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Forum Discussion
NORD VPN - is there a reasonable priced router that works with it and Orbi?
Hi i have a very small consultancy in the U.K. and Italy and swop between locations - I chose Nord VPN as I am not tecky and the reviews were good, similarly I chose the Orbi RBR50 and mesh extender...
CWR wrote:Does anyone know of a reasonable priced router that I could install NordVPN on that the RBR50 would also link to?
How about "free"? A developer called Voxel has been releasing firmware for a number of WiFi routers, including the Orbi RBR50.
The latest version came out today, and includes OpenVPN Client, which is what you are looking for.
Basically, one downloads the firmware files for Orbi router and satellite, saves a copy of the configuration file, then manually install the firmware on (first) the satellite(s) and then the router. Reboot, load the configuration file, and you are back in business.
Several people who post on the forum have done this, including me. I have copies of the official Netgear firmware 2.5.1.8 and the config file, so if I want to I can change back. (Actually, I am too timid. I bought a used RBR50 on eBay and put the firmware on that. I keep the original (stock) Orbi for testing.)
This is, of course, exactly like buying a $100 router and flashing open source firmware on it, except it doesn't cost anything but the time which would be spent in either case.
Here's a link to Voxel's forum, which has links to every version he has released:
At the bottom is a link to the firmware download page.
Impressive - but I am too checken to do that - maybe if I had a used RBR50 off ebay I would :) ! There are free VPNs, a brother in law who lives in Sweden uses a free one to access German TV (he used to live there, and thinks it better than Swedish TV). I will try the cheap Asus router - route, making sure the model has Open VPN software as recommended.
Many thanks for all the suggestions
Clive
Clive,
Still unclear and confusing what for you think you have to use that NordVPN for - this does not give you much (or any) more security - and have the requirement of a (sorry: dumb) router having an OpenVPN client implementation. CrimpOn put up some pointers before ...
In a time where Internet connections reach 1 Gigabit/s or 10 Gigabit/s it's impossible to have the same bandwidth routed through (any) VPN service - and why all devices on the LAN should communicate through a VPN. Even if you pay an extraordinary high price for the VPN service, most of these consumer routers can never deal with the encryption power required for the bandwidth.
If you work remotely on behalf of your customers on their network, you would establish a VPN direct to their network VPN infrastructure. But you don't want all you local devices and traffic (Google Home, Sonos, ...) run over your customers network (and Internet connection).
In case you are say a PEP (politically exposed person) you might want to have all your communication VPNed to a trusted country for free speech reasons - what can be difficult.
I would understand that you might have some services hosted at one site, e.g. a NAS with your business data, and want to access this primary site in a secured path so set-up a VPN between your two locations. But for this there is no need for any VPN service provider.
Best example is your brother in law - he want to access Internet TV abroad (to overcome location restrictions), but has no need to have all the other traffic routed to Germany through a VPN. Other family members want to see Swedish TV, or other location limited services. E-banking can be restricted again, or cloud security might send you warnings that you have used your account from a county you have never visited, ... Doing so would require a smart router with policy routing, where you can route only some services, a specific computer on the LAN to use the VPN service. Nothing a consumer router with a simple OpenVPN client can do.
This is about everything. For surfing the Internet, work on your customers Web or cloud services, you don't need Nord VPN an the likes. Many of these service provider are massively overmarketing the needs for such a service.
Enough said for now.
Regards,-Kurt
Many thanks Kurt. I dont have any direct contact with their IT dept, I only have a single point of contact in the company who acts as a conduit - but I can copy your recommendations to him and see if he would raise the issue. Hopefully I will continue to get bits of work off them for a while yet!
Cheers
Clive
