NeoRouter (http://www.neorouter.com) is a zero-config VPN and remote
access solution, and they have just added support for OpenWRT.
I was a Hamachi user and a small business owner. I stopped using
Hamachi because I could not shell out 20 bucks a month just to pay for
its service. I have been looking for an alternative VPN solution. I
tried to setup OpenVPN on my router running OpenWRT, but as a newbie,
it was just too difficult for me. Finally I found NeoRouter and it’s a
very neat solution and very easy to setup.
It took me merely a few minutes to setup its server program on my
Linksys WRT54GL running the latest Kamikaze and its client program on
my PCs and laptops. As a network newbie, I did not have trouble
setting it up following the
instructionshttp://www.neorouter.com/wiki/index.php/NeoRouterWiki:GettingStarted
andhttp://www.neorouter.com/wiki/index.php/NeoRouterWiki:Manual. It’s
so much easier than OpenVPN and I am glad I do not need to manually
edit any configuration files.
NeoRouter has a very nice user interface for its client program called
Network Explorer. It’s probably the most user-friendly client program
among all the VPN products I have tried, better than OpenVPN and
Hamachi. I love the roaming user profile so that my preference is
always remembered no matter where I go.
NeoRouter can establish direct P2P connections just like Hamachi, but
it is much faster. I transferred a 30 MB video file from my home in
San Jose to my parents’ in Boston in about 3 minutes using NeoRouter
while Hamachi would usually take 5-6 minutes. NeoRouter establishes
P2P connections only when I try to connect to the remote computer,
while Hamachi establishes an exponential number of connections at
launch time. I used to have >30 computers in my Hamachi network, and
all these unnecessary TCP connections sometimes bog down my computer
and network. I am glad NeoRouter solved the issue.
NeoRouter also works better from behind corporate network when direct
P2P connections are not possible. Hamachi’s relay service is painfully
slow during “rush hours” because I have to share the limited resources
on Hamachi server cloud with thousands of users. Yuck!!! I cannot even
use remote desktop or VNC. With NeoRouter, I have my own server
running on my home router, and the connection is always stable and
fast.
