First of all I know express is not the best VPN, i’ve been wanting to change for the past year.

Now seems like the time is finally here to switch VPNs, or not…

My question is what VPNs work for routers that are privacy friendly?

Do you recommend installing VPN apps on separate devices instead of the router?

What VPNs?

How do you use your VPN at home?

Should I stick with Express and get a new 300$ router? (i’d rather not)

mulvad on a router? iVPN?

Advice, thoughts?

EDIT: my router is a Linksys WRT3200ACM

  • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    11·
    1 day ago

    I exclusively use my router as the VPN client for a few reasons. There are multiple services on my network that use the VPN. I’ve got static routes configured which effectively act as a kill switch and I can use QOS to prioritize traffic. It’s pretty much set it and forget it. You can use any VPN service as long at they offer a protocol your router supports. I use Proton via WireGuard and have for years.

    • irmadlad@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      1 day ago

      So, how do you change the IP of your VPN on the router if say, you wanted to unblock something that was geoblocked, other than manually on the router’s WUI? Curious, since I have read of people deploying a VPN on the router. Do you just pick a location and go with it? I’ve always have enjoyed the option to change geographical locations on the fly, from the device app.

      • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        17 hours ago

        It definitely makes it more difficult to switch endpoints manually. I have multiple VPN connections with different exit nodes configured for failover in case one (or more) of them is unreachable. I don’t run into geoblocking issues very often but I also don’t route all my WAN traffic over VPN. Just some of it.

        What you can automate depends on your routers capabilities. Mine is a Mikrotik which does have fairly extensive support for custom scripts. However, detecting Geoblocking is probably going to involve parsing HTTP responses which is beyond the capabilities of almost all consumer grade routers. You would have to effectively do a MITM attack (aka deep packet inspection) in order to accomplish that on something other than the client device.

        TLDR: I manually change routes to a different VPN if needed but I very rarely run into Geoblocking issues.

        • irmadlad@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          14 hours ago

          That’s cool. I pipe everything through a VPN.

          also don’t route all my WAN traffic over VPN. Just some of it.

          Are there advantages in doing such or what is the reasoning behind that? I would have anxiety…not that I have anything to hide /s