Just a note that some places detect if you are using hotspots by checking TTL on TLS packets. It's easy to overcome by configuring router to always reset the TTL on the outgoing packets.

Ironically, I’m watching this video on a cruise ship off the coast of Argentina on my new pocket router which I just set up. This is absolutely genius as my wife and I have both of our phones and iPads working off of just one ship’s connection, saving big bucks.

I'm also a woodworker, and your title gave me a start...

I use a TP Link N300 for all the same reasons mentioned here. It's about $30, runs off a micro USB power supply of any sort, and is about the size of a headphone case. Pro tip: My favorite hotel connection, if there isn't a dedicated Ethernet connection in the room, is to unplug the Ethernet cable from the smart TV and plug it into the travel router. It's WAY faster than the hotel wifi, especially during peak times in the evening, and there's usually no ecosystem to hack thru.

Field service engineer here, I have almost the exact same device (mine isn't the new WiFi spec). It's absolutely indispensable when travelling, it makes setting up all your devices so quick and easy when changing locations, and running a vpn at the travel router is also another few steps saved. I find a lot of times that even WiFi 5 over a wired hotel line is much faster than using the hotel's wireless. Great recommendation Dave!

your videos are like a list of things I've done or need! We (fam of 4) travel (and cruise) a lot so having the multi input router with built in VPN is brilliant. I usually bring a standard 5 port wifi router but this has so much more capabilities. Thanks for the informative videos.

I have this exact model and love it. No getting everyone online every time the family travels, no resets for everyone every 24 hours, and NOT paying $20 and up each device! Great video!

Thank you Dave for the tip on the travel router. I've needed one and was not sure about it, but you explained just enough to get me going! Also, I was almost in tears with the Friendly Giant piece at the end! Thank you for that! 😁

Great Episode! - I recall in the 90s/2000s at MS having a pocket router to deal with hotel networks and customer demos. they have come a long way!

Thanks for this video. I live in hotel rooms 3 weeks per month. Been researching devices like this. Because of this video, I hit your link and bought one off Amazon, will arrive tomorrow.

Just got mine today. I was eyeing this exact one for some time so thanks for reviewing it! I’m headed on several trips this year and this will definitely come in handy.

Your video came up on my feed and what a blessing! I love the inflections in your voice and your presentation was exceptional. I am about to press purchase and hope, as a layman to all things tech, that I am able to figure this out without too much stress. Love your ending to the video. Please save the rocker for me as I look to view your other videos. Again, thank you!

I found these a couple years ago as a recommendation for video production. As an event livestreamer you have several pieces of gear wired and wireless that have to be able to talk to each other on the same network. Sometimes it's hard to do with a network you don't have control over. Run it through a VPN and you can even have remote devices on the same network. It was a life saver. Connect it to a cellphone, while not a preferred connection, you can run a livestream production if you don't have internet otherwise. It wasn't long that I loved working this way. I don't connect to any network I don't control without a travel router. I don't know how I lived before having one of these. Now I own 3. The one you are reviewing here and two of their older ones.

Thanks. One of the first things I did when I switched to a job that required quite a bit travel was purchase a travel router. It served me faithfully for years but, unfortunately it only featured a wired connection and those are becoming pretty rare. I’ve been meaning to update and this video is quite timely. Thanks.

Thanks, Dave, I don't always understand the technical details of your videos, but I nonetheless always learn something. This one was particularly revealing of the possibilities.

love the simplicity in the explanation. Key to know.

this was a sweet, tightly spun out video on a much needed topic. been running one myself for ages and i was toying with upgrading it, but wasn't sure which one to go with. this narrows my candidate pool. also: the chairs/et al at the end was priceless. gave me a good laugh. thank you very much. :)

I got the AX3000 because I have multiple locations where I can use the 2.5G WAN port. The Samba implementation is the slickest and easiest I have ever seen. It will even easily share an NTFS formatted drive without issue. I sync what I want to take from the home LAN and it shares perfectly from OpenWRT. I really love this unit. The fact that it is easily managed from the phone app is a super bonus.

