Problems setting up PIA on AC68U

[davebruno]

Hi all,

I've went through all the settings on the sticky and still cannot get a stable connection to my PIA vpn. I want to use the VPN for gaming as DDOS is very common when playing cash tourneys and wagers. I have played from my connection on the PIA London server and had incredibly stable games on the N66U (no longer have access to it) so I know its something config wise thats wrong.

For example most recently I've set it up for port 1195, I dont really need anything encryption or security wise and would set up a different VPN if/when I do, I purely want to maximize speed, particularly in latency but also bandwidth while hiding my real IP in game (PSN so no need for DNS leak protection I dont think?)

Anyway with the 1195 port I am getting 30ms jitter and only 7meg. I have used the following:

http://imgur.com/gallery/FsPyq

I'm pretty sure I followed the guide right but correct me if I am missing something please as I have spent hours on end and getting no further!

Thanks for any guidance,

Dave

 

[yorgi]

Hi all,

I've went through all the settings on the sticky and still cannot get a stable connection to my PIA vpn. I want to use the VPN for gaming as DDOS is very common when playing cash tourneys and wagers. I have played from my connection on the PIA London server and had incredibly stable games on the N66U (no longer have access to it) so I know its something config wise thats wrong.

For example most recently I've set it up for port 1195, I dont really need anything encryption or security wise and would set up a different VPN if/when I do, I purely want to maximize speed, particularly in latency but also bandwidth while hiding my real IP in game (PSN so no need for DNS leak protection I dont think?)

Anyway with the 1195 port I am getting 30ms jitter and only 7meg. I have used the following:

http://imgur.com/gallery/FsPyq

I'm pretty sure I followed the guide right but correct me if I am missing something please as I have spent hours on end and getting no further!

Thanks for any guidance,

Dave

From my experience not all the servers are built the same from PIA.
You can connect to a couple of different IP servers and do a speed test and the latency is really bad and the bandwidth is very slow.
When that happens to me I just turn the service off and on until i get a server that is fast.
I haven't tried the London servers but I can say one thing, PIA has become really big in the VPN business and there are many people using the service. I would recommend trying some other servers that are close to London like Germany etc.
Make tests until you find the best servers.
I really doubt that you are having an issue with your new router because you seem to be connected as you said and your settings all look right. the only thing I can say is if you used the proper certificate which I posted on the how to vpn guide
Make sure you have this certificate.

When you say stable connection what exactly do you mean?
Does your connection drop to the server? Do you have issues with speed being slow and then goes faster?
What speed have you purchased from your ISP?
I have also seen ISP's throttling VPN connections. If you are getting an issue where the speed is going up and down its usually the case.

I would like to know more about your problem you are having, be more specific.

I also recommend that when you change settings or ports, certificates etc do a default on the VPN client and then enter the data.
A cold boot of the router would be recommended as well to clear the VRAM.
Make speed tests using different servers and see what servers are best for your area.

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIID2jCCA0OgAwIBAgIJAOtqMkR2JSXrMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAMIGlMQswCQYD
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llQlzAzFiIfabACTQn84QLeLOActKhK8hFJy2Gy6
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

 

[davebruno]

From my experience not all the servers are built the same from PIA.
You can connect to a couple of different IP servers and do a speed test and the latency is really bad and the bandwidth is very slow.
When that happens to me I just turn the service off and on until i get a server that is fast.
I haven't tried the London servers but I can say one thing, PIA has become really big in the VPN business and there are many people using the service. I would recommend trying some other servers that are close to London like Germany etc.
Make tests until you find the best servers.
I really doubt that you are having an issue with your new router because you seem to be connected as you said and your settings all look right. the only thing I can say is if you used the proper certificate which I posted on the how to vpn guide
Make sure you have this certificate.

When you say stable connection what exactly do you mean?
Does your connection drop to the server? Do you have issues with speed being slow and then goes faster?
What speed have you purchased from your ISP?
I have also seen ISP's throttling VPN connections. If you are getting an issue where the speed is going up and down its usually the case.

I would like to know more about your problem you are having, be more specific.

I also recommend that when you change settings or ports, certificates etc do a default on the VPN client and then enter the data.
A cold boot of the router would be recommended as well to clear the VRAM.
Make speed tests using different servers and see what servers are best for your area.

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIID2jCCA0OgAwIBAgIJAOtqMkR2JSXrMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAMIGlMQswCQYD
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llQlzAzFiIfabACTQn84QLeLOActKhK8hFJy2Gy6
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Hi Yorgi,

Thanks for your detailed response.

Connection wasn't disconnecting and also speed seemed constant but slow around 7 meg on a 50/3 con.

I meant unstable ping with high jitter, on the N66U I was getting 0-2ms jitter on several servers with default settings after uploading the openvpn config file and crt file from the main PIA zip file.

I think I chosen the correct cert from your thread but was a little confused on that part because I was trying to run it encrypted so I think I used one advised in a post lower down for 1195. Would the cert you posted above be correct for port 1195?

