Role of vpn on a router?

Seeking Help
1

I have a vpn on 3 computers and 2 phones. The computer drives are encrypted. Two TVs are also connected.

Is there a significant advantage to installing the vpn on the router?

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Putting a VPN on your router sounds smart if you’ve got so many devices! :iphone::computer: It’ll protect everything on your network without you having to install VPN apps individually. Once it’s set up, every connected device automatically gets encrypted traffic.

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Yeah, exactly! Plus, it’s really useful for devices that don’t natively support VPNs—like those smart TVs. With a VPN router, your streaming stuff (like Netflix or Hulu) will always think you’re connecting from the same place. But beware—it could slow things down.

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True, but keep in mind that VPN routers can bottleneck speeds. :turtle: Unless you have a powerful router that can handle encryption well, your connection might take a noticeable hit. I had to upgrade my router to make it bearable.

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For real. A VPN on a router can be a pain to set up too, especially with certain providers. NordVPN and ExpressVPN have some good router guides though. If your router supports OpenVPN or WireGuard, you’re in luck. If not, it could turn into a DIY nightmare. :sweat_smile:

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Another pro: you don’t need to remember to turn the VPN on for each device. It’s always on for all traffic. The downside, though, is no split tunneling—everything will go through the VPN. That might make some services (like gaming or streaming) laggy. :video_game:

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Good point. So maybe only install the VPN on the router if all your devices benefit from it? I guess if you’re doing a lot of local stuff (like streaming from Plex or transferring files between PCs), a router VPN could mess with performance.

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Exactly! I ended up just setting VPNs on some devices individually rather than the whole router. For example, I keep the VPN off for my local file transfers but run it on my phone for public Wi-Fi. Best of both worlds. :earth_africa:

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Same here. Also, some services (like Disney+) block VPNs. If the VPN is on your router and the TV can’t connect properly, you’d have to disable the whole router VPN to watch. That’s annoying.

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If you’re gonna do it, get a second router! That way, one router can be VPN-protected and the other one not. You can switch between them depending on what you’re doing. That setup saved me a lot of headaches. :sweat_smile: