When Vilfo contacted TechPowerUp about potentially reviewing their router, I admittedly was not aware of the company. It has been nearly two months since, and I have learned a lot about OpenVPN and Vilfo since. The highest compliment I can personally make is that Vilfo made me want to learn even more about custom routers and open source protocols beyond what I was already familiar with, and take an interest in VPN and privacy solutions with routers at the core more so than ever before. I doubt I will get to building a custom router anytime soon, especially when I have to keep switching from one retail product to another for reviews, but I suspect I may end up with the Vilfo router between my modem and other devices as access points. There are other options that VPN servers allow for in addition to privacy, including getting past geo-location blocks for streaming services and accessing home networks from elsewhere around the globe safely. Vilfo makes it clear that their emphasis is on privacy, and they do have their own VPN server for data encryption with local network access from elsewhere, which I plan to use when traveling for work.

Privacy in this day and age is hardly a given online, with the recent WhatsApp update to their data sharing policy met with a lukewarm reception in many places, but a strong response in others. Many do not even care what cookies and tracking happens during their online visits with the EU and UK having GDPR as a great blanket in that region at least. Elsewhere, however, for those wanting to maintain privacy for legitimate reasons without going the Tor browser router, VPN servers are really the only feasible option. There are free VPN services in that you do not pay out of your pocket to use them, but they have limitations in that you yourself will be the product, and there is no privacy in that. Only paid, reliable VPN providers enable some level of privacy, but even so, it tends to be on a per-device basis. What Vilfo does with their router is integrate a VPN service into the router itself such that all traffic in and out can be routed through the VPN tunnel.

Sure, there are several ways to do this yourself by using any or multiple open-source protocols and a mini-PC barebones system you can get for a fraction of the cost from Aliexpress, but I will point out right away that you are not the target audience for the Vilfo router and should not even consider buying this VPN router at the eye-watering ~$400 including shipping. The mediocre wireless performance does not help the situation either, and the lacking simultaneous dual-band support is something I am shaking my head at as I write this. In fact, I dare say you may want to actually spend more on another wireless system and use it as an access point for WiFi in addition to the ongoing VPN costs. So this is by no means an inexpensive product, and one that appeals to an extremely small subset of people who are (a) able to afford it, (b) extremely vested in privacy, and (c) not tech-savvy enough to put together their own networking solution. If you know a Fritzbox from a DD-WRT router, this is likely not for you. But for those who do fit into that subset, the Vilfo router does a really good job. There are so many features here I didn't expect in a consumer-grade product, especially paired with the fantastic support and documentation in addition to the user-friendly dashboard, to where the entry barrier to a private online life is barely higher than that of an average WiFi mesh system run through a mobile app. For this I give Vilfo major props, but I do hope to see some of my complaints addressed. I am also curious about their upcoming business solution, which may be more viable financially, too!