Setup and Monitoring

No mobile apps or desktop clients to see here unless you fancy a command line interface. Vilfo goes with the tried-and-tested browser interface for setting up the router. In the interest of time, I connected the router directly to my ISP gateway hub rather than replacing it with a modem for future/long-term usage, so the first step involved changing the subnet to not interfere with the other device. At this point, you go through the typical process outlined at the top for the various stages, as well as a separate WAN settings section at the bottom alongside the subnet. WiFi credentials is first up, where you choose your region and some rudimentary WiFi network settings, which I did feel were on the slim side for what is supposed to be a feature-rich router. For example, you can choose between 2.4 or 5 GHz networks across wireless N or AC, but not both. So this is already a limitation in having a compromise between coverage and compatibility.


The WAN settings page is self-explanatory and not really critical, which is why I can understand it being an optional step. The next part of the mandatory process involves inputting the license code found on the quick start guide, followed by admin credentials for the dashboard. Then, and this is an optional step for now, you assign the VPN subscription to the router. That's right, you need to have an active subscription to make the most of the Vilfo VPN router, so be aware of the running costs involved. Vilfo has a nice list of fully compatible programs which allow for automatic setup with the best settings for your regions, but you can add any VPN program separately even if it is not on the list.


The VPN section requires you to log in and allow Vilfo access, which completes the setup as shown by the congratulatory note seen above. At this point you are taken to the dashboard, which is a well-laid-out user interface that scales well with your display resolution and browser settings. The home page is an overview of all connected devices, connection statistics, and the VPN settings if already configured. In my case, Vilfo automatically assigned London as the server based on the OVPN trial subscription kindly provided for use with the router for this review. The other options and settings are all seen as line items on the left, neatly laid out and grouped between Menu and Settings.


The Menu group goes through the devices list connected to the router, which for this demo only consisted of my desktop PC used for the setup. The VPN settings are natively configured on each page, including here, wherein you can group devices for common VPN rules, or block or bypass (for VPN) depending on the application. There is also a browser extension for most of the popular browsers, which allows for quick toggles that force a VPN connection or bypass it altogether; say, if a streaming service such as Netflix is incompatible with your VPN. As such, the bypass option allows for traffic from this website to go through your standard internet tunnel while everything else goes through the VPN tunnel, which is called split-tunneling, a feature almost never seen on routers. Next, you can forward ports over WAN or even VPN connections if the VPN service allows it, should you need it for applications, including remote desktop. The System page has the router-specific controls, including a specifications sheet, actions pertaining to daily operations, firmware updates, and factory reset.


If you skipped the VPN subscription step during setup, you can complete it manually here. Note that, at least with OVPN, you can only see the various servers on hand, but Vilfo automatically chooses the best server based on geographical location and ratings. You can then manually change the server for each device on the Devices page, if applicable, of course. The Settings group involves options including general bypass rules for VPN, system settings, and login credentials, as well as analytics opt-outs that at least are transparently mentioned here, but are still ironic for a privacy-centric device. The LAN, WAN, and WiFi network settings page also does exactly what you might expect, but there is not a lot more to see here beyond what we already went though during setup. The notifications page is neat in that Vilfo natively supports Pushover notifications for various events in addition to email notifications to the registered email used when the router was ordered, which incidentally is also where Vilfo sends you a copy of your admin login credentials and license key upon setup for your convenience.


Vilfo also supports OpenVPN even if you do not have an active VPN subscription, and a kill switch is included here, which is again something never really seen in a typical consumer networking product. In fact, OpenVPN is the only prerequisite to using any VPN service provider even if they are not on the list. As long as they support OpenVPN, you can add the service for use with the Vilfo router. We also see parental controls for time-based network access to connected devices, and domain/traffic-access rules can be created elsewhere as seen previously. Finally, you can create more users for various functions, ranging from the Root User automatically created during setup and with access to everything, including the user interface and Vilfo's own VPN service, the Admin user with access to the user interface and ability to start the VPN service, but without access to the user page or Vilfo access token, and the VPN user who can only start the VPN service.


OpenVPN no doubt has a stronger connection with Vilfo even if they are independent companies, and we see Vilfo as a recognized device on the account page here, in addition to a marketing spiel and a link to the Vilfo website. So there is definitely some quid pro quo going on here, especially with the OpenVPN trial provided to reviewers. Nothing wrong with it, of course, and perhaps this is the best combination to go forward with given the guaranteed compatibility and tested performance from both parties. OpenVPN also has a desktop client and browser extension that adds to the Vilfo experience, but does result in redundancy. Some steps, such as manually changing your VPN server here, may not play well with the Vilfo user interface since it does not know what happens beyond its interface, so I would have liked to see a stronger two-way communication network, but then again, such would go against the privacy facet as well.

Vilfo has a fantastic documentation portal on their website that walks you through pretty much everything, including a visual walkthrough for advanced configurations, which helps anyone willing to learn how to make the most of the router.