Best Router for OpenVPN under $130?

[OliverQueen]

I'm looking for a good router that support OpenVPN with flashed firmware or out of the box etc

I have a 50mbit connection and would like to get as close to that as possible while connected to the VPN and using AES128. I was thinking about getting an AC66U, but have heard that the speeds aren't great with OpenVPN. Range doesn't really matter as i live in an apartment, but more range would be a plus, it's not needed though.

Any suggestions would be great.

 

[Trip]

The AC66U has a 600Mhz MIPS-based cpu, which doesn't have the power to get you to 50 Mb/s over OpenVPN. You'll want an ARM-based consumer box with a 1Ghz or higher clock speed CPU and OpenVPN either included in the factory firmware (somewhat rare) or the capability of flashing Tomato (probably preferable).

The $99 AC56U sports a dual-core ARM A9 CPU running at 800Mhz, but it will only get you to perhaps 40 Mb/s on a good day, and even with overclocking I'm not sure you'll get to where you want to be with any reasonable degree of long-term reliability. Ideally, you should just spend the extra few cups of Starbucks and get an R7000 or AC68U. Flash the latest AdvancedTomato, and either one should provide 50-60Mb/s of OpenVPN, no problem.

There are of course other options, but the above suggestions are probably the easiest and best bang for the buck at the moment for the average Joe.

 

[Cloud200]

In that price range the best router you will get is an Asus AC-56u
It has a dual core 800mhz ARM CPU with 256MB RAM

 

[Trip]

^ Wondering what speed you're able to get with the 56U, Cloud? Perhaps you can eek out 50 Mb/s -- I was just under the impression that it couldn't, but perhaps I'm wrong.

 

[john9527]

^ Wondering what speed you're able to get with the 56U, Cloud? Perhaps you can eek out 50 Mb/s -- I was just under the impression that it couldn't, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Just measured it for someone else on my AC68 (same processor).....out of the box with stock clocks, around 25Mbps.....overclock and you can get into the 50's Mbps.

 

[Trip]

Thanks, John. The 68U's CPU clock speed is 200Mhz faster, though, so I'd suspect the 56U will be even slower on encrypted/decrypted transport, even if it's OC'd.

 

[OliverQueen]

Does the router output the VPN connection via patch cable as well when it is set up and does that use less processing power then having to encrypt and broadcast wirelessly? I've never really messed with routers before and use patch cable now through my old crappy router and would like to do that with the new router. I think that i am going to spend the extra bit of money and pick up a 68U.


I guess that AdvancedTomato is the best bet for the 68U. Does Merlin make firmware for that router and if so what are the differences between the two? That is what i was going to use with the AC66U if got it, but if AdvancedTomato is the better choice for OpenVPN then no problem. I'm just trying to learn. Have never flashed a router before.

 

[Trip]

If you like certain aspects of the factory "AsusWRT" firmware, then RMerlin would be a good place to start, as it's more or less just a bug-fixed and feature-enhanced version. The benefit here is that one tends to retain whatever aspects of the factory firmware (like hardware-accelerated NAT) that one might lose if moving to a completely different third-party firmware -- although reports have it that apparently Tomato preserves HWA for NAT and CTF (I haven't confirmed this, though).

Both Tomato and RMerlin offer OpenVPN, and it's largely equal in its implementation, so I'd imagine the speed metrics would be close to identical. I'd say it would just come down to personal preference. One nice thing about RMerlin is that you can upgrade straight from stock, whereas with Tomato, you need to enter recovery mode, flash, clear NVRAM, etc. Not a whole lot more work, but perhaps less friendly for novices.

Hope some of that helps!

 

[OliverQueen]

One nice thing about RMerlin is that you can upgrade straight from stock, whereas with Tomato, you need to enter recovery mode, flash, clear NVRAM, etc. Not a whole lot more work, but perhaps less friendly for novices.

Yeah. That is why i was looking into RMerlin as it seemed a bit more user friendly for neophytes. I think that i will go with RMerlin and after a while try out Tomato. Thank you both for the information!

 

[Trip]

You're welcome. Definitely report back with some benchmarks on OpenVPN throughput once you've had a chance to get everything configured!

 

[Cloud200]

Thanks, John. The 68U's CPU clock speed is 200Mhz faster, though, so I'd suspect the 56U will be even slower on encrypted/decrypted transport, even if it's OC'd.

The 56u runs the exact same model CPU as the 68u. Before I updated my network, I was running it at 1200mhz, WiFi disabled, only 1 LAN port connected, an 80*38mm fan and saturated a 40/10 connection with it.

If you want to go faster, your best bet is a router built for something like pfsense.