The Friendly Giant - great show. Thx for doing this, filming it and sharing it with us. 👍👍👍👍👍

Dave, another great easy to follow video. You've convinced me to get one of these for our travels with our RV. It does have a wifi range extender, but not impressed with it at all. It "phones home" way too many times, is only N 2.5, and outdated. I see a lot of full time RVers cobbling systems together, and this device paired with star link should do the trick. I stumbled on your channel and subscribed and watched just about everything. Being a kid growing up in the PNW in the 80s, you lead the life i wanted to go down, but just was to competitive for me. Keep up the great work and content.

Love the Friendly Giant ending at the end. As a Canadian who grew up on CBC children's tv shows in the 80s I wholeheartedly endorse how you ended this video!

I scored one of these for $80 recently and it’s a no brainer. WireGuard back to a UDM Pro is reliable.

I bought this router about a year ago. It is excellent for travel. Also got a Firewalla Blue for cheap and connect it to my travel router and get that extra layer of security with deep packet inspections. Great video!

I love it! I was looking for a device exactly like this one. I appreciate that you took the time to put this information together and sharing it!

Agree with everything Dave said... I own this model, replaced it for the 750 Slate. Best travel router out there for anyone who spends a lot of time on the road.

I have the GL.iNet X750V2 (Spitz) unit. It's very similar, but a bit bigger with a 4G LTE modem built in. As a trucker, I don't always have access to WiFi, so I got a tablet sim with "unlimited" data, and it works beautifully. In fact, I'm using the LTE right now.

Just as I'm about to research building my own device similar to this, Dave's has come along with a tried, tested and recommended solution. 🎉 Amazing thank you

I’ve spent a decent amount of time travelling and your tip with making an open VPN server and then routing back to it via this pocket router is exactly the solution I’ve been looking for! Thanks for the great videos, I only learned about your channel a few weeks back and I’ve already learned a lot!

I use the GLinet battery powered router constantly on planes. Works great!

Thanks, Dave. Very informative. I recently stumbled on to a low cost glinet router when looking for small open source router for a robotic project. I wanted the robot to have its own internal network, but be able to grab Internet over wifi from wherever the robot happened to be for which it had credentials. Works great. The model I used is about $24, but there lots of options for model, as you mention in your video. For me, running the mini router directly off a DC power source was a big feature.

Thank you very much, Dave. I can use this information and will follow your advice. I will also delve into the matter. Glad you're doing this!

Outstanding video🎉. Right into the details ones needs without all the fluff! Thank you. I have added this to list of next things to have in my travel kit.

Dave, I know it's the subs & likes where you focus, but I hope you also read comments. You aren't just a guy on UKposts. You're a reliable, legitimate, authentic technology resource. For me, you are a staple of my technology diet. This info was both fascinating and practical. I will have to come back to it to digest everything, but I can tell it was robust and practical. I hope you'll keep doing exactly this thing exactly this way. Also, thanks awfully for not putting me through the tedium of reviewing all the losers. I was truly only interested in the one you chose.

I never worked for Microsoft directly but I was a consultant contractor for a number of years, MCT MCSE MC all those letters😂 And this is brilliant I'm watching your video now I'm not at the end yet I'm getting ready to travel and this looks like it is the ticket I appreciate you I just subscribed and give you a like

Thanks for suggesting this travel router. I’ve been using a TPlink travel router for a number of years, but this unit has a lot of great additional features. It might be time to upgrade.

Dave, thank you! I always love your videos. Great useful information as always.

all info, zero filler thank you

That programmable side switch is 👌 Hardware means to turn on/off VPN is super useful. Consider me convinced.

I’ve been missing your chair outtakes! Love it, Dave! 🤗 And BTW this is a great video and very informative. That little router packs a punch!

