Question Can I put a VPN on my router and then connect it to a modem/router combo?

[Rdgeno]

Hi I have a feeling I may be asking this wrong because I can't find an answer to this anywhere.
I have a router modem combo can shut I the router function off and still use the USB port. My IR blaster needs to be plugged into it?
I don't want to flash the modem router to install a VPN because I'm worried I'll brick it. It needs new firmware to add the VPN.
I ordered a router so I could install a VPN on it for extra security.
What I want to do is run a VPN on my computer and the router because I've had a few problems with my ISP and one more and I'm banned for life.
I moved and apparently the department that handles copyright has my old address and sent two warnings then my internet was shut off. I had to call and that's when I found all of this out. If I had known I never would have got the second.
Why this happened is confusing because I wasn't torrenting I was streaming.
I looked up the law and it says it's OK and my ISP said it's OK, but whoever reported me said I was downloading and they won't believe me of course.
I don't want to be suspended for life because they are the only provider where I live.
Apparently the kill switch on my VPN doesn't work when the VPN sends an update. The VPN shuts off and asks if I want to install it but I don't see this if I don't open the VPN.
If it's minimized or I'm using the full screen I can't see it.
I don't want to take any chances with the ISP and if a guest stops over or someone hacks my WiFi I don't want to be suspended or anything. I'm very paranoid about it right now.
I actually unplugged my modem/router until the router gets here tomorrow.
The problem is the router I ordered doesn't have a USB on it. I forgot about the IR blaster when I ordered it.
I want to know if I put the VPN on the router then run it through my router/modem combo if that will work, or can I just shut the router function off on the combo and still use the USB.
I'm sorry if the question is a little confusing and I would return the router I ordered and get one with a USB but I don't want to wait 3 or 4 more days until the correct one comes in.
Any help would be great.
Again I'm sorry if this is confusing or I incorrectly stated something. I'm using my phone and for some reason this site doesn't like it, I'm having issues.
Again I'm sorry and any help at all is greatly appreciated.

 

[bill001g]

Using a phone would explain the kinda strange and hard to read way your post is.

In any case you can mostly run a VPN on a router behind the main router. It will have no issue if you are using openvpn or wireguard. IPSEC mostly work also but it can have issues when running in the more secure modes.

You can just run the modem/router like normal so whatever the IR blaster things is it will work. It should also work plugged into the vpn router.

If you were to set the modem/router to just a modem it is hard to say what the USB ports will do. My guess is they at the very most would provide power but I know things like NAS plugged into USB no longer works when the router is in bridge mode.
It will make things simpler if you can only have 1 router in the path.

Note running a vpn on a router is very cpu intensive. Most routers will get maybe 20-30mbps. There is a very small number of consumer routers that have a CPU chip with AES support. This is a hardware based encryption accelerator but you still only get 200-300 at the most.
The routers that are know to support this are made by asus and have 1.8ghz cpu. A example router is a ac86u or even the newer ax86u. You are better off running merlin firmware on it if you are using vpn it has more features than the factory asus code.

To get faster speeds you really need to use a dual nic pc running a router image. Even a fairly crappy pc has a massively more powerful cpu than any router.

 

[Rdgeno]

Thank you very much you basically confirmed what I was thinking but couldn't find the answer to.
The phone and this site are killing me it won't let me scroll up so I can't see what I wrote until it's posted then when I try to edit it won't scroll down. I have no idea about that.
The IR blaster is a universal remote control device. It can control any IR device you have but needs to be plugged into the router via USB and the one I bought doesn't have a USB.
I have a really expensive TV with the world's worst remote that why I bought the blaster. I can control the TV from my phone or Alexa.
The part I didn't know was from what I was reading some things would say I have to put the modem/router in bridge mode and it doesn't have thar.
Others said just plug an ethernet cable in and your good to go.
If I'm understanding you correctly I just need to do the normal hook up and I'm good.
The speed if the computer helps I have a 3700x. The speed I have is only 300mbps but I love alone so there aren't multiple devices streaming so hopefully that won't be affected to much.
This is the router I bought it says 1800 mbps but also says upgraded in one part a d say 1.95 GBS.
I can't find the chip though.
It doesn't say if the speed is with or without the VPN I would guess from what you said it would be without.
Thank you so much I really appreciate all your help. No matter what I searched I couldn't fond a straight or consistent answer. Your a life saver.
Here's the link if you want to look at it.
Have a wonderful day.

Cudy 2022 New AX 1800Mbps WiFi 6 Mesh Router, AX1800 2.4G 5G Gigabit Wireless Internet Router for Home and Office, Gaming, VPN Router, OpenWRT, OpenVPN, Long Range, X6 https://a.co/d/2Env3yx

 

[bill001g]

Are you sure the IR blaster things is not just getting power via USB. The router would need special support to hook up a device since you can't load any drivers into a router. Seems there are many models of these but the few I looked up seem to connect to the network via wifi.

That cudy router is basically a cheap entry level model. Like many of these cheap routers it does not support 160mhz band on wifi6 which is the key feature that makes it faster. When you connect this router using wifi5 it is the same as if you bought a router with a 1200 number.

The documentation is horrible on that device I have no clue how you setup the vpn. Maybe they expect you to use openWRT instructions. There are 2 huge issues with doing this. First even with out the vpn just loading openwrt means you can not use the hardware assisted NAT. You will be very lucky if you can get the full 300mbps you pay for. Very cheap routers can get full gigabit speed wan/lan but they need to use a hardware assisted NAT feature that is not licensed for third party firmware.

Next from what I can tell that router does not have the AES vpn support, I actually think only asus routers officially support it. This means you are going to be lucky to get 30mbps running vpn.

The normal trick to find the cpu doesn't work or that box. They have to post internal photos for fcc reports. Normally you can see the marking on the chips but they have crap photos.
You can see 1 of the radio chips and that tends to be paired with a cpu called MT7621 but there are couple variations so it is hard to which exact chip they use. All of these run at 880mhz so it is a rather slow cpu.
That is not unexpected from a low end router

https://fccid.io/2APRGRT01

They also do not have a actual user manual that is required to be posted just their stupid quick setup card.

I don't know lots of red flags here. If you were just going to use it as a simple router it likely is ok but when you talk about vpn and openwrt it appears it is going to be a pain. Also using unknown router brands make is harder to get support from other people doing the same thing.
There is very little mention of cudy when you search openwrt and I do not see anything that says it supports the router you have.