site Support to confirm that I had set up everything as accurately as I was capable of with my modest IT skills.

 

The Router's own firmware, and documentation on the box, does allow for configuration of a VPN Client.  However AirVPN Support Staff do not know how to configure this.  I have a feeling that this feature is for IT Specialists to connect the router to a group of personal networks such as a set-up for a small business over several physical locations around the country or world.  I don't think or more accurately know if this official Linksys firmware is designed to work with OpenVPN and the AirVPN servers.

 

As for asking if my VPN Client router can be policy based or if it is a matter of all traffic or non, then I have to hold my hand up and say that this is way above my pay grade and I do not know the answer or how to test this.  I am of course more than happy to test these theories out for you if you explain how to do this.

 

A couple of posts up you asked how much load was put on the Router's CPU.  Well I have just done a rough and ready test with the website Speedof.me.  I had two pages open, one for the Speedof.me and the other of the Router's technical stats which included CPU and RAM use.  I just ran the broadband speed test and when the numbers went as high as they could I hit the Screen Print button for a screen grab.  Rough and ready but I hope it gives some useful information.

 

I'm not as skilled as you at cutting-and-pasting the screen print to the reply so I hope that the link to my flickr account will suffice.

 

Please let me know if there is anything more I can do to help.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/the1lemming/33834334946/in/dateposted-public/

[Vimes 4]

Hi the1lemming

 

This thread, and what you have written, has been extremely helpful for me and it will provide useful information for others who are in a similar position of wanting something other than the Eddie client and yet are not sure of how capable a consumer based router can be without being AES compliant.

As previously noted my 1Ghz R7000 was a delight to use with a fantastic UI....

 

screen capture

 

which includes (with a red box around it) the provision for policy based routing. The C2 and Server are given as examples of how their traffic will be routed via the VPN.

 

But there are the hardware limitations as noted.

 

 

This "forced" me to strongly consider the pfsense options and so ordered the kit as previously noted. 

 

 

I have now built my ITX box and the Asrock motherboard, with combined CPU, cost £66. The case I needed to buy and also a second hand i340T second hand dual port LAN card from eBay. I already had the other items needed.

 

I am now up and going with pfsense and using the R7000 in AP mode for wireless.

 

Just need to figure out the AirVPN part, by following a guide written in these forums.

 

Hopefully that should negate my needs for a consumer based router.

[tehhellhound 8]

I use a Netgear R8000 with Tomato. Performance to Toronto was disappointing at first, but after adding a few key config lines, I can't tell the difference in performance with the VPN, even when doing hard gaming. As an aside, I resubscribed with the sole intent of routing my traffic to Canada, which is close enough for good pings, but has decent privacy laws, after the new FCC commissioner in the US gutted privacy regulations and gave ISPs free reign to use DPI to profile us and sell our information.

[the1lemming 4]

Just thought I'd give an update on the speed of my router when it is acting as a VPN Client.

 

A couple of days ago my Internet Service Provider gave me a free speed boost to 100Mbsp.  I used the website Speedof.me to do a simple check and this morning I clocked an encrypted speed of 109.75Mbps.

 

On average I am betting between 90mbsp and 100Mbps, which means I have not yet found a speed that my router gets stuck at.

 

I is one happy little lemming.

 

:-)

[Vimes 4]

I gave up in the end with a pfsense box. For those who are conversant with pfsense then that is fine but for me it was just a learning curve beyond both my capability and desires. I still needed a router anyway, set as a AP for wireless.

The dual core 1.7ghz R7800 came on sale and so I bought that and flashed it with DD-WRT, that works well so far for my needs. Making sense of DD-WRT seems less of a challenge.

 

I'm pleasantly surprised how well it works with AirVPN and the guide in this forum helped me to set it up.

[Stan464 2]

I would Recommend an PFSense Build on ideally AES-NI Hardware, but you can use older Hardware if Required.


I wouldn't recommend Purchasing any of there Products as a "Consumer" user, you will be forking out more than you actually need for Half Decent Hardware.

 

 

My Build:

 

Asrock ITX with an AMD A4-APU5000 (With AES NI Support)
4GB of RAM

40GB HDD

1U PSU

1U Case


My Total Spendage was about 200ish Quid with the 1U Case being costly.


Hope this helps (welcome to PM me if you require Support)

[the1lemming 4]

 

 

I wouldn't recommend Purchasing any of there Products as a "Consumer" user, you will be forking out more than you actually need for Half Decent Hardware.

 

 

My domestic router Linksys WRT 1900ACS is rocking almost 110Mbps whiule using OpenVPN.  For the sake of a simple domestic plug-and-go router and a little practice following a tutorial, I am up and running with a well respected VPN provider.  I have very limited IT skills which don't stry beyond tutorials which hold my hand.  I'd say that for the non-technical punters like me, then this is the future.  :-)

 

 

[weerreedines 4]

All:

 

I am a recent subscriber to the AirVPN service.  I would classify myself as a newbie as far as networking issues are concerned.  With the awareness that the quality of our experience here is largely based on my willingness to participate and share in discussions, I decided to also share my own experience with AirVPN.

 

Particularly with the Linksys WRT1900ACS v2, I am happy to report that my experience is in line with lemming's.  I have installed DD-WRT on 3 such devices, and I have set up AirVPN on one such router.  I am so very pleased to report that my router has maintained a connection to AirVPN's service for over 4 days uninterrupted.  Each device connected to the network has shown an ability to download nearly to the maximum of its own capacity due to hardware limits.  

 

I must say that I am thrilled my experience with these routers and AirVPN has been so well above my expectations.