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You may not have a “travel router” on your vacation packing list, but after reading this article, you can. This is why we always carry a router with us when we go to a hotel.
What is a travel router?
A travel router is a small network router designed with a focus on portability and use in the field. While in theory, you can use a travel router as an Internet router in your home, it’s not intended for that.
Instead, travel routers are designed to connect a small number of devices together that are all clustered together. Think about it, your laptop and phone, your kids’ tablets, and even a hotel room wand—all these things and not a pile of computers, smart devices, and the like spread all over your home.
They typically have a very small form factor, the size of a portable battery pack or smaller. Speaking of which, many of them are portable battery packs, so you can charge your phone in addition to their router function when you’re on the go.
Additionally, unlike a router at home, travel routers have UI elements and functions that make it easy to quickly switch between router mode, hotspot mode, repeater mode, and so on.
The last part is crucial. You want a travel router that can easily connect to the hotel internet in multiple and reliable ways. In some hotels, you can plug the travel router directly into the Ethernet connection in your room, which is easy.
In other hotels, there is no physical internet connection, and you have to connect the travel router to the hotel wifi and use it in the hotel wifi and use it in the place where you can get the wifi connection and then all your local devices will connect to the travel router instead of the hotel wifi system.
Why use a travel router in a hotel?
You might be thinking, “Well, that’s all very impressive, but I don’t know why I’m going to the trouble?” And if you don’t mind packing a router (no matter how small) with your toiletries and phone chargers, that’s a valid question to keep in mind.
Historically, one of the reasons for packing a travel router was because many hotels didn’t have Wi-Fi (they had an Ethernet port in the room for business travelers to plug in their laptops).
Later, when hotels started getting Wi-Fi, they had depressing policies that only allowed one or two devices on the network per guest/room. Even today, some hotel Wi-Fi systems still have such rules.
When using a travel router, only the travel router can log into the hotel system, so there is only one device in the room. All other devices’ traffic goes through the travel router.
Speaking of device traffic, you can use a travel router to increase your privacy. Most travel routers support basic VPN protocols like PPTP or L2TP, and more advanced ones support OpenVPN and WireGuard.
This makes it easy to switch directly from your room to a third-party VPN or back to your corporate or home VPN server. It also makes it easy to transfer files securely as the file transfer is on the micro network you set up and the files never go through the hotel’s infrastructure at all.
It also makes it much easier to use your device in the fashion you’re used to. You can set your travel router’s Wi-Fi credentials to match your home network’s Wi-Fi credentials, for example. That makes checking in easier when you check into your hotel (since your phone and laptop already know the way to “home”), but you can throw your Chromecast or favorite streaming stick in your bag and use it. Your hotel room. Forget the dumb “smart” TV interface that hotels have, enjoy your streaming services the way you want without any lag.
Which Travel Router Should You Get?
More than anything else, when shopping for a travel router (whether you choose one of our suggestions or go out on your own to do some research), you need this feature: captive portal connectivity.
Did you know that when you first connect to the hotel Wi-Fi, there is a pop-up page where you accept the terms and conditions and/or enter your name and room number? That’s a portal. You’ll need a router that switches and “captures” your original login device (like your iPhone).
All of our picks below support simple captive portal exchanges, making it easy to set up when you first get to your hotel room. Without that feature, you’re left to manually clone your original login device’s MAC address, which often works but can be hit or miss.
One of the most popular options on the market is the TP-Link N300 Nano Router. It’s a steal at around $30, but it’s starting to show its age.
It only supports 802.11n (Wi-Fi 4) on the 2.4 GHz band. But for just ten bucks more, you can jump from the N300 Nano Router to the TP-Link AC750 Nano Router.
TP-Link TL-WR902AC AC750
It’s very small, inexpensive, and most importantly, our pick for the best travel router. It’s the easiest solution for most people.
The updated model has dual-band Wi-Fi, 802.11AC (Wi-Fi 5) and a very convenient switch on the side makes it easy to change modes without entering the router.
While we like the TP-Link Nano lineup, especially the newer models, and think they’re suitable for everyone, we have a few other options to consider.
If you want more advanced VPN solutions, you need to go beyond TP-Link’s offerings and consider something like the GL.iNet GLMT300N – it’s the equivalent of the TP-Link N300 Nano router, but uses the popular OpenWRT router firmware and supports both OpenVPN and WireGuard.
And if you want a beefy upgrade over the TP-Link AC750 Nano router, consider the GL.iNet GL-A1300.
GL-iNet GL-A1300
For power users who need pass-through connectivity for Ethernet devices and advanced VPN services like WireGuard, this travel router offers.
It also runs OpenWRT firmware and strong VPN support like its smaller sibling, but includes two more Ethernet ports, support for many more Wi-Fi devices, and more.
But if you go with any of our picks, you’ll be in control of your Wi-Fi destiny when you’re on the road. Forget crappy hotel Wi-Fi or frustrating Wi-Fi regulations. Plug in your own router and go. And hey, if you’re in an upgrade mood, here are some other travel gadget upgrades you should check out.
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