Question Questions for first time VPN user.

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Briggzee1

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Dec 16, 2016
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Hi
I'm looking into getting a VPN and I have some questions that maybe I can get some help with
Setup: I'm in Canada, Shaw is my ISP, I have their modem/router in Bridge Mode and I'm using Google Wifi.
Devices: PC, Macbook, Iphones and Ipads.
  1. Is it possible with this hardware to use a VPN?
  2. Is there a way to program either the Shaw modem/router (XB6) or the google wifi to put the whole network under the VPN at all times?
  3. If not, do I need to put the app for the VPN on every device and activate it each time I use a devince?
  4. How much does a VPN slow down the network?
I may have more questions but I will wait to hear back about these ones. Thanks in advance for any help
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Hi
I'm looking into getting a VPN and I have some questions that maybe I can get some help with
Setup: I'm in Canada, Shaw is my ISP, I have their modem/router in Bridge Mode and I'm using Google Wifi.
Devices: PC, Macbook, Iphones and Ipads.
  1. Is it possible with this hardware to use a VPN?
  2. Is there a way to program either the Shaw modem/router (XB6) or the google wifi to put the whole network under the VPN at all times?
  3. If not, do I need to put the app for the VPN on every device and activate it each time I use a devince?
  4. How much does a VPN slow down the network?
I may have more questions but I will wait to hear back about these ones. Thanks in advance for any help
#4 Depends on hardware, but typically A LOT. The encryption/decryption is very CPU intensive. Routers don't have very powerful CPUs.

What benefit do you believe you will get from a VPN ?
 

Briggzee1

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Dec 16, 2016
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10,530
#4 Depends on hardware, but typically A LOT. The encryption/decryption is very CPU intensive. Routers don't have very powerful CPUs.

What benefit do you believe you will get from a VPN ?

Thanks for the response. I may or may not download some torrents that my ISP doesn't seem to fond of. :) I mean the best case scenario would be if it could be device specific to be honest but if it's going to be a major slow down on my network it would require a decision.
 
So first most vpn will greatly limit your speed. On most routers you will only get maybe 20-30mbps using openvpn a bit more using wireguard.

Although you can have some types of traffic go via the vpn and other bypass it the vpn software need a special feature called split tunnel. Although many vpn clients have gotten much better I can't say which can do this and which can not. I know the merlin firmware that works on many asus routers can.

You will still have the same 20-30mbps vpn traffic but other traffic that does not use the VPN will not be subject to that limit. BUT there is another limitation. The way routers get very high speeds is to use a special hardware feature that allow the NAT function to not be done by the CPU chip. As soon as you use any feature that forces the CPU to be able to see the traffic you must disable this feature. You will likely cap your total data rate to about 250-300mbps.

So I guess it depends on how fast your internet connection is.

You could I guess use multiple routers and connect the device to the vpn router or to the main internet router. Only slightly easier than using vpn on the end device.
 

Briggzee1

Honorable
Dec 16, 2016
41
0
10,530
So first most vpn will greatly limit your speed. On most routers you will only get maybe 20-30mbps using openvpn a bit more using wireguard.

Although you can have some types of traffic go via the vpn and other bypass it the vpn software need a special feature called split tunnel. Although many vpn clients have gotten much better I can't say which can do this and which can not. I know the merlin firmware that works on many asus routers can.

You will still have the same 20-30mbps vpn traffic but other traffic that does not use the VPN will not be subject to that limit. BUT there is another limitation. The way routers get very high speeds is to use a special hardware feature that allow the NAT function to not be done by the CPU chip. As soon as you use any feature that forces the CPU to be able to see the traffic you must disable this feature. You will likely cap your total data rate to about 250-300mbps.

So I guess it depends on how fast your internet connection is.

You could I guess use multiple routers and connect the device to the vpn router or to the main internet router. Only slightly easier than using vpn on the end device.

I guess my question is and I'm going to try and simplify this in my brain. If I paid for VPN that I could use on multiple devices ( PC, Ipad, etc..) . Could I do it with this setup by just activating when needed through an app?
 
Not sure what you mean. Most vpn clients have a on/off toggle even with the software loaded. You can also just stop and start the vpn client app.
It is all done manually though. It gets messy if you are going to try to control 1 piece of software with another piece of software
 

Math Geek

Titan
Ambassador
save yourself a lot of time effort and grief, and turn encryption on in your client and never look back. should be a box that says something like "force/require encryption" in the settings

isp won't know what that traffic is other than coming from a bunch of different ip's. most vpn's either block or severely throttle p2p connections. the few that allow them tend to cost a good bit more.

your welcome.

enjoy :)
 
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