u/CoolCukeCax

I’ve been comparing running a VPN directly on my devices vs setting it up at the router level.

My goal is to try to improve consistency and performance.

My understanding is that app-level VPN protects individual devices, but router-level routing tends to give more consistent performance across the network.

With app VPN, it's easier to control per device but inconsistent across tools/devices.

With router-level, it's more stable baseline and less need to configure each device.

Still testing, but wondering if anyone here switched fully to router-level setups?

I’ve been tweaking my home setup for remote work, and one thing I kept noticing was how much performance dropped when using a VPN. I’m seeing that VPN adds overhead, but routing inefficiencies and DNS handling cause bigger slowdowns.

For example, when i switch DNS improved speed more than turning VPN off. Some routes were clearly less efficient depending on server location. So now I’m wondering, how much of VPN slowdown is actually VPN vs network setup? Would be curious if anyone here has tested this more deeply?

I work remotely and recently I added a network device which has helped me in my job tremendously. Without promoting the device, it has made my need to switch IPs with different apps much easier. (I use social media a lot) Also, I moved my work station from my bedroom to the den which has helped a lot. I don't think about taking a nap every 30 min anymore. I feel more in control and focus better.

What little change have you made to increase productivity?

Before kids, I honestly didn’t care that much. But now there are tablets, smart TVs, random apps, school logins, YouTube, online games, devices connected all over the house. Half the time I don’t even know what information is being collected or who these apps are talking to in the background.

I don't think I'm paranod, but I do think families today have to think differently than we did 10 or 15 years ago. Kids are basically growing up online from day one now.

Curious how other parents are handling this stuff without turning the house into a prison or constantly fighting over screen time and internet rules.

I work remotely full time and usually have a VPN running in the background. My setup is wired, speeds are solid, and Zoom calls are completely fine. But at the same time, my browser-based dashboards (analytics tools, admin panels, etc.) start lagging hard or timing out, especially in the afternoon.

What’s strange is the split behavior. Video calls stay stable, but certain sites feel like they’re crawling. If I turn the VPN off, things improve, but I don’t really want to give that up.

I’m not sure if this is routing, throttling, or just how different traffic behaves over VPN connections.

For those of you running VPNs full time at home, have you run into this kind of selective slowdown? What would you tweak or test next?

Technically speaking, what exactly is the great firewall? How is a country about to block so much info for so many people? I feel like if I were a VPN company, I'd want every country in the world to implement their own "great firewall". Money in the bank!

We are a family of 6 people and I have just the ISPs modem and wireless router which everyone and everything connects to. Cellphones, laptops, smart speakers, smart locks, smart cams and smart TVs. There are only a couple plug in devices that one come across which claim to add better firewalls and secure routers. Research tells me to go for a layered approach but I'm not sure what else I can layer in. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

A recent discovery but kinda blew my mind

started switching my IP to different regions and suddenly my streaming apps look completely different

like my movie library went from maybe a few thousand titles to easily 2 to 3x that depending on the region

same subscription, just way more options

also getting access to news shows and content that just never showed up before in my country

feels like I’ve been underusing what I’m already paying for this whole time

anyone else doing this or have favorite regions for content? Is this against streaming platform rules?