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[GunRunner]

This is a follow on discussion from the link below..

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?topic=14374.0

I have not yet purchased my own router after moving across to talktalk FTTC 10 weeks ago at the end of June 2014 and I am still using the supplied
Huawei HG635.  As you may know it [HG 635] does not have VPN.   After more research I am giving much thought to purchasing either the Asus RT AC68U or the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router.  Yes perhaps overkill, but when starting with a new router it is my view that one future proofs oneself as much as one can and buys the latest. Money is not an issue.

Anyway, I have been using chat and talking to flashrouters http://www.flashrouters.com/ and HideMyAss and they say that I can purchase from flashrouters a router that is already flashed to tomato or DD-WRT and can be set up for HideMyAss VPN before being delivered to me.

Having said that, my question is very simple.  Many years ago, and I am talking many years ago, I was always advised that purchasing a router from the US was a waste of time because it would not work in the UK.  Perhaps I was given duff information or it was something I saw posted somewhere.  Anyway, I am not sure.

So is there a problem with purchasing any one of the two routers above and using it in the UK?

 

[JGO]

 So is there a problem with purchasing any one of the two routers above and using it in the UK?

There is the very obvious one that the US device probably has a 115v power supply.  That said, if the advantage outweighs the inconvenience, you could use it with a 230 to 115 v transformer. This will possibly be overpowered for the job, i.e. it could double as a door stop !

I leave it to others to comment on any details of the BB systems which prevent the use.

 

[GunRunner]

Voltage does not seem to be a problem according to flashrouters.  Here is their original reply to me...

Hello Peter,
Yes our routers work in the UK. They are dual voltage and ship with a US power source but just type in the order comments Joe said free UK plug and an adapter will be included for you free of charge.
Yes, we do ship to the UK. Shipping is based on method chosen but range from $30-$45.
Side by side, the R7000 has about 20% more processing power which is important when it comes to encrypting and decrypting VPN connections constantly within the device.
HMA is an excellent provider. You can find more about them at http://www.flashrouters.com/hma
Please let us know if we can assist you any further.
Joe S.
FlashRouters Sales Manager


As you can see they say dual voltage.  Just needs an adaptor.

[JGO]

Fair enough.
Having met some US firms who think everywhere is like the US, I thought it was worth raising.

Good Luck !

[GunRunner]

Fair enough.
Having met some US firms who think everywhere is like the US, I thought it was worth raising.

Good Luck !

No problem.  All comments are appreciated.  I might go down the route of getting one in the UK and flashing it myself.  I am in no hurry.  Just trying to get a feel for everything. 

The more questions and answers I get from forums and from VPN web sites, the more I get to understand and make a decision.   The problem with purchasing from the US is return/warranty problems if it were to fail.

[kitz]

I am giving much thought to purchasing either the Asus RT AC68U

Have you considered buying an all in one unit.  The UK retail price of the RT AC68U is circa £170 but you'd still need a separate modem and as mentioned in the other thread use of the huawei's has known to cause issues with VPN - although the hg612 may now have a fix.

Depends on how much you want to pay,
Cheapest would be the Billion 8800NL which is a very stable unit - the only downside is only one GbE port.
For more money, theres the Zyxels.   VMG8324's are out of stock in the uk atm (unless you get one of dmcdonnells f1000's), but the SBG3300-N seems to fair quite well.

Alternatively Ive just posted elsewhere - as from today the Asus DSL AC68U is available in the UK.   Its basically the same as the RT AC68U but also contains a VDSL modem. 

[GunRunner]

Hello Kitz thanks for your reply.  Yes I had considered the option of an all in one unit.  Not many suitable ones around.

Two things...

1.  The modem I have and recently fitted by BT OR is as follows:

Description NGA ECI-CPE-MODEMS TYPE 1B
ECI Model B-FOCuS V-2FUb/r Rev.B
ECI Cat No:ON316150
Manufactured 10/2013

I am playing around with it quite a bit to see if having it running with the supplied Huawei HG 635 talktalk Super Router or running the HG 635 with its own fitted VDSL2 modem shows any problems.  So far without any tests whatsoever, there is no difference.


