I am updating my home network so that I can watch local NFL team games while living out of net work. In the process I’ve learned a ton about networking that I never knew existed.
One thing I can’t seem to find an answer to is VPN download speeds and it’s correlation with home ISP download speeds. For example, I am considering buying an ASUS AX6000. I read that it’s VPN Speed is up to 200 Mbps. My ISP download speed is up to 800 Mbps. So what does this mean exactly? For instance, am I always limited to a maximum of 200 Mbps with this router, if I’m using a VPN? Do I need to turn the VPN off when not watching out of net work NFL games in order to have better speed? For those of you who always have a VPN are you limited on how fast your Internet can go based on the router or whatever device you’re running your VPN through?
Thanks in advance!
Edit: I should add that I’m probably going to use Express VPN
Congratulations on your learning journey! It often takes a lot of work to come up to speed on something new, but having a real world use Case and end goal often helps his motivation.
In general, VPNs, rely on cryptography, which is computationally intensive. A lot of modern hardware, even at the consumer level, supports offloading some of that work for the Moore modern encryption algorithms. You might see that noted in specifications on the processor as something called AES-NI.
Even with hardware support for encryption, there is inherent computational and network overhead with a VPN. In consumer hardware it is pretty common for VPN performance to be a fraction of the theoretical max throughput of a router device.
One way to mitigate that loss in throughput is Rule based routing. For instance, some platforms would allow you to have a rule that only uses the VPN for traffic to the NFL streaming servers. And the rest of your traffic would egress your network without using the VPN.
That can be a little complicated, including determining, the rules for what goes through the VPN and what doesn’t. The other complicating factor is the type of VPN you’re using… You mentioned express VPN, which most commonly means openVPN. Platforms like pfSense have no problem with rules to send some traffic over OpenVPN and some over the wan’s default route.
Unfortunately, I can’t speak to the Asus device, you mentioned or their platform in general. I’m sure someone with more experience can reply with more information about that platform.
If you’re open to looking at and learning other platforms, the netgate 6100 should be able to handle open, VPN throughput closer to the line speed of your 800Mbps ISP. Of course you can also build your own router based on modern X86 that’ll easily do it.
Good luck!
Thank you for your detailed explanation. From my reading, I’ve come across some of the terms that you’ve mentioned here, but have a rudimentary understanding at this point. For example, I’ve heard of AES-NI and was aware that express VPN uses Open VPN. But the details of what it actually means or how open VPN compares to other types is still a bit of a mystery. I’ve read that term pfSense before. I think I’ll learn more about that as well as many of the things that you mentioned. I’ll also check out the netgate 6100. You’ve given me a lot to think about thank you!
NFL has a commercial system that allows you to watch the local team on regular TV stations or internet. If over the internet, your location is the determining factor to what games are available to you to watch. That means if I’m a Tampa Bay fan living in Seattle I’m out of luck unless I want to pay extra. The current options to watch out of network games is over $100 a month to YouTube or Direct TV, both of which have a deal with the NFL to do so. Which is a major reason why I started looking into VPN.
Thank you for the other answers provided!
You’re on your way!
Others may chime in and suggest using Wireguard as a VPN protocol. I’m not as big of a fan of WG as I am of OpenVPN…but that’s purely because I’ve been an OpenVPN user for years.
I was also thinking about that Asus device… if it can only do 200Mbps over VPN but can do 1Gbps routing that sounds like a fairly underpowered device.
You might look at the Unifi devices which are easier to learn and manage than Netgate running pfSense but also pretty solid performers.
Interesting.
Stupid question but do I install wire guard on a PC or directly on the router? And am I able to select where VPN is routed through? E.G Tampa Bay
I’ll definitely look into a public IPv4 vs those other options you mentioned. If I’m going all in on a VPN and updating my network hardware I might as well get the most out of it.
In the process of the VPN routing to a different location it’s my understanding that you appear to be connected to the internet from that different location. As far as the NFL thing goes the local games available to you are based on where you appear to be connecting to the Internet from. So, per my example earlier, if I am in Seattle, but appear to be connecting to the Internet in Tampa Bay then I can watch the local Tampa Bay games.
Gotcha. Thanks for all the info anyway. I have a lot to learn!