This review is for the DSL-AC68VG — primarily for all the ex-pats out there who want to setup a VPN client on their router so that all devices in the house can transparently access geo-restricted sites back in the States or elsewhere.
If you’re stuck with DSL and want an all-in-one device that can also do VPN duty, the DSL-AC68VG is a great choice. The DSL and WiFI have been 100% stable for me, though I have had to reconnect to my VPN provider (ExpressVPN) a few times - it seems that some distant-end servers are better/more stable than others.
Here’s the issue with Telekom (T-Online) DSL as of 2018: they use this funky Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) setup, which means you won’t get an IP address unless your router tags all packets as “VLAN 7” and also logs in with PPPoE credentials. The Speedport Smart 2 that Telekom will rent/sell you is set up to do both of these transparently, even if you do a factory reset. But if you set the Speedport to work only in modem/bridge mode so that you can use your own wireless router behind it, the Speedport no longer does the VLAN tagging or PPPoE, which is bad because many WiFi routers (like my old AirPort Extreme) can’t do VLAN tagging. But the AirPort couldn’t do VPN client duty either, so moving on…
DELIVERY:
When I received the DSL-AC68VG, it had already been opened and re-sealed in new shrink wrap. It looks like someone (Asus Germany?) opens it and sets it up to default to German language. I didn’t look for other changes. I just reset it to factory defaults (5 sec press of the button on the back) before continuing.
SETUP:
Starting fresh at the default 192.168.1.1 IP, the quick setup lets you choose Telekom (or several other) service providers, and sets up the VLAN 7 tagging automatically at that time (you can mod this later in WAN PVC settings). It also asks for your PPPoE credentials. For Telekom, you need the paperwork that you should have received in the mail — a single sheet titled Zugangsdaten (access data).
Your T-Online PPPoE username is a combo of the following numbers all strung together, without the plus symbols:
Ihre Anschlusskennung+Ihre Zungangsnummer+Mitbenutzernummer@t-online.de
(I read elsewhere that If your access number is less than 12 digits, the "#" sign must appear between the Zugangsnummer and the Mitbenutzernummer).
Your password is Ihr persönliches Kennwort.
VPN CLIENT:
I used ExpressVPN (you’ll need a paid account with some VPN provider). I then went to their manual config site and downloaded an OpenVPN config file. Then I just added a new OpenVPN profile on the Asus VPN Client page, uploaded the config file to the router & copy/pasted the random-looking username & password from the ExpressVPN manual config page. Unfortunately, you can only have one OpenVPN client profile set up at a time (I wish Asus would change this so you can have many profiles, but only one active at a time). Finally, to avoid DNS leaks, you must stop using your ISP’s DNS. Set the router’s DNS to use Google’s 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (or some other 3rd party DNS). Go to WAN -> Internet Connection -> Edit PVC -> WAN DNS Setting, and set “Connect to DNS Server Automatically” to “No” and use Google’s instead.
I have found that the particular VPN location server you choose can greatly impact both speed and capability. For example, one of the faster ExpressVPN servers (default NY, I think) wouldn’t pass the DNS leak test, and geo-restricted sites wouldn’t work.
You have very little control over what traffic goes over the VPN client connection. It seems to be all or nothing. I wish Asus would mod the firmware to mirror the MerlinWRT functionality in this regard. However, I discovered that if you set up static routes, they seem to override the VPN connection. Not ideal, I know. But it worked for me.
For example, I wanted to connect DECT GAP phones (since it is the VG router model) and use my included land line phone service. With the VPN connected, I couldn't connect to Telekom’s VoIP service. To fix this, I bypassed the entire Class B network (217.0.x.x) that Telekom seems to use for VoIP servers. I went to LAN -> Route and enabled a Static Route with a Network IP of 217.0.0.0, Netmask 255.255.0.0, and my ISP’s Gateway [go to the main router page and click on the globe (internet status) icon to see your Gateway]. Once or twice, I had to turn Static Routes off and on again to make them take effect. Then go to System Log -> Routing Table to make sure the entry actually took. You can also ping the site (Network Tools has a built-in ping test), such as tel.t-online.de. If you get a low-latency return like 20-30ms, you’re bypassing the VPN.
Obviously, the Static Route method isn’t ideal, but it’s all I could come up with so far. It only works if the service you’re trying to reach doesn’t change IPs often. That may be feasible for Telekom VoIP, but it’s almost impossible for cloud services. Google Voice is a good example — and the high latency of the VPN makes Google Voice calls really bad. Speaking of cloud services, I also couldn’t get Plex external access to work properly, with the VPN on or off.
To get your Telekom voice service going, you must also set up a user account at telekom.de (if you haven’t already) then plug in that username and password under Telephony -> Phone number on the router, and input one of the phone numbers they sent you with earlier paperwork. Eventually, it all worked and connecting DECT phones directly to the router was easy.
PERFORMANCE:
I have a whopping 25Mbps connection, and get that full “speed” from the DSL-AC68VG. With the VPN connected to a Virginia server, speedof.me and speedtest.net show about a 120ms ping, 12-16Mb down, and 3-4 Mb up. Fast.com (the actual Netflix speed test) shows 11Mbps. That's fine for 1080 HDTV (Prime and Netflix are very responsive and look great), and since we already had the 4K Netflix package, it will push 2160p streams (7.63Mbps) over this link, but they usually drop to 1440p (~6Mbps).
With the VPN connected but no traffic being passed, each CPU core sits at about 10-15% utilization, 50% of the 458MB RAM used. Watching Netflix over the VPN bumps it up to a highly variable 20-70% CPU, but the router doesn't get too hot.
EXTRAS:
I also plugged in an external Seagate USB 3.0 HDD to share out about 3TB of media files around the house (haven’t tried AiCloud yet). While the router is cataloging the files (many hours for my ~3 TB), CPU usage is very high, but the router is still fully usable. It seems to do some amount of re-scanning the drive upon any router reboots. There was also initially a memory leak while using this USB HDD feature, but it has been fixed as of firmware v5.00.08 build272 Oct. 4, 2018 and the file sharing works great to stream movies via UPnP/DNLA to my AndroidTV or VLC clients.
Last but not least, the router has a giant LED button on the front that you can push to turn off all the bright blue blinking lights, which is great for living room use.
Hope this was helpful.
| Merk | ASUS Computer |
|---|---|
| Fabrikant | ASUS |
| Serie | 4G-AC68U |
| Productafmetingen | 24.7 x 7.6 x 16.8 cm; 795 gram |
| Modelnummer item | 90IG03R1-BM2000 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | Nee |
| Kleur | zwart |
| Aantal processors | 1 |
| Draadloos type | 802.11n, 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11ac, 802.11g |
| Voltage | 240 Volt |
| Energiebron | Stekkertype C (EU) |
| Besturingssysteem | RouterOS |
| Batterijen wel of niet meegeleverd | Nee |
| Fabrikant | ASUS |
| ASIN | B0779FFCXC |
| Gegarandeerde software-updates tot | onbekend |
