Can't get OpenVPN connection optimized to TorGuard service

[TekWarren]

I will first say that I have searched a ton here and generally on the web. I'm trying out Torguard VPN service and when I set it up on my router it destroys the throughput. From my reading here...folks are saying that the RT-AC66U should be able to do 15-20Mbps through VPN. The best I have seen with a LOT of messing around with MTU numbers and MSSFIX is around 9Mbps. My internet connection is typically between 20Mbps 'ish and 30Mbps 'ish depending on time of day. I have comcast and don't get anywhere near the advertised speeds but I think I live in a fringe area as far as being away from a city.

My router has hardware acceleration ON. I am not doing anything to crazy on it, all services I can find except DLNA server are off (I even did try turning that off for testing). During testing, only two devices on the network: my PC and my android phone. Using the windows torguard lite vpn client or the android client on my phone, I am able to pretty much tap out my available bandwidth over the VPN.

I understand the router hardware may be limiting but from reading here it should be able to do more? I've seen posts saying 15-20. I have tried lowering the encryption level on the different servers I've tried but anything other than Default results in not connecting.

Here are the Default "custom configuration" commands imported when choosing a config file for OpenVPN:
remote-random
remote-cert-tls server
tun-mtu 1500
tun-mtu-extra 32
mssfix 1450
fast-io
ping-restart 0
route-delay 2
route-method exe
script-security 3 system
mute-replay-warnings

TorGuard support suggested adding these settings which did not help throughput:
sndbuf 393216
rcvbuf 393216
push "sndbuf 393216"
push "rcvbuf 393216”
fragment 0
mssfix 0

A lot of times I'm getting as low as 6-7Mbps throughput with various speed tests. Playing around with MTU and MSSFIX numbers got me slightly over 9Mbps a couple times but not sure if coincidental. Some of the posts I found here on SNBF where encouraging but nothing seems to be getting me the big jump in improvement that some where able to obtain.

Router: RT-AC66U running latest AsusMerlin WRT, John's fork.

Thanks for any time and suggestions.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Not all VPN providers are equal. You may need to find a different provider. Some providers don't have the bandwidth in the location you want to connect through to give you the best speeds.

Try running the service directly on a PC using the VPN provider's client application to the same server you are connecting on the router. See what the impact is vs connecting to your ISP directly without using the VPN.

 

[RMerlin]

15-20 Mbps is with AES-128-CBC. Using any other cipher can result in further throughput degration (for instance the stronger AES-256-CBC, or a non optimized cipher such as Blowfish).

 

[ronan_zj]

I follow the torguard ASUS Merlin setup guide, and I have Traffic Analyzer - Statistic "OFF". speed test is 20Mb/s with no loss.
when I turn on the Traffic Analyzer - Statistic, my speed drops to 8-9 Mb/s

 

[Zirescu]

Be wary of the speedtest sites you're testing against. I find that some will give me lousy results but once I'm downloading Torrents it's giving great download speeds. One thing I've found is that not all of their Asus configs are using the correct MTU settings so you'll need to double-check the log files once connected. Once that's setup correctly you shouldn't have any download issues. Typically I try to connect to the nearest VPN server, but found that some that are further away have been more reliable.

You can't change the encryption settings on the client as the server is expecting what is already defined in the client config file.

 

[kvic]

My internet connection is typically between 20Mbps 'ish and 30Mbps 'ish depending on time of day. I have comcast and don't get anywhere near the advertised speeds but I think I live in a fringe area as far as being away from a city.

My router has hardware acceleration ON.

For your WAN speed, I bet your router can comfortably live without hw acceleration. Contrary to common perceptions, with hw acceleration OFF, OpenVPN actually speeds up (or rather not being slowed down!). That's my experience on 378.55 (I haven't tested on other release).

Worth a try too.

 

[bilboSNB]

If using udp try tcp, contrary to what is supposed to be the case that actually sped things up on my n66u which got me 10 to 15. Same provider ac68u 20 to 40 ish arm has a lot more ooomph.

Overclocking may give a fractional boost also.

 

[TekWarren]

I follow the torguard ASUS Merlin setup guide, and I have Traffic Analyzer - Statistic "OFF". speed test is 20Mb/s with no loss.
when I turn on the Traffic Analyzer - Statistic, my speed drops to 8-9 Mb/s

I saw reference to turning this setting off, but I couldn't find it on my router. -Granted it was late and maybe I was glancing right over it, I will look for it again.

Thanks so much for the other thoughts others have posted. Maybe the servers I am using are stricter and only allow certain encryption levels. I did turn off hardware acceleration at one point but did not see an improvement, although again it was late and I am not sure if I rebooted the router after that change.

Thanks all, I'll play with it some more.

 

[ronan_zj]

I saw reference to turning this setting off, but I couldn't find it on my router. -Granted it was late and maybe I was glancing right over it, I will look for it again.

Thanks so much for the other thoughts others have posted. Maybe the servers I am using are stricter and only allow certain encryption levels. I did turn off hardware acceleration at one point but did not see an improvement, although again it was late and I am not sure if I rebooted the router after that change.

Thanks all, I'll play with it some more.

when you login to merlin, left column, find "Traffic Analyzer", then click it.
then click Statistic. turn off this function.
I am using AC-68, and I assume we should have same functions on Merlin.

 

[TekWarren]

when you login to merlin, left column, find "Traffic Analyzer", then click it.
then click Statistic. turn off this function.
I am using AC-68, and I assume we should have same functions on Merlin.

I was looking last night again and not seeing this option, maybe I'm going crazy! I am on John's fork (ac66U) maybe the feature isn't there in his fork? @john9527