 

[System Error Message]

When it comes to buying the broadcom A9 routers, A lot of them will clock up to 1.2Ghz or 1.4Ghz. If its the CPU you need you could always add some cheap usb cooling and overclock as far as you can. 1.4Ghz is the highest we've seen from broadcom so far from the same family of chips. The only thing that differentiates these broadcom A9 routers are stock clocks, wifi radios and some hardware features like tiny chip accelerators not related to the CPU

 

[john9527]

Thanks, John. The 68U's CPU clock speed is 200Mhz faster, though, so I'd suspect the 56U will be even slower on encrypted/decrypted transport, even if it's OC'd.

Actually, the 56U/68U are both stock at 800Mhz. The 68P/87U are 200Mhz faster at 1Ghz stock.

 

[OliverQueen]

Actually, the 56U/68U are both stock at 800Mhz. The 68P/87U are 200Mhz faster at 1Ghz stock.

Does this mean spending the extra money on the 68u isn't worth it if they both of the same clock speed? I don't really wanna get into over clocking routers. Could a 56u do 30/5 with out having to disable my wifi and getting a usb cooler? I could down grade my connection and save some money if it is really that hard to hit 50/5

I see that newegg has the 68P for $129 refurbished. Could that hit 50/5 with the exta 200mhz clock or would 30/5 most likely be the best any of these can do?

 

[Trip]

The 56u runs the exact same model CPU

Actually, the 56U/68U are both stock at 800Mhz. The 68P/87U are 200Mhz faster at 1Ghz stock.

Oops - I stand a bit corrected.

As to the 56U/68U's then, not sure. 40Mb/s aggregate would be approaching their limits. Trial-and-error in your case my be the only surefire way to know.

As far as refurb'd stuff goes, I know plenty of people who buy them and are perfectly satisfied. Again, only way to find out is to try.

 

[OliverQueen]

I'm a little confused now from the replies. So is the AC-56U my best bet then or are there some other routers that have a base 1ghz+ that can be found for around $130 used/refurb. I can get the 68P, but don't really wanna pay that much if you can get the same speeds outof a AC-56U by over clocking it with stock cooling etc

If i got the Asus AC-56u about how high could you over clock it using the stock cooling and what would be the speeds? Could you push like 35/5 from it with out having to disable wifi? I use a patch cable to my main tower, but still use wifi on ipad/phones etc.

 

[System Error Message]

i overclocked my asus ac68U to 1.4Ghz and using a usb fan. The AC56U would be capable of similar depending on how lucky you are. Like any CPU not all CPUs overclock the same.

I have explained safe temperatures and cooling in another thread. I use wifi on my asus ac68U at 1.4Ghz and it is stable but the temperatures are kept low.

So whether or not to go with the asus ac56U or another model really depends on the other features like wifi and accelerator chips.

 

[OliverQueen]

i overclocked my asus ac68U to 1.4Ghz and using a usb fan. The AC56U would be capable of similar depending on how lucky you are. Like any CPU not all CPUs overclock the same.

I have explained safe temperatures and cooling in another thread. I use wifi on my asus ac68U at 1.4Ghz and it is stable but the temperatures are kept low.

So whether or not to go with the asus ac56U or another model really depends on the other features like wifi and accelerator chips.

What does the the accelerator chips do? I really don't care about wifi much, just need it for my wifes ipad and my kids phones. I really only care about the patch cable. I'm okay with down grading to 30/5, but in real life i would actually get around 38/7 as actually get around 60/7 now on my 50/5 plan (Live in a pretty remote area, so speeds are usally higher then what i pay for). That is using a VPN via my PC though, but have heard doing it with the router is a bit safer and could also chain VPN providers (One provider on router and then another provider on my PC via their VPN client/OpenVPN)

Has anyone tried the Linksys WRT1200AC? it seems to be clocked at 1.3ghz out of the box and is only 130$ brand new. I'm not sure how safe Linksys would be as people have talked about hardware rootkits with them. That should be able to hit 50/5? Unless the CPU is less powerful than the Asus models.

 

[System Error Message]

on the AC3200 accelerator chips are present for wifi and some of the WAN To take the load off the CPU. Certain features are only available to the AC3200 because of the hardware.

 

[OliverQueen]

on the AC3200 accelerator chips are present for wifi and some of the WAN To take the load off the CPU. Certain features are only available to the AC3200 because of the hardware.

What are your thoughts on the WRT1200AC? I can't really find much on it, but it seems to be open source ready and has really powerful specs for a router that is going for $130 on amazon right now. It seems to be more powerful then the RT-AC68U, but that is just looking at the specs. I could be wrong. Could you over clock that router to get a bit more bang out of it? I couldn't find much on Google about that the WRT1200AC, but since i live in a small apartment the range of it wouldn't matter to me, just worried about some of the amazon reviews for needing to be restarted every single day.