Awesome video, Dave! I'm so glad I subscribed. I'm definitely going to look into this gadget!

I have a similar unit, the GL-MT3000 (Beryl AX) which is great. I used in the Solomon Island's as my primary router for a couple of months connected to Starlink and also adding a 4G USB dongle as a fail over. It worked great. Had to power cycle it every now and then but I worked well.

Years ago, before you could buy these, I hacked one using iptables on a Raspberry Pi and an extra WiFi dongle. It worked pretty well, but I did run into the very occasional hotel login page that wouldn't display. Most of the time I just had to update my browser, but once or twice I think some hotels had IE based pages (IE was not a high priority on early RPIs). I built the device because of the ideas you mention, and also that the security for many hotel networks puts each node on its own VPN to keep (slowdown) one guest from hacking others. Some appliances like Chromecast expect to be on the same local network as your phone or tablet. Even on travel, I didn't want to miss my Netflix binge shows.

Love your sense of humor sir. Thank you for the content! 😉

Its super cool that you share your knowledge with the world. We appreciate it.

Hey, I understood everything in this video! 🥳 Usually, I understand about 30% to 40% of what you say because of the specialized high tech jargon. I keep watching hoping that it will all start to make more and more sense one day. Excellent video!!!

I couldn't be happier than I am since this 1st time visit. I thank you for teaching me and all viewers. We thank you for caring for us users that don't know any of what you said. I appreciate your brain and skills. Bless your family and I think you have 4 girls in the home. We want to care for our family so your care for us , I thank you for.

Thank you for this great episode. I will be getting a pocket router for exactly the reasons you discuss. Internet on a cruise ship is an expensive and often slow exercise.

Great episode. Thanks for the overview. I appreciated the hat tip to the friendly giant at the end. Growing up in Buffalo, NY, we picked up the TV broadcasts from Toronto and Hamilton, and the surprising bit of nostalgia at the end was a real bonus! 😀

Nice one - If I'm at a cruise ship or plane or similar, I usually just share the internet connection with my phone (S20). Works well so long as whoever I'm sharing with, isn't too far away.

Ive been using the Gl-inet pocket routers for years. They are awesome! One of things they are great for, aside from rebroadcasting wifi, is link aggregation. Beign able to add multiple WAN connections is great. I would never travel without one.

I purchased one of the less than a week ago because I needed something for a ClearNode (for ham radio). Great little router!

Why thank you for this wonderful kind of product! I think I will buy one when I could because it's really useful in case of travelling.

I got three of those puppies I do enjoy myself control over a network.

Dave, your prompt game is on point!

Thank you man !!!! I'm a ship captain and i could not connect to my PSN without a very complicated VPN ...and so on...now you made my life much easier !!!!!!

Thanks for the video!! We go on cruises and didn't know about these. With the Starlink now on cruise ships this should be great! I am a retired EE and computer enthusiast who started in the 80's with Timex Sinclair, Vic-20, Commodore 64, then PC clones. Used PCs with Turbo Pascal to control production systems in the 80's-90's and I loved it. Got this router (happened to be on Walmart flash sale) and then learned it had OpenVPN built in. Was in the process of setting up OpenVPN on a computer but this was so much simpler. Bought their new BerylAX travel router (again Walmart sale luck) and setup a VPN at home using these little routers. They must have learned from someone about the idea of being a "travel" router. The Slate was same as yours with only US adapter. The Beryl came with three plug adapters making it a true travel router.😃

I've had one of the devices (Huawei) living in my car for a few years with a cellular connection. I don't know how I ever lived without it. I live on a small, holiday destination island and when we have visitors stay, I give them the wifi password to my house and then even when we go out in the car, to the beach, etc, they all still have wifi and we're all still connected to my home network through the VPN. It's so reliable that I forget that it's even there, and my guests think it's sorcery.

nice video dave nothing like wrapping up my friday and ordering a new pocket router.

