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Choosing A Router

Choosing a Router

If you're unsure which router to buy, please read this page in full before deciding.

Caution

Before we begin, here are a few words of warning:

  • User-Friendliness: Using a router is significantly more complicated than using our apps. If you want things to just work, please use our apps instead.
  • Performance: All routers - even fancy $500 models - will have slower VPN connections than your smartphone or computer.
  • Reliability: In countries that actively combat VPNs, routers are typically the last to receive the latest circumvention methods.

PPTP & L2TP

Almost all routers support PPTP & L2TP. Unfortunately, these protocols are outdated and completely insecure. For this reason, we no longer support them.

OpenVPN

OpenVPN is a great option in countries where VPNs are not restricted. If you opt for OpenVPN, we recommend choosing an Asus router that can run the Merlin firmware.

Merlin's OpenVPN offers more features and is updated more frequently than the OpenVPN version in the regular Asus firmware.

As for which specific Asus router to choose - get the fastest Merlin-supported model you can afford.

Passwall

Some countries, like China, block OpenVPN. That's where Passwall comes in. Passwall supports a wide range of protocols, all specifically designed to circumvent VPN blocks.

Passwall runs on the OpenWRT firmware, so you can choose any router that is supported by OpenWRT and has enough storage space.

We recommend you get a router with at least 512MB RAM and at least 256MB flash storage. This information might not be on the box, but the OpenWRT hardware table will show it when you click the device you're considering.

Is it complicated?

Yes, unfortunately. Wi-Fi routers are already somewhat complex, and installing Merlin or OpenWRT adds even more challenges. We strongly recommend watching some YouTube videos about Merlin or OpenWRT before purchasing a router to decide if this path is right for you.

How fast will the VPN be?

Routers will undoubtly list high-speed numbers on the box, but those numbers refer to Wi-Fi speed, not VPN speed. VPN speed is typically significantly lower.

The OpenWRT project has a benchmark table where you can lookup the AES256 encryption speed for your router. Make sure this number is at least 1,000,000,000 - the higher the better.

Again, we must stress that using our apps on your smartphone or computer will result in faster connections that any router can accomplish.

Just tell me what to buy

We really can't tell you what router is best for your specific needs, but we can share what we use in our lab:

  • Merlin testing is currently done on an Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX6000.
  • OpenWRT testing is currently done on a Linksys WRT3200ACM (not to be confused with the WRT32X - which is not the same).

Note that we purely test VPN speed and reliability in a cabled setup. We do not use or test the Wi-Fi function of these routers.