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Jul 30 2014

New VPN for code 3:20

frustration image Recently, we obtained a new Internet Service Provider (ISP). It shall go unnamed, but if the ISP were filling in a form, the first name would be Media and the last name would be Com.  I’m a an electrical engineer (EE) and therefore I cannot live with technical issues in my life.  It just is not within my capacity to live in a peaceable state, until the problem is solved or the issue resolved. So, when I got my wireless local area network (WLAN) up and running, I discovered an appalling problem: Netflix HD streams were only coming in between the hours of 1am-1pm. This was NOT acceptable in my mind! What’s a good EE to do? Hit the search engines and forums.  I discovered I was not alone in my plight but that several other consumers were running into the same problem. I read a thread within which the moderators had a person doing endless traceroutes, pings and other troubleshooting techniques to no avail.

Then, thank God and YouTube, I discovered a possible solution: a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Now, setting up a VPN for my computers would be no problem, but, my main source of Netflix in HD is through my TiVo. You can’t install VPN software on a TiVo. So the only option available to this DIY digital-fixer-upper was to make the VPN available through my WLAN. I was (notice the verb tense) using a Netgear WNDR3400 within which the native firmware was incapable of providing for VPN. Therefore, I had to flash it with DD-WRT. I then obtained a month’s service from a VPN provider for testing purposes and EUREKA!!  Netflix HD at all hours of the day! But there was a catch…

Okay, so I’m up and running and every device on my WLAN seemed to get an increase in speed through the VPN.  But, was it an illusion?  Before the VPN, I was getting the speed for which I am paying 25Mbps, within tolerance.  Through the VPN, I was only getting, on average, 6.4Mbps. My little router’s processor just couldn’t handle the VPN encryption scheme fast enough.  Once again, I was frustrated and I could feel that old familiar need for speed 🙂  The only solution: UPGRADE my wireless router! Yes, yes, yes!  More power, more speed, more, more, more, more… It is everything I need: MORE!  Much to the chagrin of my wife (at least until she experienced the increased speed of her Facebook feed), I bought a Netgear AC1900 r7000 and immediately voided the warranty by flashing it with Kong’s latest DD-WRT firmware build.  Now my VPN speed is averaging 18Mbps which is within the tolerance of the delta within my head (i.e., I can sleep at night with this speed). Oh, and another side benefit is I can install the VPN SW on my laptop, hit StarBucks and blissfully connect to anything in complete stealth mode!  The only ones that can decode my encrypted traffic is a dude named Snowden and his counterparts from No Such Agency!

Surf safe, my friends!

Written by Randy · Categorized: Network Solutions

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