Network-Wide Protection: How to Set Up a VPN on a Router

VPN requirements

To protect your entire home network with a VPN, both the VPN and the router must support this option. The first thing you should keep in mind is that most free VPNs do not offer network protection at the router level. The VPN will also not run on the router if it exists only as a browser plugin or mobile app. If you don't know if your VPN supports router operation, read the manual or contact support.

It is important to receive detailed information from technical support, not just a “yes” or “no.” What specific VPN protocol can be used for the router (and the entire network)? Are all the VPN servers you need available using this protocol? With all this information, visit the technical support site for your router.

Router requirements

First, the router must support sending all home traffic through the VPN channel. Today, even budget models have this functionality, but there are still situations where a router cannot work with a VPN, particularly if it is rented by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). It may also happen that the VPN is already being used to create a channel from the router to the ISP and is part of the standard home Internet setup. This type of “VPN service” usually does not provide the basic benefits that most users want.

You can check what the router allows in three ways:

1. Visit the web control panel (the address and password usually appear on the bottom of the router) and review the available settings.
2. Read the documentation on the router vendor's website.
3. Contact the provider's technical support or, if you got the router from the ISP, contact their technical support.

If your ISP doesn't offer VPN support, consider switching providers. If the problem lies with the router, look for an alternative firmware that has the functionality you need. The best known are DD-WRT and OpenWRT : the links will redirect you directly to a page where you can check if your router is compatible. Replacing router firmware can be technically challenging, so make sure you understand the entire procedure and risks before you begin.

First, make sure your router provides VPN support, and then check which specific VPN protocols you can use. The most common are OpenVPN and WireGuard , and each has its pros and cons.

OpenVPN has been around for a long time and is supported by many routers, but it usually does not provide the maximum VPN speeds, and also puts a heavy load on the router's processor. For budget routers with less powerful processors, this can affect the overall performance and speed of your home Wi-Fi network.

The latest WireGuard protocol is very fast and secure. If you have a very fast Internet connection, WireGuard will outperform OpenVPN in terms of speed and place less load on the router's processor. On the downside, its initial setup is more complicated (the user must generate a client key pair) and offers fewer connection options: WireGuard links the user to a specific server, OpenVPN, with a location, so the latter allows you switch to another server in the same location if the one you used before was down. Additionally, not all routers recognize WireGuard.

However, almost all routers support legacy L2TP/IPsec and PPTP protocols. We do not recommend them , as they do not meet the latest security standards and do not encrypt traffic by default. However, if the two newer options are not available and you still need a VPN, it is better to use L2TP/IPsec or PPTP with traffic encryption enabled than not to use a VPN.

How to activate a VPN on the router

The specific steps differ by provider and router, so we can only describe the setup in general terms.

The first thing you need to do is download the correct VPN profile from the VPN website. The profile is usually individual, so you need to visit the personal account on the website and find the page with VPN profiles. This could be a list of protected devices where you can add a router, a special router registration section , or a section for managing specific VPN protocols (OpenVPN and WireGuard) where you can create the connection profile you want.

For example, for Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection , you can create a router profile on the My Kaspersky site , in the Secure Connection section in three easy steps. Currently, only one OpenVPN profile is offered for routers, but by the end of 2023 we also plan to provide support for WireGuard (note that WireGuard is now available in our VPN for Windows).