Could somebody explain which of these three ASUS routers is "better", please?

32143422

32143422

32143422

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I am dipping my toe into home networking and wish to upgrade the router my ISP gave me. As I understand it, I can put my router into modem-only mode and connect a third-part router to do everything else. The advantages being that, unlike ISP-provided routers, these third-party routers have far more that can be configured (such as VPNs).
I am currently choosing between a set of Merlin-compatible ASUS routers. I am able to get all of these routers for about the same price. Given this, is any one of these routers any better than any of the others? Or are they all basically the same?
Also, are the 2nd and 3rd routers in my list actually the same router just in different cases? When comparing the tech specs, they seem to be identical.
 
What are your specific requirements, other than VPN? As you can just port forward to something internal such as a Raspberry Pi running PiVPN if it's just a VPN you're after. The advantage here is you don't have to look at a ghastly ASUS router.
 
It depends on the ISP, in some cases it’s not quite so simple, but can be done. Here’s the problem, ASUS are an awful company and the networking side has a long and troubled history of being especially awful. You mention VPN and VPN at a router level is not something I would generally recommend for a variety of reasons, including a general lack of hardware acceleration on most models and the problems it can bring in terms of site blocking/security checks etc. If you want VPN functionality, consider PiVPN or similar and make a better router choice by actually defining what you want to improve specifically.
 
I primarily want to upgrade my router to get conditional VPN routing based on source device, i.e. policy-based routing (to provide a subset of my devices that otherwise lack VPN clients access to my VPN subscription) - as far as I am aware, the simplest way to get this is to use a route compatible with OpenWRT, DD-WRT, or ASUSWRT-Merlin. Looking around, ASUSWRT-Merlin seems to be the most novice-friendly. I am familiar with Pis, but by the time I have purchased Pis, power supplies, and SD cards, I will have spent more than I would have on a wireless router and still potentially need additional hardware for my networking setup to have reasonable wireless support.

As for my ISP, I am using Vodafone FTTP. As far as I know, their all-in-one router supports modem-only mode.
 
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If you want an all in one box, then look at something from Draytek. Yes it might be a bit more of a learning curve compared to ASUSWRT-Merlin, but you'll be able to do policy based routing, and more, plus have actual vendor support.
 
So you’re saying you’d rather support a company who’s RMA’s are known to be useless (OCUK have had to step in on numerous occasions because they were that poor), who leaves gaping security holes and user data exposed/unpatched for years and only did something when one of its largest retail partners threatened to pull its products, had to pay fines and agree to decades of external auditing, has well documented issues with interfaces dropping, who’s own rep(s) lied to users for years over the MediaTek issues and faked FCC test data rather than buy a Pi? I assumed as you were on about running VPN that privacy/security were the focus here, or at least important.

PBR on a device that lacks hardware encryption will suck, router SoC’s doing encryption in software is painful, I forget which ASUS routers used CPU’s with limited hardware capabilities, but it still crapped out at a few hundred mbit. Personally I would take the money and look at an SFF with Intel NIC and throw Untangle or OPN into the mix, you also have the x64 *WRT options which are what Merlin is built on. This gives you a lot of things that SoC routers simply can’t. Combine with a reasonable AP and you’re in a different world of options. Down side is the power bill will be a little higher and each watt is almost £3/yr now.
 
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I didn't realise there was such hatred for ASUS products in the community.

In that case, what is my best option for my requirements:
  • VPN access for a subset of devices on my LAN which otherwise do not have VPN clients themselves
  • Compatible with an Vodafone FTTP broadband connection
  • Killswitch capability on the VPN connection
  • Beginner-friendly (High technical skill, but low networking-specific skill)
  • <£100 for all equipment (Happy to buy pre-owned)
  • Primarily wireless connectivity for devices
  • Bonus (Not essential): The ability for the VPN traffic and the non-VPN traffic to actually be exposed as different wireless networks (e.g. SSIDs of: "myNetwork" and "myNetworkVpn")
 
I know, haha.
Exactly why the suggestions that I got from other forums where people suggested getting a router with OpenWRT/DD-WRT/Merlin compatibility were very tempting.
 
Hatred? I tend to prefer my hardware and software to come from places that aren’t an absolute car crash, so that’s not ASUS or Netgate. Beyond that, take your pick.

I like *WRT, but I have a well established preference for choosing better hardware for individual jobs. In my set-up that looks like Ubiquiti AP’s and a SFF PC running routing/firewall/VPN amongst other things. When something changes eg multi-gig is coming, as is wifi6e, I upgrade a NIC or an AP, no significant issue or expense (OK AP’s aren’t cheap, but I tend to buy behind the curve theses days).

Can you buy an ex corp SFF desktop from the bay and a well proven intel dual port NIC along with a reasonable AP for your budget? Yes. Then you just need to decide what distro does what you want, *WRT is available in x64 as is OPNSense and Untangle, all will do what you want and more, though Untangle is a UTM trying to be a firewall with a paid option, the other two are firewalls that you can build UTM functionality onto.
 
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Your cheapest option is a Mikrotik based ‘VPN appliance’. There are tutorials on the net and Mikrotik forums about how to configure your Mikrotik router with almost every conceivable VPN service and every conceivable set of configuration requirements.
 
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Is there an alternative to something very simple and easy to set up like Merlin does on the Asus routers but on a mini pc or other device?

Its the one reason I have stuck with Asus routers and Merlins firmware's, its literally a 10 minute click and set up and job done, basic networking required.
 
R3X said:
Is there an alternative to something very simple and easy to set up like Merlin does on the Asus routers but on a mini pc or other device?

Its the one reason I have stuck with Asus routers and Merlins firmware's, its literally a 10 minute click and set up and job done, basic networking required.
Click to expand...
As mentioned above, WRT based images (which is exactly what Merlin is based on) are available for x64 and will run on a suitable PC. Heck OpenWRT and DDWRT are also available for many other brands of router.
 
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