OpenWrt Forum Archive
https://forum.archive.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=6871728.11.2016 · If you use l2tp over internet then without additional ipsec layer communication is unencrypted. If your l2tp sever is set up to require encryption (on mac it should be easy and probably its on by default) then openwrt cant connect without additional manual configuration of strongswan. And this is not as easy as plaintext.