@ykm71
Any success yet?
I’ve been looking at a second router and a lot of the manuals say to put the first modem/router into modem only mode and as someone said I don’t think this can be done on a Livebox 4.
Do you use a phone attached to the the Livebox using VoiP, if so is it still OK.
Thanks
Hi,
I switched off the DHCP and wireless on the livebox and connected the Asus. It’s working fine - however, I do not have a phone attached. The Asus wireless is more effective - I suspect also because there is less contention now from the livebox wireless channels. I haven’t yet set up the VPN, but do not foresee problems with this (famous last words…) as I had this setup in the UK.
Hi Peter
The mini router is a GL-iNet GL-MT300N-V2(Mango) - I got mine from amazon.fr
I had to configure it - I use ExpressVPN currently to get the Geo restricted services (it was a manual config as ExpressVPN do not have an auto config for this particular router)
We use the phone via the live box, no extra line for us. The livebox is a livebox 4.
Thanks a lot!!
Many thanks
@Reneh46
I have a similar setup to Peter. I use my Red Box with an attached Asus RT-AC87U router with DD-WRT installed using NordVPN. I keep the Red Box wifi active as you may find you need to connect via a French IP address sometimes. I had issues with certain payment systems failing to authorise online payments if your IP address wasn’t within France.
Progress report on my experience. Having finally got back to France and having had fibre installed last week I have now set up an Asus router (RT-AX56U) with a Surfshark VPN behind my Livebox 3. Pleased to say it couldn’t have been easier. The only change I did on the Livebox was to go to NAT/PAT in advanced settings and set up an internal port for the Asus router as suggested by Asus. I didn’t need to switch off DHCP or the wireless on the Livebox; I was ready to do so but it worked without so I didn’t mess with them. I did find the Surfshark VPN stopped working and disabling and then enabling it on the Asus routers portal fixed it at least temporarily. I contacted Surfshark about this and they had me set up specific DNS servers on the Asus WAN tab. Worked fine after that, at least, for the short time I was in France - now back in the UK. Hope that may help anyone looking to do the same.
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I read this twice and still haven’t a clue! It’s a foreign language. 
Have you checked for IP leakage ? (Not as embarrassing as it sounds). If not, try
This will show you if UK entities have a chance of detecting that you’re actually in France.
I have set up my Asus router plugged into the Livebox. I have a Surfshark VPN on the Asus.
The VPN has only had limited success; I am able to play BBC iPlayer, Netflix and Amazon Music on my LG smart TV. However, ITV Hub, My5 and All4 detect that I am not in the UK. This despite the fact that ipleak.net (run on the TV browser) shows the set-up to be in the UK. Surfshark has suggested setting fixed rather than automatic DNS servers on the WAN settings on the Asus router; didn’t work.
Has anyone had better results with Surfshark or another VPN?
Thanks, as always, for any advice.
Peter
I am using a mini router plugged into the back of our Livebox and its running ExpressVPN - works on everything except My5 - that reports it is detecting that I am behind a VPN.
OH discovered that if he reset his computer to UK time then My5 accepted the VPN. Just a thought.
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I will give that a go - thank you !
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I have now switched from Surfshark and using skycards.eu VPN - more expensive at £12 per month, but no problems whatsoever - very pleased with it.
Also, this is setup as a VPN client on my Asus router which is useful as it still allows me to run my other devices on the native broadband (orange)
Yes, I found this to be very important. If you have a router based VPN solution, as I do, you need to do this on all devices used. In addition, I had issues with ITV Hub on my Android tablet earlier this year, and discovered that it didn’t like me disabling GPS. Presumably it uses GPS to check where you are located. On Android 9 and above, you can override GPS via the developer settings and use an app (I use one called ‘Fake GPS’) to spoof your location. That worked for me.
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@ykm71
Thanks for the response recomending Skycards.eu VPN service. One query, when setting up your ASUS router did it require you to flash the firmware?
Thanks,
Peter
Crikey, £12 per month is eye wateringly expensive. I recently renewed and payed less than €3 per month with NordVPN. I’ve used them for nearly 4 years now and never had an issue with any of the UK based players, except for ITV Hub that seemed to want to check the GPS on my tablet, but only when I wanted to cast to the TV.
Edit: NordVPN works with most Asus routers, I have an RT-AC87U which works great. You do need to swap servers every now and again, but it only takes a few minutes. Last time I had to do this was in July.
NordVPN did work with the default Asus software for my router. You can look at thier website to find out which models are directly supported with what software. I reflashed to dd-wrt as it’s faster.
No, the default software on the Asus worked fine. Basically you set up a VPN client on the router which then accesses the VPN server.