I recently purchased an installed an Orbi 6 Mesh system with two access points. I purchased this system as I have a home with three levels and an apartment over an attached garage. My previous wifi setup simply would not work well enough, thus the move to a Mesh system. I am very happy with the consistency of wifi speeds across my home, really it is pretty brilliant. That said, I am disappointed with the VPN options via the Netgear router. Note - I came from using Asus router products for the last 5 years.
1) Netgear does not allow for the admin to create vpn accounts. This does not give us control over who has VPN access and when. This is a poor design as anyone with a the OpenVPN file and certificates have full access to the network remotely. Asus offers the ability to create accounts with passwords and have done so for 5 years.
2) The smartphone OpenVPN setup zip file generated by the Netgear system creates 4 files. There is no way to open these files directly in the iPhone OpenVPN app, as the app can only open one file. The user must be knowledgeable enough to copy the certificates and key, and paste them into the OpenFile. They file must be formatted appropriately else OpenVPN cannot parse the file. I was able to do this; still, the need to prepare the file is absurd. The smartphone output should create one file
3) Netgear uses NoIP for the DDNS service, this requires validation each month or a fee. Asus provides the DDNS service themselves at no charge. This should be included as part of the overall VPN service
4) Not VPN related, but I find it strange to charge annually for the router security service. Asus doesnt charge and their security is qutie good.
Why am I posting this? Thus far, I find the Netgear Mesh to be incredible and wifi performance is more important to me than the VPN setup. Still, I miss the options available in the Asus system. These are software updates that could be added to the Netgear feature set and the router would be a winner. I hope my feedback is considered.
Cheers
