R6300 --> DD-WRT / OpenVPN

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stgeorge
stgeorge's picture
R6300 --> DD-WRT / OpenVPN

Hey everyone-  I'm interested in flashing dd-wrt onto my Netgear R6300.  I currently have an Asus RT-N66U running tomatousb with vpn tunneling to pia but want to move to this R6300 and do the same through dd-wrt / with openvpn if possible.  The main question I have is- have there been any updates to the process since Paul posted up his article as to how to do that?  His article is dated Mar 6, 2013, and I noticed that there are some more recent dd-wrt versions released by Kong that would otherwise appear to be appropriate but I'm wondering if anyone has tried them and if yes, what tweaks you may have made in order to run the vpn tunneling to pia successfully.  I'm also a little confused with which exact iteration I need to flash as well as Kong's comments about adding .bin folders after flashing?  Finally, does anyone have experience with which method of vpn tunneling may be faster?  My download speeds from a cable isp are +/-30Mbps but once I tunnel to pia using tomatousb, they take a pretty serious hit - down to around 10Mbps.  I'm sure there are a lot of factors involved (location of vpn server, time of day, etc...) but I'm curious if dd-wrt and this R6300 may be a bit speedier.Anyway- if you can give me any pointers and/or point me in the right direction, I'd certainly appreciate the assistance!Thanks

Peter Redmer
Peter Redmer's picture
Hi stgeorge,

Hi stgeorge,

I've had good luck using OpenVPN on the Kong builds so far; I'm running a version dated June 7th. It has definitely been updated since then, so not sure about newer versions.

As far as flashing goes, from the standard NETGEAR firmware you can use this .CHK file to upgrade directly within the interface:

http://www.myopenrouter.com/download/49457/DD-WRT-Initial-Flash-for-NETG...

Then from within that DD-WRT interface you can update to a newer build:

http://www.myopenrouter.com/download/49458/DD-WRT-K3-for-NETGEAR-R6300-8...

As far as speed, I have seen the speed drop you mention as well, and it's due to the tunneling process. On my R6300, I believe I have topped out at ~14 Mbps on a ~50 Mbps connection natively. You might see a small speed bump from your current router, or you might not :)

I have seen faster speeds with OpenVPN on the R6250, ~18-20 Mbps, most likely due to the processor architecture used in that router.

stgeorge
stgeorge's picture
Good point on the processor

Good point on the processor architecture, but my Asus RT-N66U has twice the processor this R6300 v1 has, I believe, and though it's running tomatousb, it is producing the speeds I mentioned.

I guess if I can get at least what I'm getting with it, I'll be happy for now.

One follow-up question I have is - did you keep the firewall and other admin script setting that you mention in your March article on this matter?

Thanks