OpenVPN License Support for DCO (Data Channel Offload)

First - apologies. I have posted this under the “Announcements” for the OpenVPN Wan as well - but wanted to isolate the topic for clarity, as it is a fairly specific question.

I have a Peplink Surf Soho with the OpenVPN WAN license feature. Typically, OVPN gets me 9-11 Mbps down.

Apparently, the Data Channel Offload (DCO) feature of OpenVPN allows it to pass data much faster (more similar to Wireguard speeds) - which sounds promising for underpowered router processors.

I subscribe to Proton VPN, and they have provided an OpenVPN config file for use with DCO. Pasting below, with the relevant information. Note that I use their standard OpenVPN configuration files, and they work fine.

However, whenever I try to use this modified file, I get a “.ovpn file has an error” message.

FYI: The reddit thread on support for DCO on OpenVPN is here: New OpenVPN configuration to connect to Proton VPN servers : r/ProtonVPN

If anyone has some insight as to why the modified file doesn’t work, I’d appreciate it. The only possible clue I’ve seen is that DCO is supported on OpenVPN 2.6 and above - and I have no idea what version is licensed by Peplink. If it is a “perpetual” license, is the version updated by peplink?

==============================================================================

Copyright (c) 2023 Proton AG (Switzerland)

Email: [email protected]

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client
dev tun

remote 146.70.115.162 80 udp4
remote 146.70.115.162 443 udp4
remote 146.70.115.162 1194 udp4
remote 146.70.115.162 4569 udp4
remote 146.70.115.162 5060 udp4

security option : replace xxxxxx by real server name

verify-x509-name “us-ny-291.protonvpn.net” name

remote-random
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
cipher AES-256-GCM
verb 3

setenv CLIENT_CERT 0
tun-mtu 1428 <—NOTE-reduced from default 1500 for LTE network
mssfix 0
persist-key
persist-tun

reneg-sec 0

remote-cert-tls server
auth-user-pass

script-security 2
up /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf
down /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- -----END CERTIFICATE----- -----BEGIN OpenVPN Static key V1----- -----END OpenVPN Static key V1-----