I put tomato on it yesterday but I'm a little lost with the settings for QoS using that and haven't got around to VPN on there. I will flash back to Merlin tonight to test the settings you have advised and see how I get on and clear NVRAM etc then I will post again.

Thanks again,

Dave

 

[yorgi]

Hi Yorgi,

Thanks for your detailed response.

Connection wasn't disconnecting and also speed seemed constant but slow around 7 meg on a 50/3 con.

I meant unstable ping with high jitter, on the N66U I was getting 0-2ms jitter on several servers with default settings after uploading the openvpn config file and crt file from the main PIA zip file.

I think I chosen the correct cert from your thread but was a little confused on that part because I was trying to run it encrypted so I think I used one advised in a post lower down for 1195. Would the cert you posted above be correct for port 1195?

I put tomato on it yesterday but I'm a little lost with the settings for QoS using that and haven't got around to VPN on there. I will flash back to Merlin tonight to test the settings you have advised and see how I get on and clear NVRAM etc then I will post again.

Thanks again,

Dave

Hi Dave, yes the certificate I posted is for 1195

You should get almost full speed with this port. try different servers and make your tests. Don't bounce around to different ports and certificates.
Make it work right first and then venture over to other ports.
If you are still getting slow speeds, take the router to a buddies house and connect to a different ISP and see if its your ISP that is throttling your connection. When you connect and you achieve a speed test that means you are connected properly to PIA.
if you have a wrong certificate or one wrong letter in the custom configurations the connection will never establish.
I am thinking your ISP is throttling.
Who is you ISP btw? What part of the planet do you live in?
let me know how it goes for you

 

[davebruno]

Hi Dave, yes the certificate I posted is for 1195

You should get almost full speed with this port. try different servers and make your tests. Don't bounce around to different ports and certificates.
Make it work right first and then venture over to other ports.
If you are still getting slow speeds, take the router to a buddies house and connect to a different ISP and see if its your ISP that is throttling your connection. When you connect and you achieve a speed test that means you are connected properly to PIA.
if you have a wrong certificate or one wrong letter in the custom configurations the connection will never establish.
I am thinking your ISP is throttling.
Who is you ISP btw? What part of the planet do you live in?
let me know how it goes for you

Hi Yorgi,

I'm in the UK on Virgin Media, 50/3 right now but its going up to 200/20 tomorrow..

It is definitely connecting as PIA homepage says I'm protected and speed tests run at 7ish meg while I get about 53 when its not connected to VPN..

I'm not sure its the ISP because I used the N66U and it connected at about 15 Meg and was stable on jitter, I got the AC68U to try and get the speeds up some but starting to wish I had just stuck with the N66U.

I will be home soon and will flash Merlin back and try again, I didn't clear NVRAM after first time flashing to Merlin so maybe I messed up on this part, also when I first set it up I accidentally unplugged it while it was updating the stock firmware and had a few issues getting it back on but after it flashed to Merlin I figured this couldn't have caused any damage, could it?

Cheers,

Dave

 

[yorgi]

Hi Yorgi,

I'm in the UK on Virgin Media, 50/3 right now but its going up to 200/20 tomorrow..

It is definitely connecting as PIA homepage says I'm protected and speed tests run at 7ish meg while I get about 53 when its not connected to VPN..

I'm not sure its the ISP because I used the N66U and it connected at about 15 Meg and was stable on jitter, I got the AC68U to try and get the speeds up some but starting to wish I had just stuck with the N66U.

I will be home soon and will flash Merlin back and try again, I didn't clear NVRAM after first time flashing to Merlin so maybe I messed up on this part, also when I first set it up I accidentally unplugged it while it was updating the stock firmware and had a few issues getting it back on but after it flashed to Merlin I figured this couldn't have caused any damage, could it?

Cheers,

Dave

No you can't really damage it. When you flash just make sure that you do factory default and then shut down the router and have the power on so that it can discharge the capacitors. then plug the power back to the router and boot it up and set it all up from the beginning.
You should be good to go after that.
Don't worry, the router you bought is amazing. Big difference from the 66u
If you got 15mb/s with the 66u you should get over 30mb/s with the 88u
don't expect no 200 mb/s from it you can probably do 50 mb/s with 128 encryption. if you have no encryption then its another story
let me know how it goes.

 

[davebruno]

Tomato firmware above settings:
Test 1 London - 3 down 2 up 24 ping
Test 2 London (disc/recon) - 4 down 2 up 24 ping
Test 3 Germany - 49 down 3 up. - ping 48ms and 2ms jitter - this would be playable if the exit node was closer
Test 4 East Coast - 45 down 2 up ping 118ms 3ms jitter
Test 5 Southampton - 4 down 2 up 28 ping unstable ping. - Dont know what is up with UK PIA servers??

I'm flashing back to Merlin now and will update with some tests on merlin soon, just concerned that I read merlin cannot help me with bufferbloat and that Tomato can..

Wonder why the N66U got 15/3 on PIA although that wasnt on port 1195 but whatever default is. Does look to be a server issue all along but I will confirm when I'm back on merlin.

