Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2023 4:10 Post subject: OpenVPN can access LAN & ping WAN but browsing fails or
I am using openvpn via dd-wrt r49532 to access remotely both my home LAN and also the WAN from a WiFi hotspot using a Win11 laptop (running an OpenVPN client).
I have no problem accessing my LAN or pinging the WAN (using either IP addresses or FQDN's) via the VPN. Everything works fine without delay. Even using bandwidth intensive apps like NoMachine NX.
However, when I try to browse Internet sites(using Chrome or Edge) over the VPN, my laptop browser often either fails to load or loads very slowly. Sometimes the first webpage loads a little sluggish and later web pages load even slower or not at all. Sometime it seems to work mostly fine for a while.
Interestingly, though, Google and Bing searches don't seem to be throttled. Just access to websites themselves.
I don't believe this is a bandwidth problem on the home LAN/dd-wrt side since I have no problem browsing from my LAN. (I can even browse remotely over the VPN if I use NoMachine NX to access my LAN server and browse from my home server over NX)
The problem seems to occur mostly when logging in via public Wifi sites (e.g., hotels, airports) but not from friend's Wifi (though I haven't tried this enough to be 100% sure) or from mobile data.
Similar issues occur on my Pixel 5a Android phone when run under OpenVPN on the same WiFi hotspots.
The challenge here is that the behavior is not consistent -- the extent of browser slowing or throttling is variable.
Is it possible that the public Wifi spot (hotel or airport) or maybe even my ISP (RCN) are somehow throttling VPN usage but only when used to access remote Internet sites?
This would seem not to make sense for the Wifi hot spot since then access to my home LAN should also be slowed since the Wifi hot spot provider shouldn't have any clue whether traffic stops at my LAN or proceeds from there to an Internet site on the WAN.
Also, not sure how my ISP would differentiate between HTTP traffic that is initiated remotely from the VPN vs from the LAN.
Any ideas what could be causing this flaky browsing behavior?
Did you read the most current documentation? The linked wiki was last updated ~3 years ago. There have been many changes since then. Please consider upgrading to current release.
