ASUS R56U or GT-AC5300 for secondary VPN router?

[chrismsales]

I am looking to take my old router and use it as a dual-router setup to run VPN for our streaming media devices. The other router will handle main network traffic for our smart home devices, pc's and phone/tablets. I originally thought I was going to use the 56U for the VPN but it is my understanding that a VPN service requires heavy CPU resources so my question is if the AC 5300 would be better suited to use as the VPN router?

My office/work PC is hardwired and the streaming devices are hardwired as well so the wifi does not come in to play with those devices. I also thought about running the Xbox through the VPN unless it really slows things down playing online.

I was going to try Express VPN unless there is another VPN that would be better for streaming that would still allow access to Netflix and Amazon while the VPN is on?

Thanks

 

[doczenith1]

I'm guessing the 56U will be lucky to do 20 Mbps as a vpn client. The 5300 should do around 70 Mbps.

I use PIA. They are fast and when pinging certain locations PIA has a lower ping than straight through my ISP. I think Netflix and Amazon can be tricky with a VPN. I would check the vpn forum on this site for more info. I just noticed this thread that might have some info on Netflix.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/selective-routing-for-netflix.42661/

Edit: I missed the GT part of the 5300. Disregard the 70 Mbps. 70 Mbps would valid for the RT model.

 

[RMerlin]

The GT-AC5300 should be able to reach around 200 Mbps with a future firmware update (a bit lower at the moment, don't know how much).

 

[CableLineTech]

I can see using vpn for pc gaming, but if it's just for xbox I wouldn't bother. Microsoft probably already knows what your farts smell like.

My Kinect cam can recognize me in less than a second, from any angle I'm turned towards it. It's just a little scary

 

[chrismsales]

I can see using vpn for pc gaming, but if it's just for xbox I wouldn't bother. Microsoft probably already knows what your farts smell like.

My Kinect cam can recognize me in less than a second, from any angle I'm turned towards it. It's just a little scary

Thank you, good info. The VPN is more for our IPTV and other streaming sites, not really as much for Xbox.

 

[chrismsales]

I'm guessing the 56U will be lucky to do 20 Mbps as a vpn client. The 5300 should do around 70 Mbps.

I use PIA. They are fast and when pinging certain locations PIA has a lower ping than straight through my ISP. I think Netflix and Amazon can be tricky with a VPN. I would check the vpn forum on this site for more info. I just noticed this thread that might have some info on Netflix.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/selective-routing-for-netflix.42661/

Edit: I missed the GT part of the 5300. Disregard the 70 Mbps. 70 Mbps would valid for the RT model.

Thank you, I did not realize the 56U would be that much slower running a VPN. At first I thought the 56U would be perfect to run the VPN but if most of our heavy usage is from streaming, it does make more sense to have the newer GT5300 running the VPN instead. The 56U should handle the wired connection for my office pc/VOIP phone and our normal wireless devices with no problem I guess.

I will check out the forum further on the VPN providers. We stream Netflix and Amazon heavily and then use IPTV for live TV and movies, etc. Just trying to find one that provides fast connections while not blocking Netflix and Amazon. I signed up for Express VPN and those were blocked at first but chatted with support and they directed me to another server that is not blocked right now by Netflix and Amazon.

 

[chrismsales]

The GT-AC5300 should be able to reach around 200 Mbps with a future firmware update (a bit lower at the moment, don't know how much).

Thank you, good to know. Just need to figure out how to do this where the 56U does not get bogged down too much if the GT5300 will be used just for VPN/streaming devices now. If the GT5300 can run anywhere above 100 Mbps then it may be better to run all devices except smart home and work pc/VOIP through that still.

Thanks!

 

[CableLineTech]

Thank you, good info. The VPN is more for our IPTV and other streaming sites, not really as much for Xbox.

No problem, I was just speaking on the video game side of your thread. I always use vpn for my pc.

I once spoke to a xbox live customer rep who was amazed at my stats, and told me almost everything he could see over my 15 years on XBL. It was scary what just he, as a lowly service rep, could see about me.

Pc gaming requires a vpn connection especially if your any good. Ddos, hacking, and all sorts of nonsense goes on in that world.

 

[emax.b]

The GT-AC5300 should be able to reach around 200 Mbps with a future firmware update (a bit lower at the moment, don't know how much).

Other info about this firmware ? Where found this info ? Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

Other info about this firmware ? Where found this info ? Thanks

I have been in touch with Asus to help them improve OpenVPN performance. They have some of my optimizations in place now in the latest RT-AC86U firmware, these will be available to the GT-AC5300 as well in their next firmware release. Look for the next firmware newer than 382_18xxx. Beyond that, I don't have any additional info, sorry.