Speed limitations with router

[raylock]

I just ran a quick experiment to see what effect VPN would have on my connection speed. Since I was just looking for a general indication only, I used Netfflix's Fast.com. My FIOS connection is supposed to give me 100Mbps (it never quite reaches that). I tried the speed test without any VPN and got 95 Mbps. I then used the VPN app on my Dell laptop and used the Washington DC location of ExpressVPN. This gave me 47Mbps. That is probably not apples and apples since it is Washington DC rather than a local New Jersey location. But then I ran the same test with VPN engaged on my Asus AT-AC68R router with ASUS-Merlin to the same Washington DC site and got a little less than 10 Mbps. That is a big drop, 47 to 10 Mbps. I am not a computer techie but I am guessing that it might be because of the lower memory in the router. Is that assumption correct? Does this look reasonable or do you think I have a problem with my router.

 

[L&LD]

You're right that it is the router. But it isn't (just) the memory, it is mostly the weaker processor the router has.

Were your tests using WiFi? Or wired/LAN connections?

The RT-AC68U router should more closely match your Dell laptop results (still less, but closer). There must be other issues at play here.

 

[raylock]

Thanks for the response. The Dell Laptop is hardwired to the router. Now sure what other issue to look for. Maybe you or someone else can give me some direction. Thanks again.

 

[System Error Message]

It depends what VPN was used. If expressVPN could provide 100Mb/s than you should get that with your dell laptop unless you're using a lesser CPU or a much toucher VPN.
The main VPNs used are PPTP, SSTP, L2TP/IPSEC, OpenVPN. SSTP and OpenVPN are usually much much slower than the other 2 choices. PPTP is the fastest but L2TP/IPSEC can be faster than PPTP if there is IPSEC and AES acceleration (those broadcom ARM routers only have AES not IPSEC but its used for wifi).

memory doesnt affect performance. VPN performance depends on your network (both upload and download), and how much CPU is available. OpenVPN implementations are fairly new compared to the rest.

 

[raylock]

The router and Laptop both used openVPN, the same VPN provider and the same provider address and speed test address. The laptop was 47 Mbps and the router was less than 10 Mbps. The question is "should my router be that much slower than the laptop directly? i.e. does my router have a problem or is that just the way it is? Thanks for the reply.

 

[System Error Message]

The router and Laptop both used openVPN, the same VPN provider and the same provider address and speed test address. The laptop was 47 Mbps and the router was less than 10 Mbps. The question is "should my router be that much slower than the laptop directly? i.e. does my router have a problem or is that just the way it is? Thanks for the reply.

I think @RMerlin can help with this. I think he said before that he updated the openVPN in his firmware so it should perform better. Otherwise 10Mb/s is really all it can do. It would also explain why you arent getting 100Mb/s with your laptop but it could also be that your upload is only 50Mb/s. If your upload is 100Mb/s than it could be the openVPN client on your laptop may not be great or that your laptop may have a low end CPU.

 

[yorgi]

I just ran a quick experiment to see what effect VPN would have on my connection speed. Since I was just looking for a general indication only, I used Netfflix's Fast.com. My FIOS connection is supposed to give me 100Mbps (it never quite reaches that). I tried the speed test without any VPN and got 95 Mbps. I then used the VPN app on my Dell laptop and used the Washington DC location of ExpressVPN. This gave me 47Mbps. That is probably not apples and apples since it is Washington DC rather than a local New Jersey location. But then I ran the same test with VPN engaged on my Asus AT-AC68R router with ASUS-Merlin to the same Washington DC site and got a little less than 10 Mbps. That is a big drop, 47 to 10 Mbps. I am not a computer techie but I am guessing that it might be because of the lower memory in the router. Is that assumption correct? Does this look reasonable or do you think I have a problem with my router.

Are you using AES-256 encryption? is compression on? These are huge factors in speed.
Use AES-128-CBC and set compression to none.
Also try different servers because not all servers are as fast. take a look at the list of servers that VPN express has and see how many servers they have per country the more servers the faster the speeds and less bottle necking. I have seen this many times before. Even with the App you should have got close to your 100mb/s. Try using another computer and do a speed test as well.
It seems they are throttling, many companies are doing this now including your ISP. is your ISP comcast? I have seen really bad speeds with comcast.
Before you blame your router, try another service provider as well like PIA and do your tests.
they give you 30 days free. Here is a guide for VPN that may help you out more in your troubleshooting. And take note that you will never get faster then 50mb/s with a router because of the cpu limitations.
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/ho...ng-policy-rules-for-ver-380-59-updated.30851/
Also make sure you use VPN client 1 3 or 5 they use the second core of the cpu. This way core 1 will do the routing and core 2 will do the VPN

 

[yorgi]

The router and Laptop both used openVPN, the same VPN provider and the same provider address and speed test address. The laptop was 47 Mbps and the router was less than 10 Mbps. The question is "should my router be that much slower than the laptop directly? i.e. does my router have a problem or is that just the way it is? Thanks for the reply.

One more note, did you upload vpn express config file in Import .ovpn file on the router so it can add all the extra info in custom configurations?

 

[raylock]

. And take note that you will never get faster then 50mb/s with a router because of the cpu limitations.
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/ho...ng-policy-rules-for-ver-380-59-updated.30851/
Also make sure you use VPN client 1 3 or 5 they use the second core of the cpu. This way core 1 will do the routing and core 2 will do the VPN

Yorgi, That is good information. Thanks. I don't have a problem with my provider (Verizon FIOS), I was just trying to understand why there was such a drop in speed when I switched from openVPN on my laptop to openVPN on my router (same provider, same destination server). I have been away from this for a few days, but will play with the router and utilize this information and see what I get. Thanks again.
Ray

 

[amm009uk]

I hear you and I suffer from much reduced bandwidth with OpenVPN. I was getting ~15Mbps when using privateinternetaccess when my full bandwidth was 40Mbps. From my research a lot of this depends on CPU cause of the encryption/decryption and thats where a PC would win over a router. Eg. Linksys EA4500 versus Netgear R7000. R7000 kills the EA4500 for VPN speed!

(By the way I tried expressVPN and was disappointed versus PIA)

 

[raylock]

(By the way I tried expressVPN and was disappointed versus PIA)

Thanks for the comments amm009uk. I have been experimenting with different VPN vendors and have not settled on one yet. Could you expand on your comparison of expressVPN vs PIA. I have not tried PIA yet, although it seems to be reasonably priced and used by others on this forum. My interest in VPN is more as a hobbyist rather than one with an actual need for this service. Thanks again for your input.

Ray

 

[amm009uk]

There's so many providers out there but I just happened to try PIA and stuck with it. I'm out in the middle east so I can't expect great bandwidth but it works pretty damn well considering its only a few $. For what ever reason I tried eVPN recently and it was slower overall. Even with PIA try the different servers to find what suits you.