Great episode and love the Friendly Giant reference. Love your shows.

I've had the older beryl 1300. for almost 2 years now and love it, have been meaning to pick one of these newer ones up so i can. have it permanently setup in the car

Another place where this is extremely useful: on my sailing yacht. In any port, you usually get only one account, for free, but limited to one device. Same idea as in planes or cruise ships. I didn't know these existed, you saved my day, week, and year!!

5:22 been doing this ever since Hulu started the whole “non-mobile devices have to come from the same IP” so my second house routes over the main house and I can watch streaming.

Presentation - Simply Outstanding!

What an awesome review sir. I ad no plans of buying something like this but your video cold sold me 😀. Thank you!

I feel smart. Just bought the router one step down GLinet's product stack a couple weeks ago. The only difference is slower VPN speeds, but that's ok because hotel internet isn't fast enough for that to matter. And it was only $40.

Dave, Apple TV now allows completion of any required WiFi authentication through an iPhone or iPad. That said, using the pocket router and VPN through home is brilliant when traveling outside of your usual digital rights management area.

Ah the good old Amiga reference. Brings back a lot of memories (A500, A1000, A3000, and A1200). Loved that platform back in the day.

I love your videos Dave. Always interesting. Thank you.

@Dave. I'm happy to learn that you finally have a very nice (5Gbps) Internet connection. A few years ago, I recall that you mentioned that you couldn't (at that time) get Gbps-class Internet. So YAY !! Happy for you and your family.

Totally did not expect the whistlin diesel out of a tech channel like this. Nice!

Excellent video! I don't travel too often, but when I do, internet access is a BIG deal for me! I'm looking at pocket routers right now.

Love the pocket routers! I have a Mikrotik mAP myself. Great for working in network closets with no wifi of their own. It runs off of PoE as well, so I can just stick it to the rack and plug in the one cable and be golden!

Oooh! Oooh, ooooh! Ad-blocking through the router!

I love the spoofed mac trick 😂

Super interesting and useful. Thank you. PS the mini chairs at the end are BRILLIANT

Thank you, Dave. I'll use your suggestion if I ever get on a cruise ship again.

Good to know that this segment has finally been addressed. Around 2014 I had a job that required a lot of travel and there were only two solutions I could find; a Netgear product marketed specifically to people who traveled and needed to use WiFi as WAN , and a product Peplink was marketing to people with RV's The Netgear product had a long standing bug that would cause it to reset every couple minutes if actually used it for it's primary use case. The Peplink router worked really well except that it was poorly documented and took a really long time to boot (the two of which are supremely annoying if you're troubleshooting hotel wifi BS and it wants to reset with every setting change).

4:53 "Dave's Soviet Mini Phone" I want to hear that story!😂

OMG the Friendly Giant! As a Canadian of a certain age I have seen that outro hundreds of times

Dave, I must say, you seem to be firing on all cylinders these days. Flowing in the zone! Great review, exactly the kind of device I've been thinking about lately, and once again thank you.

One thing you have to watch for is address conflicts between your home network and the remote location. Years ago, I used to travel a lot with my work. On occasion, I couldn't use my VPN because the hotel used the same subnet as my home network. I then moved my home network to the 172.16 range, as the 192.168 & 10 blocks were often used elsewhere. I've only once seen 172.16 used elsewhere.

Dave, would consider doing an audiobook version of your "Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire"? You already have a great voice and likely all the equipment.

This is amazing timing. Taking a cruise soon and was annoyed about the internet options, not sure why I didn’t think of this. Thanks!

This video was vastly different than what I expected as I normally watch woodworking videos. I was wildly confused for a second or two. That said, this is a great idea that I didn't know was a thing.

Another, potentially bigger reason to use a travel router is because you can't trust the security of any public Wi-Fi setup or even Ethernet in the wall. By using a travel router, all your stuff is not visible to the hotel therefore safer especially after you turn on the VPN.

