[SOLVED] Wireless router/AP for travel

[sirhawkeye]

Looking for suggestions for a travel wireless a/p that I can use when I travel. Basically, I want something that can connect to a hotel's wifi and create it's own network, so I have an extra layer of security (ie. I can create my own private network with it). I've noticed at some hotels that they enable guest wifis so that users can sometimes see eachother on the network, which I don't like.

Thoughts or suggestions? Needs to be portable (able to fit into a laptop bag or something) and doesn't have to have a ton of range (just enough to cover a hotel room. The key will be for it to be able to use the existing hotel wi-fi and create it's own wireless network with security that I can connect to.

 

[Alabalcho]

Have used this one, as well as an older version. Powered by USB, exactly for the purpose you're looking for (adding wired Ethernet connection as well)

 

[bill001g]

I do not know a current travel router but the key feature is it must actually run as a router.

What you are doing is really running what is going to be called a repeater but there is a huge difference. When you run in repeater mode it just extends the signals you are on the same network. In addition it must run a function called WDS which is not enabled on many hotel system because it is considered a security exposure.

What you need is a device that can run as a router that has its wan port connected via wifi radio. This generally means you must have a dedicated wifi radio chip to talk to the hotel and it must be able to switch between 2.4 and 5. You then need a different radio chip to talk to your end devices. If you want a mix of 2.4 and 5g at the same time on the lan side you need 2 radio chips. So the best travel routers will have 3 wifi chips.

Read the details very carefully. Many so called travel "routers" only run as routers if you connect via the ethernet port. You need to find one that can run as a router using wifi for its wan.

 

[sirhawkeye]

Yes basically that's what I need: something that can take the existing wi-fi (as the "WAN port") and create it's own private network that I can connect to, to give me an extra layer of security and ensure that people on the hotel wifi cannot see or access the computers/devices I connect to it.

 

[Alabalcho]

The device I've posted above does exactly that - own WiFi out of existing WiFi.

 

[gggplaya]

I use GL.inet routers. I travel alot for business and the UI of these routers is great. It's based on OpenWRT so the firmware is good.

On some hotels, you can use the WAN port and plug into the ethernet on the wall. But each client on the last hotel I stayed in was limited to 5mbps. So essentially, everything connected to my access point had to share the 5mbps bandwidth. The advantage is, I could log into the the guest portal with my laptop once, then all my devices could connect to internet without signing into the portal. This was especially useful for my Amazon Firestick.

Some hotels are getting better routing software and can now actively block repeaters and access points. For this, GL.inet provides a MAC address copy feature. Simply use your laptop wifi to connect to the hotel's guest portal and sign in. Then use your laptop's wifi to connect to the glinet access point and hit copy mac address. The GLInet access point will now look identical to your laptop and the hotel won't know the difference.

These routers can also use OpenVPN and Wireshark right out of the box, if you truly want security.

I'm currently using the Beryl router, but there is a known bug with the MAC address copy feature right now. However, they did announce a new firmware that's supposed to fix the issue. The Beryl is still new, get the SLATE if you want a proven access point.