UK-available router with decent VPN performance below £50?

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I have been looking through the table of compatible routers but it is quite overwhelming. The main reason I am considering a OpenWrt setup is for router-powered VPN access (Specifically, I want this: Does OpenWrt offer me the ability to achieve this VPN setup that I want?). I have noticed that the performance of OpenVPN can vary drastically between routers even if on-paper the routers seem good, so I need a little help from the experts on here.

Could anybody please suggest routers that meet my criteria?

  • Available in the UK (without important from sellers directly, this I imagine would massively eat into my budget)
  • Less than £50 ideally, but can stretch to about £75 if it will really improve things for me
  • Has WiFi (WiFi 6 ideally, but I can live without if it means routers become more in my price range)
  • Has a USB 3.0 port (So that I can use the router as a DLNA server too)
  • Supports internet connections between 100Mbps and 1Gbps (I currently pay for 100Mbps but I have FTTP so will likely upgrade in the near future to faster speeds)
  • Has gigabit ethernet ports for fast LAN transfer
  • Performs well when connecting to public VPN servers over OpenVPN (I will be streaming video to devices on my network over the VPN connection)

Does anything fit my criteria or am I expecting too much for my budget?

2

if you want VPN and gigabit NATing, you're looking at a x86 device.

3

And it has to be very decent x86 CPU (which means expensive) to achieve 1G OpenVPN speed.

4

It's not possible when you are requiring hi speed in OpenVPN connectivity.

5

I'm not necessarily after gigabit speeds over the VPN. It'll only be part of the traffic going over the VPN. Maybe 50Mbps of VPN-able speeds would be sufficient.

Nevertheless, should I be looking at x86 architecture in general if VPN is a big reason for me wanting an OpenWrt-enabled router?

6

with the VPN speed you've mentioned, the main reason for x86 would be the gigabit speed.

check with the seller of https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175594129758
text says CR25wing, photos say CR15ing.

CR25Wing would fit your needs, but it wouldn't come with the kind of wifi (that's what the W
stands for in the model name) you'd like. Obviously the non wifi CR25ing would work too.
spend the rest of the cash on a used router or AP.

there's more info in Cyberoam CR25iNG / CR25WiNG wired router HW discovery and [HOWTO] Installing OpenWrt on Cyberoam CR15(w)iNG and CR25(w)iNG

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7

I see. I wasn't sure what is considered a good or bad speed for VPN was because this page makes it seem like most routers are pathetically bad: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/vpn/openvpn/performance

8

that's correct, but wireguard is at least better (as in faster) than openvpn, if you get to choose..

9

I use NordVPN. By the looks of it, they only support wireguard via a thing they call NordLynx, but I'm not convinced you can use it with anything other than via their own apps. So I may be stuck with OpenVPN for now until I switch VPN providers.

10

nah, it's doable

https://forum.openwrt.org/search?q=wireguard%20nordvpn%20order%3Alatest_topic

11

Ah ok. Some of the comments in that search say that they don't officially support it from routers, but it seems to be possible technically. I'd probably go with getting it working with OpenVPN first (for ease) and then switch over to WireGuard once I have everything initially set up.

Is the slowness of VPN connections on anything other than x86 a limitation of OpenVPN specifically or does it also affect WireGuard?

12

vpn is just cpu intensive, it affects all platforms, but openvpn requires more CPU power than wireguard in general.

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13

Thanks for the help.

I've messaged the seller of that item you suggested. Are there any other devices you recommend I look at in case I don't end up getting that one? (Also, a little additional question, what exactly are those types of device called? Are they just commercial routers?)

14

there's a ton of suggestions in Tips for getting cheap used x86-based firewall with full Gbit NAT (a PC Engines APU) if you are in the US, start reading the thread from the bottom.

Router, firewall, VPN device ... it's a x86, it could be used in several ways.

Do some research on the Barracuda F18, it's even cheaper than the Cyberoam, and the Atom CPU will probably perform better.
Sold as "For parts or not working", and I can't ready the item description at work, it's blocked by
the corp firewall.

15

Do this unit do gigabit sqm QoS?

16

Perhaps, at least to some extent, question is if it's worth doing on a gigabit connection.

I'm on 1/1, can't see any reason for even considering setting it up.

17

Could you elaborate please?

18

I don't see any issues in need of fixing, not saying they aren't there, just not annoying/visible enough to do something about them ,)

19

Ah so the usual issues of connection contention and the need to prioritise traffic disappear with 1/1?

I've been thinking about future hardware. My current device, er x can route 1gbps (a patch to allow this was submitted to the snapshot build a few months ago) but can't do it with SQM enabled. If SQM isn't required then happy days. Don't need to buy anything new :slightly_smiling_face:

20

I'm happy with the way things work, if you'd be, I can't tell, but I see no reason for spending time on a problem I can't actually see..

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