[SOLVED] Need Suggestions on VPN-Capable Wi-Fi Router/Mesh Systems

[MasterYoda327]

I am looking for a VPN-capable Wi-Fi mesh system or VPN-capable router that can be converted to a mesh system with the addition of nodes supplied by the router's manufacturer for my home. I am looking for a VPN mesh/router setup with Wi-Fi 6 or whatever is the most current Wi-Fi signal standard that offers flexible VPN options such as Surfshark and NordVPN and allows me to switch to different VPN services if I am dissatisfied with the current VPN provider. I want the setup to handle tasks such as streaming music and 4K TV content and online PC/video gaming. I want it to be capable of handling multiple Internet connected devices such as smartphones, smart TVs, Rokus, and mobile/desktop computers. I am looking for a setup that includes the router and the ability to add two or more nodes. I am not an expert on Wi-Fi, routers, or modems, but I would appreciate your recommendations on solutions at various price points up to $1000 that may meet my needs.

Thanks.

 

[bill001g]

Why do you want mesh just because it is the trendy things in wifi marketing ?

You need to avoid any mesh/repeater systems unless you have no other options. If you have coverage issue you are much better off using ethernet connected AP in the remote rooms. It is not real expensive to get ethernet cables pulled in most houses. You can also look at MoCa or powerline as alternatives to ethernet.

Wifi6 is actually outdated and it has been almost since it was released. Wifi6 because of the massive bandwidth needs and the already over crowded radio bandwidth meant wifi6 did not perform much better for most people than 802.11ac. It also means that any form of wifi6 mesh/repeater system is affected even more by the
reducing in speeds.

If you want the newest you want wifi6e. Problem is it is still fairly new. Equipment is just starting to come to market so it is still a little costly and many portable devices do not yet support it. We will see if it meets the hype and it performs better. In some ways it should have better coverage and performance.
Not so much because the signals go farther but because there is so much bandwidth on the 6ghz radio band it means you have less competition with your neighbors. The massive overloading on the 5g and 2.4g radio bands is what is causing people to think they need repeater systems, which actually just makes the problem even worse.

VPN is separate issue. For optimum performance I would use a small computer that has 2 nic cards as your primary vpn/router. You could then place a switch and consumer routers running as AP to provide the wifi in your house.

This all depends on how fast your internet connection is. The CPU in a router is tiny and VPN is extremely CPU intensive. Most routers you will max the cpu at about 20-30mbps of vpn load. There are a handful of consumer routers that use a special cpu chip that has encryption acceleration instructions.
Even these routers will top out at under 200mbps of VPN. I have not kept up on the details to know if anyone has used this special CPU on a wifi6e router. If anyone does it would likely be asus.