VPNs: requirements for setting up

[martinr]

For the first time, I'm looking at setting up a vpn.

Reading the tutorial at:

https://support.hidemyass.com/hc/en-us/articles/203924423

it seems I need my ASUS router behind a modem-router gateway. My setup is a plain BT Openreach modem (modem only) and then my ASUS router.

Does this mean if I want to set up a vpn, I would have to swap the BT modem for a modem-router, or is it possible to run a vpn with just a single router sat behind a modem?

Thanks

Martin

 

[Deleted member 27741]

The configuration you have will work. I think they mean gateway router OR modem (the thing that establishes the internet connection). However, pretty much any configuration can be made to work but since yours is simple you should not have issues.

 

[martinr]

Thank you. I decided to try it, anyway. Having just come from DD-WRT (the DD stands for dog's dinner), I just can't get used to how easy everything is with Asus-Merlin. Any difficulties have been self-generated in the expectation that it's going to take hours of effort and searching to get it going. I wasted ages with the DDNS setup until I realised how incedibly simple it was setting up the Asus DDNS; what took me a couple of weeks with DD-WRT, took less than a couple of minutes with Asus-Merlin once I got my brain into gear. Similarly, with the PPTP vpn, it was just click and go, and, for once, I shouldn't have wasted time on a tutorial. Going from DD-WRT to Merlin is like going from DOS to Windows 7, and I don't have to keep convincing myself not to worry about running 5-year-old firmware. The Dog's Dinner is history for me; I wouldn't let it near my shiny RT-AC68U, not after having discovered Merlin.

Many thanks

Martin

 

[CaptainSTX]

While PPTP is the easiest VPN to set up you might want to look at OpenVPN instead. PPTP is not very secure as the encryption has been cracked. I would only use PPTP for geo shifting so you can connect to streaming servers in foreign lands.

OpenVPN is secure, and upload and download speeds may be slightly faster than PPTP.

As an aside if you are using HMA as your provider you may want to consider other VPN ISPs. Having tried HMA it was slower than StrongVPN, Astrill and several others VPN providers I experimented with.

 

[martinr]

While PPTP is the easiest VPN to set up you might want to look at OpenVPN instead. PPTP is not very secure as the encryption has been cracked. I would only use PPTP for geo shifting so you can connect to streaming servers in foreign lands.

OpenVPN is secure, and upload and download speeds may be slightly faster than PPTP.

As an aside if you are using HMA as your provider you may want to consider other VPN ISPs. Having tried HMA it was slower than StrongVPN, Astrill and several others VPN providers I experimented with.

OpenVPN now set up. Everything seems almost too easy with this firmware.

Many thanks.

Martin