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stegtastic

Newbie
Hi,

Has anyone got any recommendations for a VPN router? I have seen many on eBay and Amazon which claim to be pre programmed but you are stuck with their expensive vpn sub or is it easy enough to do it yourself?

I have seen the Asus RT-AC88U for £35 and a few guides on how to setup the vpn on it.

Any recommendations for vpn servers?

Thanks
 
I may be wrong but I am sure that router retails for about £250 if you have found it for £35 I would be interested in the link!
 
Yes this router was only £35

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/comp...bre-router-ac-750-dual-band-10137898-pdt.html

I have just set it up with PureVPN and took literally 5 minutes to setup as PureVPN have instructions in the members area.

Download speeds via Ethernet about 47-50mb and wifi is coming in about 35mb from a 70mb connection.

Means the connection is always on and anything connected via it is also automatically connected through the VPN
 
Forgive me but the router you originally referred to was Asus RT-AC88U which is £250+ the 2nd post link is for the Asus RT-Ac51U which is £35 from Currys. In any event I am impressed with your download speeds, excellent for such a cheap router. I was under the impression you had to pay £125+ for that sort of performance. I notice you say the connection is always on, is it possible to just turn it off and on as required?
 
Apologies, when I originally posted I had clicked paste and I was comparing routers so I didn't mean to post AC88U for £35.

Yes you can login to the router, one of the options for PPTP was auto but you can change it I believe or just switch off the vpn router when you don't want it on as your original ISP router will still be on.
 
stegtastic said:
Apologies, when I originally posted I had clicked paste and I was comparing routers so I didn't mean to post AC88U for £35.

Yes you can login to the router, one of the options for PPTP was auto but you can change it I believe or just switch off the vpn router when you don't want it on as your original ISP router will still be on.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I would be very interested in a review after you have used it for a week or so with the pros and cons and I am sure it would be of interest to many of us if only due to the price. Thanks again.
 
that's a real result for £35.. they are not even that cheap on ebay. Proably worth buying just as a spare.
 
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Quite impressive the speed you have got after running a VPN on such a cheap router.

I went all out and bought the Asus ac88u @over £250 but I'm very happy with it [emoji16]
 
If you have an Asus router then it's worth taking a look at the Merlin firmware, it has policy based vpn routing that basically allows you to select which IP addresses use the vpn i.e. iptv uses vpn but everything else doesn't.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Thanks @tommyturnip I will check that out.

I know @Taylerlee wanted to see how it went after using it for a while.

So in answer to your question about turning it off, yes you can. There is a VPN client tab under VPN on the router software and you can create a few profiles, e.g., UK, Spain, US etc and can click activate / deactivate when you want so you can turn it off or switch countries with just a click.

I did experience buffering on IPTV using Smart IPTV app which I had not had before I set this up (over wifi). I then connected by Ethernet to my Amazon tv box running perfect player and has been really fast and no buffering at all - even quicker than the smart IPTV app in the past. Can check the vpn is connected on Amazon box / stick by opening es file and using an internet tab to google what is my ip.

Speeds over Ethernet have been 50-55mb with a UK server on PureVPN and Spain about 40-43MB and US around 38-40mb so either way it's fast but a drop from 70Mb I had before.

Overall it works really well for what I want it to do especially with the router being so cheap. I would recommend using the Ethernet connection if you can although wifi worked fine for everything other than my smart IPTV app.
 
Thanks Stegtastic!, great review. You should get a job at Currys as you have sold it to me. Having said all that have you had the opportunity yet to unblock a stream by switching it on i.e 3pm's, which I suppose is the real test. Or is it fair to the router as that has already past the speed test, perhaps now its only testing the software (vpn) ?
 
I bought a netgear nighthawk (for catv) for £90 from fleabay last year with stock firmware,prices seem to rise and drop like anything else on auction sites so its sometimes about being patient.

I flashed mine with ddwrt which still remains on my router today but there are other compatible firmwares like merlin or tomato which i may change to in the near future but its a fantastic router and would recommend.
 
stegtastic said:
Thanks @tommyturnip I will check that out.

I know @Taylerlee wanted to see how it went after using it for a while.

So in answer to your question about turning it off, yes you can. There is a VPN client tab under VPN on the router software and you can create a few profiles, e.g., UK, Spain, US etc and can click activate / deactivate when you want so you can turn it off or switch countries with just a click.

I did experience buffering on IPTV using Smart IPTV app which I had not had before I set this up (over wifi). I then connected by Ethernet to my Amazon tv box running perfect player and has been really fast and no buffering at all - even quicker than the smart IPTV app in the past. Can check the vpn is connected on Amazon box / stick by opening es file and using an internet tab to google what is my ip.

