There’s only minimal setup required on the main router, because it’s not actually doing anything besides passing on the already-encrypted traffic from the VPN router.

Ethernet Cable: This will be used to connect your two routers, for the dual-router setup.

PIA has 128-bit configs which allow for faster speeds. We highly recommend Private Internet Access, NordVPN or IPVanish for router usage.

Reliable, Fast VPN Provider: Preferably one that supports the OpenVPN protocol.

Ideally it should support AC wireless (for faster speeds) but it doesn’t need a fast CPU like the VPN router. It can be any mid-range router that can comfortably handle the number of devices on your network.

A 2nd router: This will be the primary router (non-VPN).

Here’s our guide to the best VPN routers.

A VPN-Capable Router: You can use any router with a CPU that can handle VPN math, and has (or supports) VPN-capable router firmware like Tomato, DD-WRT, or ASUSWRT (our favorite).

Here’s how your network will look once you’ve set up a 2nd VPN router What you’ll need for this tutorial All devices connected to the #1 (primary) router will use your normal internet connection. All devices connected to the #2 (VPN) router will use the VPN tunnel.

Traffic is encrypted by the VPN router, and flows through the primary router to the modem/internet.

Added insulation of VPN network (double NAT = greater security).īelow is a diagram of the home network structure we’re going to create.

Connect devices like xbox, PS4, fire stick, or chromecast to a VPN.

Switch devices to/from the VPN simply by switching networks.

It gives you access VPN and Non-VPN connections.

This is an incredibly popular home network setup because:

We’ll be using what’s known as LAN-to-WAN router cascading, where each router is on a separate subnet. This will work with any vpn-enabled router firmware, including DD-WRT, ASUSWRT (including Merlin), and Tomato. This tutorial will teach you how to set up a dual-router configuration with a dedicated VPN router behind another router (the primary router).

Install expressvpn on router