Anyway, I did a tour on the offerings for the hardware-based routers, and although I didn’t actually test them, here are my list of promising routers that are worth considering if you want to buy one.

Cisco/Linksys VPN Routers

By acquiring Linksys, Cisco has a very wide variety of routers for the SOHO segment. So I wanted to check one that can act as a WiFi access point while being able to connect via ADSL. I then ended up with this model:

• Cisco-Linksys WRVS4400N Wireless-N Gigabit Security Router – VPN v2.0: this can be a too-powerful router for a SOHO but I kind of liked it. Not only does it provide Wireless N feature, but it also comes with a gigabit Ethernet. This is mainly geared toward small businesses if they want to allow their remote employees to connect via an IPSec tunnel,
• Wireless-n Vpn Firewall This router also provides Wireless N support. But what I liked most about it is that it allows you to set up a Wireless Guest access so that you don’t have to share your Wireless credentials to people visiting your home office. Moreover, it supports PPTP and IPSec.

Netgear VPN Routers

• NetGear WNR3500L Rangemax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with DD-WRT VPN firmware This is a great router and it comes with DD-WRT support. Moreover, it provides Wireless N feature. On the VPN side, it implements OpenVPN and PPTN which are the usual VPN protocols. DD-WRT implementation is definitely a plus user since my co-bloggers have already shown how to implement DD-WRT with some VPN providers.

DLink VPN Routers

• D-Link Dir-330 Wireless G Vpn Router IEEE 802.11b/G 2.40 GHz 6.75 Mbps Transmission Speed While it only supports Wireless G (not wireless N), this router has a great combination of features that will surely please demanding VPN users. Moreover, it can directly be connected to a cable or DSL modem making it a perfect choice for being your internet/VPN gateway. On the VPN side, it supports IPSec, PPTP, and L2TP. A great list of features for a nice price.

Zyxel

• ZyXEL ZyWALL USG20 Internet Security Firewall with 4 Gigabit LAN/DMZ Ports, 2 IPSec VPN, SSL VPN, and 3G WAN Support While they are a bit lazy doing detailed description of the product, I kind of liked the different connection that this router provides (especially the 3G network that can come handy as a backup solution in case the main one fails)

Well, as usual when it comes to choosing a device, marketing has it that you’ve got a lot of options. And it becomes a bit hard to get almost all of the features you want into only one device. Anyway, I’ve made some selections here based on varying criteria, and more because those are brands who are known to be serious enough in the router industry.

I’m sure I’ve missed some brands or models in this list, but why don’t you add your own list in the comment section?

What router are good for running VPN?

Anyway, this time, I wanted to focus on router hardware that is a good fit for running VPN on them. Frankly speaking, although I have a little two computers home network, I never worried installing the VPN client on my router – especially because the second computer is used by my wife who only cares about accessing the internet for doing e-mail, browsing, and Facebook So I was better off having a VPN software installed on my own computer for my own purposes.

But in case you want a centrally managed VPN implementation for your own network, be it a home network, or a small organization network, then having the VPN layer implemented on the router side is definitely the way to go.

Here again, there are a lot of options: you can think of the very powerful Cisco or Juniper routers that are designed specifically for running multiple VPN tunnels. Or you can go for the “lighter” VPN routers that are designed for SOHO use.

My criteria on how to choose VPN routers

For this article, I won’t even consider those big guys in town that are meant to connect to multiple locations in the world; let’s just focus on the SOHO (Small Office Home Office) segment. So here are my criteria on how to choose VPN routers:

• It should be easy to install. You don’t have to be an IT expert to set it up, nor should you have a great understanding of all the different options. In fact, considering that I would have already chosen a VPN provider, chances are that I would have been given credentials and protocols to be used, so the VPN router should be able to implement them. This should be an easy one since most of the protocols are implemented into all those hardware nowadays.
• It should have the right connection that goes with my internet connection. This can be the tricky part: internet connection solutions can come in a variety of “flavors”. Some providers will give you a box that is pre-configured for the internet connection. All the devices in my network would then need to connect to this box either via WiFi or via Ethernet connection.At this stage, I may want to check if that ISP box allows some bridging feature with my VPN router. Otherwise, that box would have to implement some network address translation (NAT) and it may cause you some troubles- in your case, check with the VPN router provider how would that be implemented. Other providers allow you to have your own router directly connected to an ADSL jack. This is a perfect fit since you can choose a VPN router that can connect to an ADSL jack. Then you do all the internet connection and VPN configuration on the same router.

As an option, and if you don’t have yet a WiFi router in your organization, you may want to request a router that also acts as a WiFi access point. This can come handy for a small entity (your house for example).

Finally, here is my selection of hardware-based VPN routers.

How do you choose VPN routers? Let us know in the comments below.