Upgrading from RT-N66U to AC, need VPN Hardware Accel+Encryption

[GK59]

Ok, I'm ready to order and have combed over rankings and charts, still looking at a few models but I've narrowed down mostly to RT-AC3200 (older) and RT-AC86U (newer) and have budgeted around $200 +/-. My needs are as follows:

Coverage area is approx 1500 sq ft townhouse
Connection is fibre optic (77 Mbps up/77 Mbps down)
Devices: 4 android (3 phones, 1 tablet)
2 streaming players (Roku Ultra 4K, Roku Express) often on at same time
2 laptops
1 high end gaming PC (32M ram, 1080 Ti, 7700K Intel, on Ethernet where router will be)

I work with sensitive financial and other related material and wish to run VPN (hardware) at router level.

I have ExpressVPN and had absolutely horrible download speeds, 5 Mbps from my usual 70 Mbps or so so not sure wth was happening there hence why I'm seeking a more robust solution for hardware accelerated VPN service. I'm frankly ready for new and more modern and willing to shell out (to a point) for this, any hep and insight will be very much appreciated, thanks all.

 

[RMerlin]

Ok, I'm ready to order and have combed over rankings and charts, still looking at a few models but I've narrowed down mostly to RT-AC3200 (older) and RT-AC86U (newer) and have budgeted around $200 +/-. My needs are as follows:

Coverage area is approx 1500 sq ft townhouse
Connection is fibre optic (77 Mbps up/77 Mbps down)
Devices: 4 android (3 phones, 1 tablet)
2 streaming players (Roku Ultra 4K, Roku Express) often on at same time
2 laptops
1 high end gaming PC (32M ram, 1080 Ti, 7700K Intel, on Ethernet where router will be)

I work with sensitive financial and other related material and wish to run VPN (hardware) at router level.

I have ExpressVPN and had absolutely horrible download speeds, 5 Mbps from my usual 70 Mbps or so so not sure wth was happening there hence why I'm seeking a more robust solution for hardware accelerated VPN service. I'm frankly ready for new and more modern and willing to shell out (to a point) for this, any hep and insight will be very much appreciated, thanks all.

The RT-AC86U is the only Asus model with hardware-accelerated OpenVPN.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[GK59]

The RT-AC86U is the only Asus model with hardware-accelerated OpenVPN.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

RMerlin, I cannot find the right words to express my gratitude but to just simply say thank you for all you do for us here and everywhere else, this is the reason I buy these routers, your firmware, period.

I had no idea the AC86U was THE only model with this capacity, how is it's perf on this? Now, I think I know the answer but given my current router is this the main reason why I'd be getting such lackluster speeds? I turned it off and just used the windows app and it was all good regarding normal up/down speeds. I've enjoyed this RT-N66U but we're finding that with the added streaming and 4K TV, it's not up to the task for all around perf. Thanks again for your work and commitment to this project.

Edit: went ahead and ordered the RT-AC86U off the provided forum support link and will have it on Mon.

 

[avtella]

The RT-AC86U is the only Asus model with hardware-accelerated OpenVPN.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Isn’t the GT5300AC using a similar “Cortex B53” CPU but with two more cores? Granted the 86U is the better buy, but just wondering.

 

[RMerlin]

Isn’t the GT5300AC using a similar “Cortex B53” CPU but with two more cores? Granted the 86U is the better buy, but just wondering.

It does, same platform - I generally tend to skip the GT-AC5300 because of its high price.

 

[GK59]

Ok so I've installed ExpressVPN on the RT-AC86U today and ran some quick tests, now my connection is 77 Mbps up and down here and I ran Speedtest.net at various servers (Seattle, NJ, my own ISP) all with near identical results:

on my Lenovo Ideapad 100 -151BD laptop with Realtek RT8723BE WiFi I get consistent 45-50 Mbps (down), low 30's Mbps (up);

on my PC, Intel Ethernet (2) 1219-V, consistent 58-60 (down), low 60's ~63 Mbps (up)

is this indicative of what I should expect? any settings in the VPN client setup I should double check to be correct?

 

[Easy Rhino]

can you try it without the VPN for a bit just to see how that is?