VPN Routers – Best VPN and Setup Guide | The Ultimate Guide 2020
You mobile device and your laptop are not the only devices which needs the protection of a VPN. There must be a variety of devices at your home which connects to your router. All these devices which use Wi-Fi risk your online privacy.
If you want to protect all these devices you should get a router VPN and setup it on your router. The following section we are going to discuss about the reasons for getting a router VPN along with the guide to setup a VPN on router.
In addition, we will also look at some VPN routers as well.
Why you should setup VPN on your router?
We believe that using a VPN has become a necessity today because of two major reasons.
The first is the protection of your online privacy and to hide your internet activities from several third party entities.
Second reason is to access all the information and sites with complete freedom, which is unfortunately not the case for non-VPN users.
These two reasons make it essentially important for all the netizens to use a VPN.
Now, you do not only use your mobile device and laptop which is connected to your router to access the internet.
Therefore having the VPN on just your personal devices is not enough, you need to protect all the devices at your home which are connected to the internet.
The best way to keep all these devices protected is to setup a VPN on router.
This way, all the devices will use the VPN connection along with having the ability to access all the sites which are censored or blocked where you live.
When you setup the VPN on your router, it is counted as one VPN connection, and then you can connect as many devices as you want to your router.
It will still only count as one VPN connection. Also, all the smart devices you have at your home, which pose more risk of being attacked or tracked, will route all the data through the secure VPN tunnel, making it hard to track.
Another important reason is to be able to unblock content directly on your TV or streaming device without using any VPN app or VPN hotspot.
These are the most important reasons why you need a router VPN and you should setup this VPN on your router.
However, be aware that not all VPNs are worth it. We will discuss it in more details in the next section.
Best VPNs for Router
You must have many VPN services, both free and paid, which make big claims. However, you know it too that not all of them are good enough for your trust, money, and usage.
Therefore, if you want the best VPN for routers, then you need to do your research and make an informed decision.
The most important factors to analyze include the compatibility of the services with various routers, speed, VPN protocols, server locations, logging policy, peer to peer file sharing and customer support.
Keeping all these important factors in mind and to help you choose the best VPN for routers, we have evaluated the top ones and handpicked the best of the best for your ease.
You can find all the best router VPNs below in the list.
| # | Best VPNs | Plans | Offers | Highlights | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
  | $11.95 $1.99per month |
2 Years Plan, Save 83% |
| |
| 2 |
 | $12.95 $6.67per month |
49% Exclusive Discount |
| |
| 3 |
 | $9.99 $3.33per month |
Exclusive 64% Discount |
| |
| 4 |
 | $11.95 $3.49per month |
3 Years Plan. Save 75% Now |
| |
| 5 |
 | $11.99 $2.75per month |
Get 79% Off |
|
So, now it is easier for you to make a choice because these are the ones which work brilliantly well with most of the routers and they perform really well.
In addition, setting these up on your routers are comparatively easier. However, there are some pre-configured or VPN friendly routers available in the market.
Let’s look at a few of them in the next section.
What is a VPN Router?
A VPN router is simply a router on which configuring a VPN is easy. There are two best options available including pre-configured routers and VPN enabled routers.
The pre-configured routers are expensive but they come with several top VPNs configured on them already.
So, it is extremely hassle free and you just need to setup the router on your home network to get started.
On the other hand, the VPN-enabled routers are those which natively supports OpenVPN without flashing them.
These are VPN friendly routers and provide support for OpenVPN protocol right out of the box, so you do not have to flash the firmware to setup your VPN on them.
The most notable brand for VPN enabled routers is Asus, but there are some other brands as well.
There is another option for you if you are not willing to go with the previous two. You can simply flash your router with the VPN supported firmware and then setup the best router VPN on it.
Let’s look at the setup in the next section.
How to setup VPN on your router?
For this setup, we are using an Asus VPN ready router and setting up Open VPN UDP with 256-bit encryption.
All you need to do is to follow the steps given below and you will be able to configure your router in a matter of minutes.
- Setup your Asus router if you haven’t already using the instructions manual
- Get the best VPN for routers from the list above
- Download AES 256 UDP OpenVPN configuration files from your provider
- Now go to your router’s admin panel and sign in
- Go to VPN > VPN Client > Add Profile > OpenVPN tab
- Now fill the tabs as per your need:
- Description: Name you want (e.g. US VPN)
- Username: Your VPN username
- Password: Your VPN Password
- Import .ovpn file: Browse and go to the OpenVPN configuration files you downloaded
- Select the .ovpn file for your desired location (you will see the location names in the file name) and click OK
- Now you will see that your VPN profile is added for a certain location and you can activate and deactivate it as per your need
- You can add more profiles for different server locations using the same steps
- Once a profile is activated, your router is using the VPN
These are the easy steps which can help you setup your router VPN on your router with ease.
Setting up a VPN Routers
It might sound very difficult to those who are not too tech savvy or who find it a hassle to setup device or configure tools on them.
However, it is not as difficult as it sound to them. It is extremely important to setup a VPN router at home so all the devices can stay secure and private.
In this section we will guide you about how to setup a VPN router in a few easy steps. Get ready for the simplest VPN routers setup guide.
Step 1: Choosing the best VPN
The key to ultimate security, privacy and freedom is to choose the best VPN which is usually a little tricky because of the various services out there, all claiming to be the best.
However, our suggestion for the best VPNs after a detailed evaluation includes the following services.
These VPN services are brilliant in giving you the ultimate protection and freedom on the web.
Step 2: VPN Routers – Choose the best one
Asus is the only brand for routers which has a wide variety of VPN-ready routers.
It is because fo the default firmware of Asus routers which is ASUSWRT and it supports OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP VPN protocols. For an idea, the following routers are VPN-ready:
- RT-N66U Asus (600 MHz)
- Asus AC1750 (RT-AC66U) (600 MHz)
- Asus AC1900 (RT-AC68U) (800 MHz, dual core)
- RT-AC87U Asus (1,000 MHz – dual core)
- Asus RT-AC3200 (1,000 MHz – dual core)
- Asus RT-AC3100 (1,400 MHz – dual core)
- RT-AC88U Asus (1,400 Mhz – dual core)
- Asus RT-AC5300 (1,400 MHz – dual core)
- Asus RT-AC86U (1,800 MHz – dual core with AES-NI)
- GT-AC5300 Asus (1,800 MHz – quad core with AES-NI)
Step 3: Assemble the VPN router and connect Ethernet cable
Follow the user manual to assemble the router. Once assembled, connect the router to either another router or to the Ethernet cable, depending on your home network setup.
Step 4: Connect Power Adapter and Turn On
Now connect the router to the power adapter, plug the adapter in the power socket and turn on the router.
Step 5: Connect your machine to Asus Router
Open the available Wi-Fi networks on your machine and select ‘ASUS’ i.e. your newly assembled router. It should be an open network as it is brand new and needs configuration.
Step 6: Configure the Router
When you will connect to the router, the configuration screen will appear. It works like a setup wizard in which you will have to follow the simple configuration steps. Please note the following down:
- The username and password of your router
- Username and password of your wireless network
After completing the configuration, you will be able to see the display name of your Asus router changes to your selected name. Connect to it using your set password.
Step 7: Download OpenVPN configuration files
Your will have to visit your provider’s site to download the OpenVPN configuration files. If you haven’t bought the service yet, you should get one from the list above as those are the best ones out there.
After getting the subscription, you will be able to download the OpenVPN configuration files which you will need to import to your router. We suggest using AES 256 UDP files because of reliable speed and security.
It would be a zip folder, in which you will see various individual files, each for a specific VPN server location.
Step 8: VPN Routers Configuration
Now you need to open your router’s administration panel. In your browser, enter http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.2.1 in to website address bar at the top of the browser.
This will take you to the Asus admin page where you will have to enter your username and password, noted previously while router configuration.
Now, Go to VPN > VPN Client > Add Profile > OpenVPN tab. Fill the tabs as per your need:
- Description: Name you want (e.g. US VPN)
- Username: Your VPN username
- Password: Your VPN Password
- Import .ovpn file: Browse and go to the OpenVPN configuration files you downloaded
- Select the .ovpn file for your desired location (you will see the location names in the file name) and click OK
You will see that your VPN profile is added for your desired location. Now you can activate and deactivate it as per your need (the button on the last column).
You can add more profiles for different server locations using the same steps.
That’s it, your setup of VPN router is completed and you can now use the VPN secured network at your home. There are some additional steps for added security.
These are to prevent DNS and IPv6 leaks which are significantly important for your online privacy.
VPN Routers DNS and IPv6 Leak Protection Setup
For DNS leak protection, go to the WAN tab from left hand menu and select No for ‘Connect to DNS Server Automatically. Instead, manually enter any of the following DNS addresses.
- OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
- Google: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
After that, click ‘Apply’ and your DNS leak protection is all set on your VPN router.
For IPv6 leak protection, go to the IPv6 tab from the left hand menu and select Disable for ‘Connection Type’. Click ‘Apply’ and you are all set.
Final Words
It is essentially important to keep all the devices at your home protected for which using the best VPN routers is the best option.
This is how simple the whole process is for any VPN user who is willing to setup a VPN router.
It might seem to take a lot of time, but when doing it; it does not take more than a few minutes. You just have to have all things ready including the subscription for the best VPN and a VPN-ready router.
Let us know about your experience and how helpful our guide is for a VPN router setup.
![How to Bypass ISP Throttling and Improve Internet Speed? [Updated 2020]](https://www.bestvpnguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/bypass-isp-throttling-297x300.png)