Speeds over Ethernet have been 50-55mb with a UK server on PureVPN and Spain about 40-43MB and US around 38-40mb so either way it's fast but a drop from 70Mb I had before.

Overall it works really well for what I want it to do especially with the router being so cheap. I would recommend using the Ethernet connection if you can although wifi worked fine for everything other than my smart IPTV app.
Click to expand...

Interesting, and VERY surprising to me... regarding the (high) vpn speed, even for pptp.

I wonder if you would mind telling us whether you have set the "PPTP options" as "None" as indicated by the guide in your link i.e. "PPTP Options: Auto (For Streaming purpose select None)"?

If "Auto" do they explain what it means?

I am wondering if the speed shown above is based on no encryption? Which if true would then explain the surprisingly high throughput possible - given the router's cpu spec, I kind of expect it to deliver under 10 mbps with a common (e.g. 256 bit AES) encryption protocol.

This is definitely not a criticism of yourself, but imho a vendor would have been extremely economical with the truth, if they suggest no encryption for streaming without explaining what it meant regarding security from prying eyes, given it is zilch.

Using a vpn with no encryption is, for geo-relocation purpose, little different to using a proxy (which is often free or generally cheaper than a vpn service since practically no processing is required); as for defeating prying eye purpose, it is little different to simply bypassing the ISP's dns servers by e.g. nominating and using Google's, which are free.

Cheers!
 
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Hi @Speedygonzal ,

I have logged into my router and yes indeed the encryption was set to none - as per the guide on the website above. I am not very technical but thanks for pointing this out which isn't really explained well from purevpn. I have now selected MPPE 128 and clicked activate and re-ran a new speed test and it is coming in at 31mb for the uk server.

The options were

Auto
No Encryption
MPPE 40
MPPE 128

What option is best? Or do you advise another way of setting it up?

There is an option to set it up for OpenVPN - would this be better?

I am new to this all but was just trying to get help and tips from those in the know.

Thanks
 
stegtastic said:
Hi @Speedygonzal ,
What option is best? Or do you advise another way of setting it up?

There is an option to set it up for OpenVPN - would this be better?
Click to expand...

I think it really depends on what your needs are.

If you need multiple HD streams all running at the same time regularly, or if you need to download/upload lots of data as quickly as possible, with existing hardware you might have little choice but to compromise on security to maximise throughput in terms of protocol (e.g. pptp, which is deeply flawed and is not recommended even by Microsoft, the creator) and encryption (none or limited).

If on the other hand you are unlikely ever to need to secure more than one or two live HD streams concurrently, and you are not too fussed about waiting for secured downloads, then you might find say 15mbps or even less adequate, and you can then afford to optimise your system security. For that objective, the general recommendation is to adopt openvpn – with handshake/data authentication and 128 bit AES encryption, there is no evidence that it can be cracked, even by state agencies!

Alternatively, if you want both speed and security, you might consider streaming/downloading on a decent modern pc, connected to the ISP router but protected by running your vpn vendor’s windows openvpn client software – the pc’s cpu is usually far more powerful than the router’s, so limiting speed degradation.

An advantage of dedicating a secondary router to vpn is you might be able to use the ISP router to share the load, for traffic where security is unimportant.

If one cares about security, even with openvpn “always on” a vpn router, I would also recommend conducting periodic checks on dns and ip leaks, especially if devices running windows are used. A good simple tool for that is https://ipleak.net/

Cheers!
 
Thanks Speedy very informative but like most information it prompts more questions and I may be digressing from the subject of the thread but I will continue anyway! I was going to hot foot it down to Currys and buy one of these routers. I might add only as a bit of security as my IPTV has never been blocked, however I made an enquiry with the providers and although if I inform them I can use a VPN on my SIPTV they dont allow them on Magboxes or STB emu and as I have a Mag on one TV the router is not the potential solution I thought it was. I am just taking delivery of an android box for my main tv to replace SIPTV (had it 12 mths dont like the app) with Kodi or Perfect Player. Therefore would you think my best option is to put the VPN directly on the android box and for downloading use my PC with VPN as its fairly powerfull. I am quite happy to leave the Magbox as it is for the kids to watch VOD and kids channels. Would appreciate your opinion, would the VPN be faster and more efficient if installled on the android box than putting it on the cheap router (and save money) and as you say download torrents and so on from PC?
 
This is the solution I used for a while. All you need is your subscription to you’re VPN provider.
There are a number of VPN providers who have android, Windows and Mac apps to make it easier.
 
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