I have that same slate and the gl750 that they released an sdk for. It's funny I was on a cruise for 14 days. I had a balcony and took my gen 3 flat dish with me mounted in a 1615 air case with a delta 2 power bank and a pair of 200w cigs solar panels rolled up in the starlink case. And a small case for regular clothing and a big case for my suit. It cost me 250$ for that month but I had full 55mbps + down and 20mbps up the entire trip I had friends in other rooms on the top deck I ran a 40ft cat 5e and used a 8ft pole on a seasucker camera mount to get the ap out over the side to make the hidden said network available to about 80% the people I knew on the ship this when into a capture portal on that same travel router where that had to pay me 1$ per gigabyte. This ended up covering the cost of the starlink kit. But not the mods or service used and honestly was more a nerd thing on a ship with other over age nerds.

Love your straight up narrative.

OMG. You played the Friendly Giant at the end. I am travelling back in time...

Best choice for pocket router - MikroTik hAP as or hAP Lte :)

I live north of the 51st parallel in Canada and I can't believe how much everyone's life in my remote area has improved since Starlink was launched! We do snowmobile rides and carry a small honda 2000 inverter generator and the starlink which both fit in a utility sled's rear rack. We ride to the middle of a frozen lake, pop up the starlink, start the generator and in max 10 secs you have internet that is 100% the same speed and latency as traditional cabled internet. Also made us realize just how much we're addicted to tiktok and memes on the internet. We use the excuse that it's for ''safety'' and to ''keep in touch''...

Agree, Dave. I got a GL-iNET Beryl AX router for Christmas and it was great on a recent trip - took my Roku as well and it was great to not have to keep logging in to hotel WiFi with multiple devices. To just be able to flick a switch and enable my private VPN was great. PS one reason I sometimes couldn't connect was when I forgot to disconnect the VPN when moving to a new hotel before trying to browse to the captive portal 😂

Great info and I absolutely LOVED the whistlindiesel reference!

The fact it runs openWRT should be emphasized! I'm tempted...

No BS guy. Clear explanation and a ton of things to learn from him. Subscribe

I'm on my thrid one (4th if you count my raspberry pi). The first two had the USB port fail (the pi did too). Essential item! Useful video Dave.

Bought a Beryl1200 and have gotten much, much more use out of it than I thought it would. Especially fun for hooking up the OG Xbox to my wifi network!

I have a couple of these routers, but I hardly ever use them. Instead I use an Android phone that offers "Wifi bridge" that shares its WiFi with all your devices as its own hotspot. Furthermore, it's also dual SIM so I just add a local SIM when abroad. I found the captive portal thing still a PITA with the router: the direct Android phone method is much easier as it has the web UI directly on the phone. I could never get the VPN to work on these routers with my home router-based VPN, so I just use the client VPN on each device to target my home router's VPN DNS. The only thing the travel router offers over an Android solution is a wired ethernet connection, which very occasionally is useful (I'm an embedded systems engineer, some test equipment only has ethernet, no Wifi).

Reviews online suggest the device reports back to China using factory firmware, but that is not a big deal because technical users can simply flash OpenWRT themselves. I'm really familiar with OpenWRT , and so I may try this out.. Thanks Dave!

CLEARLY not a dummy! I'm subscribing. Great pacing on your speaking. Well done. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

Chromecast with Android TV has a built in browser and you can use that to log into hotel wifi. How do I know? I travel extensively for work and have used my Chromecast at hotels nearly everywhere. With an attached USB hub, you can also connect USB external drives, other devices, etc. And since it also is Android, you can install Android apps for VPNs, etc. And best of all, it is half the price of this router, as well as a quarter of the size (half if you are also carrying the USB hub). I used to travel with a TP-Link pocket router, but once I got my Chromecast with Android TV, I no longer carry it.