GL.iNet GL-A1300 Pocket VPN Travel Router - Portable Wi-Fi Router for Travel, Easy to Set up, Connect to Public & Hotel Wi-Fi login Page

I recently took the GL.iNet GL-A1300 Pocket VPN Travel Router on a cruise with Carnival, and it performed exceptionally well for my family. Here's a detailed review based on our experience:**Pros:**- **Great for Travel:** This router is incredibly compact and easy to carry, making it a perfect travel companion. Its small size allowed me to easily fit it in my bag without taking up much space.- **Wi-Fi Sharing:** One of the standout features was the ability to connect to the ship's Wi-Fi and share it with multiple devices. We only paid for one device connection and used the router to provide Wi-Fi for the entire family, which was a huge cost saver.- **USB-C Powered:** The router is powered via USB-C, which is very convenient as it can be powered by the same charger used for most modern smartphones and laptops.- **Features:** The router comes with excellent features, including dual-band Wi-Fi, VPN capabilities (OpenVPN and WireGuard pre-installed), and network storage options. The setup was straightforward and user-friendly, even for someone who isn't particularly tech-savvy.- **Security:** With features like a VPN internet kill switch, VPN policies, and encrypted DNS with Cloudflare, it provides a robust layer of security, which is essential when using public Wi-Fi networks.**Cons:**- **Wi-Fi Repeater Strength:** The only noticeable downside was the speed drop-off when using it as a Wi-Fi repeater. While this is somewhat expected, it can still be a bit of an inconvenience if you're trying to maintain higher speeds.- **No Built-in Battery:** Although it's powered via USB-C, having a small built-in battery would be a nice addition for times when you don't have access to a power source. However, this isn't a major issue as long as you have a portable charger.Overall, the GL.iNet GL-A1300 is a fantastic travel router that offers great value for its price. Its compact size, ease of use, and rich feature set make it a must-have for frequent travelers. The slight speed drop-off in repeater mode is a minor inconvenience compared to the overall benefits it provides. Another feature I would appreciate is if the USB C port doubles as power and an Ethernet port so I could just plug it into my MacBook and have the same cable power the router and have a wired internet connection.

I bought this for use on an overseas trip, as well as for RV camping. It's proven itself nicely on a recent overseas trip.Why I like travel routers, in general: (1) Connect all my devices to the router before leaving for a trip, and then when I arrive at a destination, I only have to connect one device (the travel router) to the Internet. This allows me to use multiple devices where some destinations limit the number of connected devices. It also allows family members to not have to connect their own individual devices to the wifi. (2) Use a VPN when connecting to WiFi hotspots of unknown quality. I don't know how safe a hotel's WiFi is, or a campground's WiFi. Some may be great, but some may be run by people who aren't very good at securing the network. By connecting my devices to the travel router, and having it set up to use a VPN, I'm establishing my own security. I can also choose a VPN server in the region of the world that makes the most sense for my use case. (3) Range extension: Whether I'm plugging into a network jack in a hotel, or connecting the router wirelessly to the hotel or campground's network, the router has better antennas than some of my devices, and can be situated in a location that gets better signal. In my RV I can put it near the ceiling or near a window, for example. Then I'm able to rebroadcast my own wifi bubble that my devices connect to with fewer problems.The reason I like *this* travel router are: (1) Size. It's slightly larger than the previous travel router I used, but still compact enough to take anywhere. (2) Capabilities: Adguard, DNS over HTTPS, Wireguard / OpenVPN, and the configurability of OpenWRT. It's a full-featured router. (3) Range: Its antennas seem to work very well to pull in wifi signals in tricky places like campgrounds. (4) Speed: On my recent trip overseas I was able to stream movies over WireGuard VPN (using ProtonVPN) without any difficulty, while other devices still were browsing the internet fine. It's the fastest travel router I've ever owned (it's my 4th travel router). I really was surprised at how well it performed with WireGuard VPN. Its speeds with WireGuard are as fast as the unprotected speeds of my older travel routers.Places where this router is a perfect fit:(1) 3-bedroom or smaller apartments. I've set up good quality travel routers as the primary routers in apartments before, and have found them perfectly satisfactory. This, being the fastest travel router I've used, and having very good range, is ideal in such situations. Why mess with a big ugly router in a small apartment when this will do the job just fine?(2) RV camping in campgrounds that provide Wifi. Often these locations have difficult wifi. So placing the router in a position within the RV that seems to get the best signal, can help in rebroadcasting a usable signal to the rest of your devices.(3) Travel to hotels that limit number of devices.(4) Anywhere a VPN can be useful. Sometimes I'll leave this router running at home so that if I want my device to connect through a VPN I just select this router's wifi SSID. When I don't need the VPN, I select my home's router's SSID. It's often useful to be able to select VPN points of presence in other parts of the world.(5) Sharing a hotspot. I can allow several devices to connect to my phone when it's on hotspot mode. But it's sometimes easier to just connect a travel router to my phone's hotspot and let family members connect to the travel router; stronger signal, for example.