ISP Routers That Supports VPN - Help

Hello,

I'm currently with Sky and about to move ISP very soon for a variety of reasons. I've purchased a VPN which I'm delighted with, Sky routers are pretty much locked down, and I cant configure it for my VPN.

Does any one know of an ISP who's router can be configured for a VPN? I don't want to buy a VPN router just to plug into my existing router.

Cheers

Do you mean that you have subscribed to a publicly available VPN?

Most ISPs allow you to use your own equipment so you could chose a router that is compatible with the VPN supplier

None of the major ISP's routers support a VPN (set up from router to your host; you will have to but a new router if you want that advanced setup.

All routers should support a VPN tunnel from a device on your network to your VPN endpoint.

VPN - Which direction or both?
An indication of what you hope to achieve would be useful to know.
Maybe settings >>> Network and Internet >>> VPN might be all you need.
Even Teamviewer might surfice.

Otherwise it is a case of buying a suitable router with one from the Draytek range being a good choice but they don't come cheap.

In reply to a post by fireblade_rrw:

Hello,

I'm currently with Sky and about to move ISP very soon for a variety of reasons. I've purchased a VPN which I'm delighted with, Sky routers are pretty much locked down, and I cant configure it for my VPN.

Does any one know of an ISP who's router can be configured for a VPN? I don't want to buy a VPN router just to plug into my existing router.

Cheers

Zero - to run a VPN you have to have ports externally facing, which is in itself a security risk. ISPs would need to constantly ensure the firmware was updated with bug-fixes and security updates to ensure security, which is a headache. Instead ISPs allow you to manually open ports yourself, which is your choice and your security risk, you can install a VPN of your choice and place it in the DMZ / port forward, but ultimately the security risk is your VPN software not something ISP provided. Likewise if you get your own router, that's your job to keep updated and managed. I generally advise against using a VPN hosted on a router, as it usually ends up full of security holes and updates to the router firmware are behind the VPN providers security patches / updates.

Hi,

Zen Internet can provide you with a Fritzbox that will be compatible with VPN's

Really? To run a VPN client you should not normally need ports to be visible from the Internet. If talking about a VPN server then you would be right.

I’m assuming they’re looking to setup their router as a VPN server. Many routers have this built in, but in my view it’s a security risk.

VPN clients can work even in highly restrictive environments, NAT Traversal (Hole Punching) etc is very effective.

I thought VPN client on router....ie. all LAN clients "benefit" from secure VPN connection

What’s the benefit of this over using WPA2? Surely things are secured by the WiFi encryption?

I think I’m misunderstanding what you’re suggesting.

EDIT: oh do you mean something similar to an MPLS ie everything on the device is tunnelled.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 04-Jan-18 18:08:43)

Nothing to do with wireless, but all about hiding traffic from provider or others on the WAN side, i.e. a lot depends on how much trust you have in the VPN provider and with DEAct changes on the way the prediction is that more will be doing this

In reply to a post by fireblade_rrw:

I've purchased a VPN which I'm delighted with

If you've subscribed to a commercial VPN provider such as IPVanish, NordVPN, Express VPN etc then AFAIK only Asus routers (combined modem or standalone) will allow you to use the router as a vpn client so that you can route all clients connected to your router through your chosen VPN provider.

Have a look at Asus router emulator here (this is for the AC5300 but should be similar for all asus modem routers or routers across their range)

http://demoui.asus.com/Advanced_VPNClient_Content.asp

Edited by baby_frogmella (Thu 04-Jan-18 20:20:05)

In reply to a post by fireblade_rrw:

Hello,

I'm currently with Sky and about to move ISP very soon for a variety of reasons. I've purchased a VPN which I'm delighted with, Sky routers are pretty much locked down, and I cant configure it for my VPN.

Does any one know of an ISP who's router can be configured for a VPN? I don't want to buy a VPN router just to plug into my existing router.

Cheers

The only close reference I can make is that fact I have a BT HH5A which has LEDE on it - but that's a process to put something on the motherboard so maybe Ebay can get you one (that's where I got mine)

Runs a VPN fine.

When you say HH5a runs a VPN fine what do you mean?

i.e. router has ability to act as a VPN server?
router has ability to tunnel all traffic over a VPN to a remote VPN service?
router does not interfere with VPN sessions created on a device on the LAN to some external end point?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Nothing to do with wireless, but all about hiding traffic from provider or others on the WAN side, i.e. a lot depends on how much trust you have in the VPN provider and with DEAct changes on the way the prediction is that more will be doing this

Yep sorry I was not understanding the use-case initially.

For typical usage I cannot see routing everything via a VPN to be a great solution, plenty of streaming providers now blacklist common VPNs etc.

It has never crossed my mind that end users would want to route all their traffic over a VPN at a router level, always felt like a business use case scenario where they have VPNs established over MPLS links to connect multiple offices / sites.

