Slow L2TP VPN performance on a Netgear router
Slow L2TP VPN performance on a Netgear router
Hello, I hope you're doing well. I'm reaching out for guidance from more seasoned users regarding L2TP internet performance. I recently purchased a NetGear AX1800 RAX20 router with the latest firmware installed, and it performed well initially, offering a stable 100mb/s connection. However, after acquiring a new Xbox console, I've experienced frequent disconnections during online gaming, even though all connections appear to be wired directly. When I spoke with my ISP about this issue, they suggested using an L2TP VPN connection. After entering the necessary details into my router, I successfully established a VPN link, and the console functioned properly. Yet, I didn't measure my internet speed at that time. Recently, I've observed my speed dropping to around 60mb/s when using the VPN, which is roughly half of what I'm paying for. Turning off L2TP restored speeds back to normal at 100mb/s. My ISP explained that my router's CPU might not be powerful enough to handle the encryption process, thus limiting bandwidth. Another option they mentioned was using a different router—specifically a Mikrotik model—which still provided a stable 100mb/s connection with L2TP enabled. This raises my concern: is my NetGear router insufficient for delivering 100mb/s speeds over L2TP, or am I overlooking something? I value the features and app controls of my current router but the speed limitation is making me consider switching to a Mikrotik device.
The processing power required for VPN encryption and decryption can cause a performance drop in most home routers.
Mikrotik likely includes an ASIC to boost VPN performance, similar to how a GPU speeds up encryption and decryption. Great idea—the system can just bundle the data without encryption.