I've come to the conclusion that I know nothing about setting up my new VPN router. I have fiber optic interwebs through CenturyLink/Qwest and their modem/router combo is currently set up in the basement. I was planning to hook up my new TP Link TL-R600VPN to provide a wired connection throughout the house. But, like I said, I know nothing about vpn config. I called TP link and got a nice guy stateside for about 5 minutes before the call dropped and now I get a busy signal or endless hold. Any fellow nerds out there? That are nerdier than me hopefully.

case closed

you mention VPN. Do you know what a VPN is?

Who is your provider? I use StrongVPN.

Virtual Private Network. For now I'm basically using the vpn router as a switch. I could have just bought a switch, but liked the idea of being able to remote in if I want to later and to be able to file-share via hardwire within the house. Plus I figured the security features could come in handy as well.

I would browse small net builder security articles to get a baseline.

Security How To - SmallNetBuilder

So you are planning to use the VPN router so you can create a secure VPN TUNNEL to your home network from a remote location like a coffee shop?

I use VPN services to securely encapsulate ALL IP traffic from my home computers into a secure tunnel to a remote and privately paid ISP. The server I connect to is in LA and the service, which offers total privacy costs about $85 / year. What this means is that I can anonymously (if I wanted to) browse the internet with an unidentifiable IP. Now one caveat is that in the United States you should always assume any paid ISP is compromised by the government but unless you are doing anything FBI worthy that shouldn't be a problem. I use the VPN service for general privacy and it works well and is very fast.

That is what I originally thought you meant.

Not sure if you are able to do this with your modem/router combo, but I would look into disabling the router on the modem, and using the TPLink router as your only router. That way its easy to configure the VPN without doing too much port forwarding and such. That's my two cents

I'm kinda curious about this: I rarely use the internet for anything more than netflix and general entertainment, but I do manage just about all of my financial dealings online as well. Its mostly from my phone or mac on a secured wireless network at home. Do you think I should invest in a VPN router for my new place, or would that be unnecessary overkill?