For privacy, typically I have seen users navigate over TOR and have a client specific VPN, but never seen this setup. Interesting though, is likely common in other countries where things are much more censored.

To answer the OPs question though, all of this is not supported by the mainstream ISP routers out of the box.

you could use opera browser if its just a VPN browser you want to use its free and the VPN will allow you to set any country as your location VPN server is a different matter and is not really a home option for reasons already mentioned

You could use a Raspberry Pi with the OpenVPN client to your VPN provider and route traffic based on LAN IP ranges or on Destination IP. Most ISP provided routers allow you to create static routes, if you wanted ALL LAN clients traffic tunnelled through the VPN, then you would need to either set the Rapsberry Pi as a DHCP where you can set the default gateway issued out to be the IP of the Pi. All the ISP provided routers I have seen do not allow you to change the default gateway apart from its own IP. If you want specific LAN client traffic going through the VPN, then give them static IP's where you can then set the default gateway to be the Pi. Nice, cheap and can be managed very easily.

Cannot do static routing on Sky Hubs or BT Smart Hub AFAIK, have just browsed all the menus. Who is your ISP out of interest, I know TT routers have more options than most?

Edited by ukhardy07 (Fri 05-Jan-18 14:14:56)

I personally use an ASUS AC87U running Merlin (Superb router and firmware) with Virgin Media.

A family member of mine is using TalkTalk with the HG635 and you can do static routes with this via the web interface, they have the same setup as I had suggested, i.e. a Pi acting as a VPN router based on specific local routes for a LAN to LAN setup along with the ability to switch all traffic to use the VPN tunnel or specific destination CIDR's.

I had my connection setup the same as above prior to purchasing the AC87U as you can do all that via the Merlin web interface and have multiple OpenVPN clients so you can switch which tunnels you want to route traffic to.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

When you say HH5a runs a VPN fine what do you mean?

i.e. router has ability to act as a VPN server?
router has ability to tunnel all traffic over a VPN to a remote VPN service?
router does not interfere with VPN sessions created on a device on the LAN to some external end point?

Sorry for the late response. I have a HH5A which has been modified to LEDE. The router now has 8GB of ram and 4GB of space (I think will have to check). I can download apps via command line so I got openvpn that way and I use My Private network as the VPN provider

Edited by 23Prince (Mon 15-Jan-18 10:21:43)

I'm personally using NETGEAR Wireless Router AC1900 (R7000-100PES) is indeed a best VPN router when you are willing to set up a VPN server with this router. Here is the solution provided by Netgear Community: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/23854/... you must go through to find a better solution.

Thanks for all the replies. It looks like most of the major ISP's dont/won't allow configuration of their router to route traffic via a VPN. Also, some ISP's don't allow you to use your own router. Sky is a good example, their router is pretty much locked down yo their configuration.

It looks like using Zen may be an option, if they have a configurable router.

In reply to a post by danielhyde:

Hi,

Zen Internet can provide you with a Fritzbox that will be compatible with VPN's

Thank you, think I'll contact Zen and confirm.

Alas, I've discovered that most ISP's don't allow reconfigurat ion of their equipment.

The obvious answer is to use your own equipment that will meet your requirements. I have never used an ISP supplied modem or router so I have control over the configuration of my own device.

Sky don't support other routers but there are many Sky customers out their using their own equipment and guides around for how to do it.

While reading this thread, I had a look at my HH6.
Under VPN, it has this message
"Your BT Smart Hub has been designed to work with most virtual private network (VPN) software.
If you're having problems connecting, try turning port clamping on. "
Is there any reason to have a router that you can configure for a VPN rather than software?

In reply to a post by woodroyd:

Is there any reason to have a router that you can configure for a VPN rather than software?

If you setup a VPN at router level then all devices connected to that router will automatically be routed via your chosen VPN. You don't have to worry about installing VPN software on all your clients, also not all devices/clients can have VPN software installed.

OP, as I suggested earlier its really very easy to setup a commercial VPN client on a router. Buy any Asus modem router such as an Asus DSL-AC88U, use the VPN client option on it to enter your VPN provider's login details, choose the appropriate connection protocol and Bobs yer uncle. It really is that simple. Though if you're on Sky then you will need to extract your login credentials from the Sky supplied router before you can use a third party router - have a gander on the skyuser forums on how to do this.

Edited by baby_frogmella (Thu 01-Feb-18 10:53:49)

I concur

As I've seen over the years once you give more options in software or hardware the task of supporting becomes ever harder, hence a drive to fairly simple devices from ISP that will keep 98% of customers happy

There are also use cases that involve partial routing of traffic over a VPN.

So I could have my router VPN into work and then put any traffic destined for my works network tunneled through the VPN connection while everything else goes out the normal internet.

My family has all their routers VPN into mine so when they need support I can just connect to them, but again normal traffic flows over the standard network.

Post deleted by MrSaffron