Can you advise any advanced config settings/tweaks that will lower overhead further that could further reduce latency or jitter?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[davebruno]

No you can't really damage it. When you flash just make sure that you do factory default and then shut down the router and have the power on so that it can discharge the capacitors. then plug the power back to the router and boot it up and set it all up from the beginning.
You should be good to go after that.
Don't worry, the router you bought is amazing. Big difference from the 66u
If you got 15mb/s with the 66u you should get over 30mb/s with the 88u
don't expect no 200 mb/s from it you can probably do 50 mb/s with 128 encryption. if you have no encryption then its another story
let me know how it goes.

Got it running the same or maybe better on Merlin now (after an hour of troubleshooting before realising I hadn't put the WAN Ethernet back in after flashing and was connected to another wifi ), looks good but yet to game on it.. Settings below are working.

Any tweaks/ things I can add to custom config to further reduce latency? Security side of the VPN isn't really needed as I will set that up on Client 3.. Client 1 will be my gaming profile. Also do you have any idea how I might be able to get my NAT open on VPN?

Thanks!
http://imgur.com/a/rjzgc

Tried a London server, its late here now and getting 27 Meg so maybe its just overloaded.. Any suggestions how I may get this server up a little as I paid for 1 year of PIA and need a more local exit node than Germany/mainland eu

 

[yorgi]

Got it running the same or maybe better on Merlin now (after an hour of troubleshooting before realising I hadn't put the WAN Ethernet back in after flashing and was connected to another wifi ), looks good but yet to game on it.. Settings below are working.

Any tweaks/ things I can add to custom config to further reduce latency? Security side of the VPN isn't really needed as I will set that up on Client 3.. Client 1 will be my gaming profile. Also do you have any idea how I might be able to get my NAT open on VPN?

Thanks!
http://imgur.com/a/rjzgc

Tried a London server, its late here now and getting 27 Meg so maybe its just overloaded.. Any suggestions how I may get this server up a little as I paid for 1 year of PIA and need a more local exit node than Germany/mainland eu

I use the Toronto server and its smoking fast. NY server is the same.
take a look at their server lists here https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/network/?gclid=CMvfpciljM8CFYQfhgodKa0NXQ
the more servers they have the better speeds you are going to get.
27 mb/s is way better then 7 mb/s
try the servers test with the PIA program from here https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/client-support/ and run it without encryption on a windows or mac without being connected to VPN on your router and see the speeds you are getting.
At this point you can't blame the router or configurations.
It all looks good on your routers end, I have seen throttling from ISP when on a VPN so at this point now that you have the router configured and its working you need to make more tests with the router and the PIA program and see if you are getting similar results
If you get 27mb/s or a little more from the PIA program then there is a throttling job from your ISP and you can't do anything about it other then switching ISP. let me know how it goes.

 

[yorgi]

I would disable NAT acceleration because unless you have 200 mb/s it will only slow things down or create problems.
Also whatever tests you make do it on a LAN with a PC not wireless.
All your tests should be done like that then continue on with wi fi etc....

 

[davebruno]

Changing ISP to one which 100% doesnt do any shaping or blocking, will update if this solves the issues otherwise will be back to firmware/servers to blame as its still not right.

 

[Rango]

Guys, Yorgi, Merlin, John......1196 is no longer working for me for aes-128-cbc for like a month. Do you guys know if they closed this port and using different port for that encryption?
I opened ticket with pia but i don't know if they changed anything because i did not touch my setup at all and it use to work just fine. Now i'm 1194 with bf-cbc but i'm connected to NJ server and i'm in midwest even tho i'm using midwest server, with horrible 20mbps only. I'm also on older 380 .57 release code, probably nothing to do with anything.

Any changes guys?

 

[john9527]

Guys, Yorgi, Merlin, John......1196 is no longer working for me for aes-128-cbc for like a month. Do you guys know if they closed this port and using different port for that encryption?

Yep....they retired 1196.....now 1198....here's a good page to bookmark
https://helpdesk.privateinternetacc...ings-should-I-use-for-ports-on-your-gateways-

 

[yorgi]

Guys, Yorgi, Merlin, John......1196 is no longer working for me for aes-128-cbc for like a month. Do you guys know if they closed this port and using different port for that encryption?
I opened ticket with pia but i don't know if they changed anything because i did not touch my setup at all and it use to work just fine. Now i'm 1194 with bf-cbc but i'm connected to NJ server and i'm in midwest even tho i'm using midwest server, with horrible 20mbps only. I'm also on older 380 .57 release code, probably nothing to do with anything.

Any changes guys?

heya Rango
read my guide for the new ports and certificates
PIA made changes.
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/ho...ia-and-other-vpn-providers-10-15-fixed.30851/

 

[Rango]

Thanks John, Yorgi much appreciate it. No wonder it stopped working. Thanks for guide yorgi too.
I'm back up on the router. Thanks a bunch.

 

[yorgi]

Yep....they retired 1196.....now 1198....here's a good page to bookmark
https://helpdesk.privateinternetacc...ings-should-I-use-for-ports-on-your-gateways-

I added that link to the guide.. great find

 

[sfx2000]

@RMerlin. @thiggins - move this thread over to the relevant sub-forum?