2. It [ECI Model B-FOCuS V-2FUb/r Rev.B] is not one that would give me VPN problems that you talk about above is it?

3. I wanted a router such as the Netgear R7000 so that I could use full VPN that it appears to have, allowing me to set it up and all my hardware (2 PCs + 1 Laptop +1 Tablet + 2 mobile phones) can use the one VPN setting in the router all the time instead of having a VPN client set up on each item.  I was informed by flashrouters that the 1 ghz processor with the 20% more processing power was better for the work load. Here is their reply to me...

Yes, we do ship to the UK. Shipping is based on method chosen but range from $30-$45.
Side by side, the R7000 has about 20% more processing power which is important when it comes to encrypting and decrypting VPN connections constantly within the device.
HMA is an excellent provider. You can find more about them at http://www.flashrouters.com/hma
Please let us know if we can assist you any further

4. Reading the reviews and the specs there is no comments about the full VPN implementation on the Asus DSL AC68U!  Would you know if it does?

I forgot to say the total cost of the R7000 is about £149 from Amazon.  That is a fair price with full VPN..yes?

Look forward in anticipation to replies.

Thanks again

Edited.......

www.asus.com/Networking/DSLAC68U/

[kitz]

1)

So far without any tests whatsoever, there is no difference.

The HG635 appears to be breaking the VPN protocol for any traffic passing through it regardless of which mode its in.   Same as with one of the firmware releases for the HG612.

2. It [ECI Model B-FOCuS V-2FUb/r Rev.B] is not one that would give me VPN problems that you talk about above is it?

No it should be fine    Couldnt recall last night which one that you had.

3. I wanted a router such as the Netgear R7000 so that I could use full VPN that it appears to have,

I see here its says VPN support
http://www.netgear.co.uk/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/R7000.aspx#tab-techspecs

Specs there is no comments about the full VPN implementation on the Asus DSL AC68U!

The DSL- AC68U also offers VPN support http://www.asus.com/Networking/DSLAC68U/specifications/

I was informed by flashrouters that the 1 ghz processor

Both the  Netgear R7000 and the ASUS RT-AC68U appear to use a Broadcom BCM4709A CPU.    Im unsure about the ASUS DSL-AC68U but it appears to be an RT-AC68U with integrated ADSL/VDSL modem.

That is a fair price with full VPN.

Now here Im getting a little confused.  Youre not wanting to turn your network into a VPN service, but you are needing to connect to HideMyAss VPN Service - in other words your machines become their clients.   
OK I think I get what you want to do..  Ive just found this on their HMA site which has clarified to me what you are wanting to do. HMA! Pro VPN.  I didnt realise they offered that, nor the full extent of what you were trying to do as Im only familiar with VPN clients which just install on each PC/device and its not something Ive personally done at a router level myself.   

Checking their documentation you need a router with OpenVPN client (or install custom firmware such as DD-WRT)

https://support.hidemyass.com/hc/en-us/articles/202721166-Asus-OpenVPN-Setup-Firmware-3-0-0-4-374-2050-or-newer-

If we check the DSL-AC68U specs again, we see that it does

IPSec Pass-Throuth
PPTP Pass-Through
L2TP Pass-Through
PPTP server
OpenVPN server
PPTP client
L2TP client
OpenVPN client

Id double check with HMA before you proceed, but to me it would be a simpler solution all round if you could get an all in one box that does everything you need..  and from the UK

[kitz]

Just to clarify for me,   Im going to cross-reference with the other thread - http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?topic=14374.0

In the first instance I will just setup VPN to use on my main PC and use the supplied software, but once sorted out, I am going to purchase another router such as ASUS RT-N66U to replace my HG635 SuperRouter (no VPN) and setup the  VPN protocol on it so that I can use 2 PCs, 1 Laptop, 2 mobile phones and 1 tablet, using one VPN tunnel out of the router.

