Which Router should I buy capable of DD-WRT so I can add VPN

rs1800 · 17 May 2017 at 14:10

Which router do I need that I can install dd-wrt and add a vpn service.

I do not need fast WiFi - I only watch the odd YouTube video on my phone
I need 8gb ports but already have a switch I use with my existing virgin router
I am on a 100mb service but would like to maintain over 50mb with encryption

Any suggestions for a suitable router without spending a fortune (under 100 preferable)?

Or should I be looking at an alternative type of device but I am not a network expert?

Cheers

rs1800 · 17 May 2017 at 16:19

Thanks. If I need pay more so be it, I just don't need the latest and greatest WiFi features.

Also I probably don't need 50mb really. Just streaming 1080p.

rs1800 · 17 May 2017 at 21:48

Zefan said:
Bandwidth required to stream 1080p can vary wildly depending on the source/provider. I'm pretty sure Netflix and other similar providers only state 5-8Mbps is required for their 1080p streaming, so unless you're going off the beaten track I wouldn't have thought you'd need more than 10Mbps. Netflix's 4K streaming only needs 25Mbps according to their site, but I've not had first hand experience of that. The Asus RT-N66U is supposed to top out at about 13Mbps using OpenVPN, which should do you fine. I used to run one of these but it would have stunted my 17Mbps connection, so I moved up to a DSL-AC68U (is a RT-AC68U with built in modem) which should push up and beyond 25Mbps, but I have yet to try it out.

:edit: If you really want big VPN bandwidth and you have an old PC or parts kicking around, I'd suggest making a pfSense box. It will require a bit of effort and some googling around, but large scale encryption is heavy lifting, something a proper PC should excel at compared to a low power device.

That's great info. I'll look them up. Although I could build a box (with Google) my kitchen cupboard with all my it and av is already near max heat load so I can't add anything like a pc.

rs1800 · 17 May 2017 at 21:52

Steve_bullockuk said:
I pressume that you are wanting to tunnel all traffic outbound via the VPN rather than specific devices?

It is to avoid government/isp monitoring on principle and also to avoid censorship of the web without having to add apps to every device.

rs1800 · 19 May 2017 at 07:00

Steveocee said:
MikroTik Hex RB750gr3 would probably do everything you want apart from have 8 ports. Easily capable of 50Mb encrypted (infact it's up to 450Mb) and costs about £50(ish) to buy so you'll have change.

This sounds great. could I still add a basic WiFi to my network?

rs1800 · 5 Jul 2017 at 00:54

Steveocee said:
MikroTik Hex RB750gr3 would probably do everything you want apart from have 8 ports. Easily capable of 50Mb encrypted (infact it's up to 450Mb) and costs about £50(ish) to buy so you'll have change.

Ive bought one of these. Thanks for advise. I hop[e ill be able to set it up myself, loads of youtube stuff.

rs1800 · 19 Jul 2017 at 14:06

Steveocee said:
Good choice! There are a lot of YouTube guides for most things (if you can bear broken English). The Mikrotik community can be really helpful as well. A lot of it is common "networking" sense though, I'd recommend winbox to manage it over the web ui (L2 connection is such a great thing).

I plugged in the RB750Gr3 and a HAP AP to go with it and it all seems to work after using winbox.

For basic protection against ISP censorship and surveillance what the easiest VPN to use? a server on the router? what type of encryption? or external vpn service for a few quid a month?

rs1800 · 19 Jul 2017 at 15:25

This is where I start getting confused.

Is l2tp and pptp different to openvpn?

If so why do you suggest openvpn?

Reason I ask this is some people say openvpn on rb750gr3 not good as can't handle UDP although I don't know if I need that?

I did buy a month of pia last night and followed a guide but it wanted an IP address for the pia server which I couldn't find. No idea what I was doing really!

rs1800 · 19 Jul 2017 at 22:44

would i likely need udp? i dont know what it is.
Does pia give me the choice of l2tp and openvpn?

rs1800 · 24 Jul 2017 at 13:57

Thanks for the replies but I think my original post has been forgotten. This is all way more complicated than I want or am able to do.

I originally just wanted to be able to put a vpn and if possible encryption into a router (eg ddwrt) so it protects every device in my house from isp/government censorship and spying.

Someone suggested the Mikrotek which seemed like a fast powerful router at decent cost which I bought and now have the basics working.

I just want to be able to achieve above in a simple way probably by using an external service (like PIA or ipvanish etc) but I am open to suggestion. I do not have anything that important that needs protecting, just the minimum encryption to make it awkward for my ISP to spy.

Any suggestions to what I should use without additional hardware?

rs1800 · 26 Jul 2017 at 13:42

ok thanks. I don't understand those terms now but will do some reading to get my head around them.

rs1800 · 27 Jan 2018 at 21:48

Steveocee said:
Its easily doable with the MikroTik.

Have a small look into IP>Firewall>Mangle for marking the connections you want to go out of your VPN.
Use IP>Routes to create the route (rather than allowing the VPN client to create it's own) and use the packet mark you made with mangle to signify packets that should go down that route.
Use IP>Firewall>NAT to create a NAT rule to create a masquerade rule so stuff goes up the VPN.

I have 2 VPN connections I use in this way and it's seamless. It also means that X device isn't forced to always using Y service to go out to the internet if you specify the mangle rules properly.

May I ask what protocols you use for these and who their with?

The ones I have used I can only get PPTP to work. I tried openvpn but it seems the mikrotik has old implementation that doesn't support LZO compression that they all use now.

rs1800 · 31 Jan 2018 at 17:10

Lets hope so.

I am happy now though I have PPTP woking at 70mb/s and P2P works now I have switched to foreign IP (purevpn blocks uk ones, took me ages to work out why it didnt work)