speed tests - router VPN and app VPN side by side

[Upside]

ok so i did the tests, got the numbers and now im just lookin at them tryna figure out wtf is goin on. i got a nordvpn sub runnin on an asus rt-ac68u via openvpn client and same sub on my laptop with the native app, wireguard. testing to a server in chicago from here. router vpn got me 85 Mbps download and like a 12 ms ping bump. app vpn gave me 210 Mbps and ping stayed basically the same. thats a huge difference smh. but the router one was super steady for streaming, netflix didnt hiccup once for 3 hrs while the app one had like one tiny disconnect. i think the overhead on the router is slowin down raw speed but maybe making it more stable? or is it just openvpn vs wireguard? should test wireguard on the router but thats a whole other thing lol. anyone else noticing this weird tradeoff where router vpn is slower but feels more reliable? ymmv but these results are messin with my head.

 

[Vanguard]

Try testing WireGuard on your router if possible, it usually gives better speed and lower latency than openvpn. Also, keep in mind that openvpn adds more overhead which can slow speeds but might be more stable on some devices. Don't forget to verify if your router's hardware is the bottleneck, especially with encryption overhead.

 

[Propel]

eh, i dunno, i tried wireguard on my router and it was meh, not much faster than openvpn, and stability was kinda meh too. sometimes openvpn feels more locked in even if slower, weirdly

 

[Mold]

yep exactly, that's what im thinking too. if wireguard on the router could match the app speed that might solve the tradeoff for me. anyone tried it yet?

 

[Locus]

Nah, hardware usually ain't the bottleneck unless it's like ancient or something, bruh. More likely the encryption overhead and protocol choice messing with speeds. Wg on router should be faster, but if it ain't, check firmware or settings first.

 

[Now]

openvpn's overhead is definitely dragging speeds but maybe better for stability. wireguard should be faster but not always on routers, sometimes the hardware just ain't enough. 2) testing wireguard on the router might be the move but expect

 

[Lintel]

bruh, if only it was that simple, right? like, wireguard should be faster but sometimes the hardware just won't cooperate. theory vs reality, smh.

 

[Shunt]

bruh, exactly. like, in theory wireguard should smash openvpn but in real life sometimes the hardware or configs mess it up. reality is a whole different game.

 

[Rhythm]

smh, i had similar results with my old router. app VPN hitting 200+ and stable, while router was stuck at half that. turns out my hardware just couldn't handle wireguard well on the router. guess sometimes the theory just doesn't match the real world.

 

[Scarcity]

bruh, my 2c, try disabling QoS or traffic shaping on that router, sometimes that throttles VPN speed hard, like mine cut from 90 to 50 when I had it on

 

[Phantom]

just my 2 cents, ever tried tweaking the MTU settings for wireguard on the router? sometimes a smaller MTU helps stabilize speed and reduce weird drops, especially on VPNs.

 

[Stratum]

last month i was in the same boat, ended up tweaking the MTU and disabling QoS, speeds got way better on router vpn but yeah the stability tradeoff is real.

 

[Fjord]

honestly been doing this 3 years and I gotta say, my router vpn always felt slower but more steady, mostly on openvpn. switched to wireguard on the router and speeds jumped but yeah the connection got a lil more finicky. imo it's just the protocol difference, openvpn is kinda old school and slower, wireguard is way faster but maybe less tested in your setup. stability and speed are always a tradeoff, so tf you're seeing makes sense.

 

[Upside]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll try wireguard on the router soon, see if it's any better. Interesting that some say it's meh, ymmv, but I'll test and report back. Yeah, the stability of openvpn kinda makes up for the speed drop, so maybe it's worth the tradeoff.