I had thought you were just wanting to use their software on each local machine, which is how most people connect to a VPN server.
 
But now I realise you are talking stage2 and specifically looking for a router which not only has the ability to route VPN traffic,  but specifically can run OpenVPN as a client (or certain other VPN clients).

As mentioned above its not something Ive personally done myself and its why flashrouters will perform this service for you and install DD-WRT so your router can act as a VPN client.

Any suggestion on a provider? What do they mean by "open vpn"?

Open VPN is basically software that your router needs to have installed to be able to connect to the HMA server effectively making your own LAN route all traffic though HMA.   If this is what you are wanting to do (bearing in mind this may affect latency/routing times) then....

If you can find a router with pre-installed OpenVPN client software, this would be the simplest way to go.  It also means you wont have to worry about purchasing a router from a non-UK company.

[psychopomp1]

OP,
Most, if not all, standalone routers sold in USA are multi-voltage ie 110-240v so you wont have any problem using them in UK with a 3 pin adaptor.

A few weeks ago i bought the Asus RT-AC87R from USA to use on my TalkTalk Business FTTC line:
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC87U/overview/

Its a brilliant router and far far better than Asus' previous flagship router the AC68U. Hasn't been released in UK yet but plenty of sellers on Ebay USA

[kozimrf]

I am using Asus RT-AC68U with Hidemyass and I have no problems at all. I bought my router from the Amazon U.S. store after read the recommendation here.  One thing you may want to consider is replacing the Asus firmware with Merlin firmware which has improved support for VPN (it supports more VPN clients and server connections).

[GunRunner]

Thanks everyone.

The more we discuss the better we are all informed.

Kitz
Thanks for all your research.  What you have posted is exactly what I want to eventually do using the HideMyAss type of service.  I have got to look at other providers.  They might not keep any logs.  HideMyAss does, not matter what they say.  Not that I will be doing anything clandestine anyway.

psychopomp1
Thanks for the information regarding the Asus RT AC87R.  I spoke to Giles of Broadbandbuyer for 30 minutes this morning and he gave me an update, saying it is not being released in the UK until firmware bugs are sorted out.

kozimrf
Glad to hear it is working ok for you!

All
As stated above I spoke to Giles of broadbandbuyer uk and the outcome is that I might have a problem flashing the UK ADSL version of the AC68U because of unavailability of DD-WRT firmware for the ADSL part.  They might never write it for that version.  So the best version for me is the ASUS RT-AC68U and use the Open Reach modem.  I am not fussed too much about extra wireless speeds available because I have wired my house with CAT 5 cable and have Netgear ProSafe  8 port Gigabit switches everywhere.  So the only items using it are the 2 Samsung S2 mobile phones and the Nexus 7.

As an aside, I have found out that the ADSL version of the AC68U has only one USB Slot instead to the standard two slots.  Although the slot IS usb 3.0.

Regards


 

[GunRunner]

Since the last post, I have purchased for delivery tomorrow the Asus RT AC68U.

To assist people following this VPN saga, it is worth checking out the following threads

https://www.ivpn.net/privacy-guides/18-questions-to-ask-your-vpn-service-provider

The company below gives tutorials on how to set up everything including using the DD-WRT firmware and one VPN connection from the router.

http://www.securitykiss.com/resources/tutorials/shared_vpn/router/

[Chrysalis]

asus routers may be an issue, asus are now locking down the wifi region to the intended place of sale, on new firmwares this cannot be overriden, on old firmwares it can be but has to be reapplied every reboot unless you use a test region.

[GunRunner]

asus routers may be an issue, asus are now locking down the wifi region to the intended place of sale, on new firmwares this cannot be overriden, on old firmwares it can be but has to be reapplied every reboot unless you use a test region.

How are they managing that?  I have already sourced mine from the UK, so not a problem for me.  Just interested where you sourced this information from?