How does a VPN Solution using VPN Routers work?

Let's take a look at your home office for example. Similar situation occurs in a small business office, or even in a branch office of a larger business. Basically, a Virtual Private Network Solution works by replacing your regular router that is connected to the internet through a DSL, or cable modem, with a VPN appliance, a VPN router.

A VPN router can be either wireless or wired, depending on the needs of your home office. Regardless, the VPN router will send and receive internet information packets over the standard internet, just like the regular router. The difference is that the VPN router will encrypt and decrypt such packets on the fly. The encrypted information packets will come from your outside laptop, or iPhone, or smart phone, or from a client's computer connected to the internet. You need to have a small piece of vpn software installed on your laptop or iPhone that knows how to encrypt and decrypt data as well.

As an end result, the VPN solution using a VPN router builds a "tunnel" between the client (your laptop or iPhone connected to the internet) and the VPN router server, also connected to the internet through a DSL or Cable modem, or a T1 line. The information is available on both client and server in clear, decrypted way, but it travels over the public internet in an encrypted, safe and secure way and can not be looked at by anyone during the travel.

The VPN router tunneling is safe because only the VPN router and your laptop or iPhone know and use the secure password that is needed to encrypt and decrypt the information that is sent over the internet.

In effect, the VPN solution using a VPN router will allow you to:

• Access your home office storage from anywhere as if you were in the office, known as remote desktop solution


• Read, write, to your office disks as if you were in the office


• Print documents outside the office as if the documents resided on your own laptop or iPhone


• Stream videos and audios on your laptop or iPhone as if you were in the office


• Last but not least, it will allow you to keep your information safe and secure, in one single place, yet have it available and fully and easily accessible from anywhere.
  

Connecting several offices together

When you have two branch offices, and you want to connect them together, the VPN solution using VPN routers will work just as well. You will need two VPN routers, one on each end.

Dual VPN router

Some higher end VPN routers come in dual version; they let you connect to several ISPs at the same time and combine their bandwidths for higher throughput internet and VPN connectivity.

VPN solution brands

Some of the best VPN router solutions are: Cisco VPN solution, Linksys VPN solution (merged in 2003 with Cisco, still branded as Linksys), Sonicwall, Netgear, Duolinks, TRENDnet, ZyXEL, NETOPIA and Watchguard. You will find reviews of many of these brands on this website.