Hi tech experts!

Looking to setup a VPN account (was recommended Express VPN) for Sky / Netflix etc and we currently get internet through Swisscom.

Found the info on here that the easiest way is to purchase a 3rd party (Asus?) router but it needs to have certain capabilities.

Can anyone advise the best value model to purchase from Digitec:
https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/producttype/routers-64

Many thanks in advance!
Bob

I would go with anything running DD-WRT.

You can find supported devices here:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices

and then either install it yourself, or buy one that is "pre-flashed" (i.e. already has the firmware preinstalled).

m.

What he/she said. But if you're using Swisscom TV, that will stop working. Why not just buy an Android box for 50 bucks and do all of the good stuff through that? Just set up the VPN on there.

Not necessarily...

I have:

Swisscom router with wifi > cable to a DDWRT box with a VPN to UK
Swisscom router with wifi > cable to a DDWRT box with a VPN to IT
Swisscom router with wifi > blank
Swisscom router with wifi > blank

This gives me 3 wifi networks (called CH, IT and UK ). Anything that needs a swiss connection (e.g. swisscom TV) goes into the Swiss wifi/cabled network. The other two routers break out in different countries.

Advantage is that my XBOX can now be plugged into various sides as needed, and I can get prime video or Mediaset premium as needed.

M.

I have a Linksys router running DD-WRT. Then I figured out it was much easier to do what I want with a 50 buck Trongle X3

Whatever you do with network, avoid TP-Link products. Had really bad experience with their switches and routers. Many times.

That's a new one
I've had many tp-links (wr740, wr841, archer c7 x2)* and my family and firends have many (overall ~15 devices) and not a single one had a problem... In fact I am VERY happy with them and many are compatible with openWRT / DDWRT which allows you to setup pretty much anything on them including VPN service

* I had many because I am in IT and like to play with them (now I have OpenWRT on c7 which runs as my NAS - with memory stick connected, dlna server, openVPN server, dynamic DNS client, and uses WAN via 4G from SALT, and runs on AC wifi speeds)

I would try to avoid running the VPN directly on the router - most routers don't have the CPU horsepower to do a good job so whilst you'll get the protection of an all-device VPN, traffic throughput will likely be dire even if you have a high-speed ISP connection. You will also limit all your devices to one VPN and one exit point at any one time (which may or may not be an issue - depends on the number of users in the household and their needs etc).

I did set up several VPNs with DD-WRT on my Netgear R6300 - throughput was dire so I abandoned it. It's possible some of the more recent top-end routers are better so worth checking on some of the router-focused websites.

Better would be to set up VPNs per device, then turn them on/off as needed. I recently went through this exercise: ended up with Private internet Access (PIA) as primary VPN with Tunnel Bear and Private Tunnel for backup in case of issues with PIA. These are running on a variety of Macs, iPhone and iPads.

What PitBill says. The only reason for needing a VPN client on the router itself would be if you require a VPN connection for all connected devices at the same time. If you just need it on a client, any router will do.

I personally would recommend PureVPN as the VPN provider.

FYI there's a very good VPN comparison at this address:
https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-comparison-chart

This is by far the most comprehensive comparison I've seen, and you can d/l the data in various formats (including xls and csv) to play around with locally - e.g. sort on the individual features that matter most to you to see what is best / worst etc.

The comparison lists 3 Major categories broken down into sub-categories e.g.:

• Privacy (Jurisdiction / Logging / Activism)
• Technical (Service Config / Security / Availability)
• Business (Website / Pricing / Ethics)

and each of those sub-categories is broken down further e.g. Logging is broken down into Traffic / DNS Requests / Timestamps / Bandwidth / IP Address.

Only thing it really misses is which platforms each VPN supports either via native client/app or via direct manual network configuration - rather a strange omission - but once you've sorted and selected potential VPNs based on the various categories/sub-categories etc you can easily go to the VPN website to check this.

I may he wrong, but I don't think you can setup an Xbox as a vpn client... hence the need for a VPN on the router in my case. Again, happy to be proved wrong.

I know this is an older discussion, but thought I'd add a point - have you considered tinkering with the DNS instead of "bandaiding" with VPN?

I would get a Linksys WRT 1900, flash OpenWRT onto it, then set up separate VLANS for VPN traffic and non VPN traffic. You could then have specific devices go via different endpoints fairly easily.