Why You Need a Pocket Router: Hotels, Airports, Airplanes, Cruise Ships - Stay Connected Anywhere!

[@Sergey95GameTesterrr]

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.

[@Dwigt_Rortugal]

This is how to get around some cellular restrictions with a SIM swapped LTE modem. The provider may look for an atypical TTL value as the criterium for detecting a device that isn't a phone. I mean, I read that somewhere educationally.

[@chunkychuck]

​@@Dwigt_Rortugalthat hasn't worked for me, setting TTL to 64 or 65 or whichever. Some data is still flagged as Hotspot. Not sure how they do it.

[@JamesT65]

I route all my traffic over the blockchain.

[@TheReapersSon]

Great idea!

[@happycakes1946]

@@JamesT65 180000ms not bad.

[@jayoneill1533]

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.

[@DavesGarage]

Glad to hear it's working well!

[@robertweekley5926]

And... You don't have to log off for her to log on! 👍😁

[@badawesome]

Thats why I go on a cruise

[@sudilos1172]

@@badawesomeYeah nothing says Luxury cruise like live streaming NFL while enjoying a beautiful foreign ocean/island visita with a drink in your hand

[@jaybee848]

But only in your cabin or near the router , right?

[@gijoecam]

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.

[@appliedengineering4001]

I do something similar at all the Vegas hotels. The phones in the rooms are voip and I just plug the Ethernet cable from the phone into my computer with a PoE block. None of them have DNS on the network. Buts that's not hard to get around.

[@Hungry_Hunter]

I did this a while ago just to see if it would work and it did. So simple.

[@makingcookingfixing]

I did a search for N300 put a lot comes up, more so as Wifi Extenders, could you give the specific model number please? Is it like TL-WR841N ? Tnx

[@mackigator]

Oh wow. What a great tip!

[@eDoc2020]

@@makingcookingfixing Probably TL-WR802N.

[@rskeyesful]

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

[@MatthewTaylorAu]

Ditto Router’s cut wood

[@anthonyanderson9771]

It's why I clicked haha!

[@readingsbycara]

I thought the very same thing !!! 😂

[@EKHondaMotive]

😂😂😂

[@collinfranks]

yup

[@Swannilization]

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!

[@TOOLMANTIMSWORKSHOP]

You just answered the two questions I had thanks

[@Placesandspaces35]

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!

[@WolfsHaven]

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.

[@robduncan2816]

i have a Beryl MT 1300 that i bought a few years to have a network i could control in sketchy WIFI locations to use with a VPN as well. like yourself, i started doing live streams and also went to my trusty Beryl in that scenario. 1000% agree, i will never connect any other way when off my own network

[@W1ldTangent]

Same, been using my own for this for off-site events with my employer for years because it just makes my life easier. Finally got them to buy their own a couple years ago haha.

[@user-tc5pl3zw3h]

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 KZbin. 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.

[@LindaHutchings]

Same thanks Forwarded to a bunch of fellow sailor friends

[@DavidEckard]

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.

[@wtmayhew]

Absolutely. At the last hotel I where I stayed, on my way to the workout room, I noticed the door to the telecom room was wide open. I saw it that way the next morning too. There’s no telling what people might have gone in there or what they were up to. There was pretty good LTE service, so I turned on my phone hotspot and tethered to my phone. I didn’t go anywhere near the hotel’s Internet.

[@MrPir84free]

Most people will fail to realize this PERIOD. When you connect to another person's/business' Wi-Fi, you definitely don't know if they are monitoring and recording everything that is happening, if the network is isolating clients or not, etc, I remember about 18 years ago, at work, I had a wifi network in a conference room. So, on the afternoon of Day 3, this one guy drops by with a tech issue; he's been putting his laptop on my network for 3 days, but then on the third day he says "oh, by the way, I have a virus on my computer; is there anything you can do for that ? " .. Like WTF. How about bringing it to me BEFORE putting in on my network.

[@wouldoox8024]

Does the VPN itself not protect you from those?

[@DavidEckard]

@@wouldoox8024 It does but a pocket router protects everything behind it. Like your computer, your phone, and your family's devices, and I have traveled with a Roku so it protects that too.

[@DavidEckard]

@wouldoox8024 by using a travel router for VPN, you only set up the VPN once. And all your devices use the router. All your children's devices and your wife's devices also use it.

[@JoeMcMullin]

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!

[@imadecoy.]

You can do all that on a Samsung phone just by enabling hotspot while connected to Wi-Fi

[@FractalPrism.]

all info, zero filler thank you

[@guermeisterdoodlebug7980]

Except first 3 minutes about career, other former business, wife, children, etc.

[@bharm6974]

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.

[@mobilephone4045]

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.

[@cedwardsmedia]

I bought an older model yesterday for a work project. I've been working for a residential fiber ISP and this is now part of my mobile kit where I can walk up to a pole, mount my kit to the pole, and plug in to our connection and everything is powered by a USB battery pack. So far I seem to be able to power the ONU and this router for 6-8 hours.

[@johnmountain2825]

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.

[@evans7771]

Update? How do you like it?

[@Filosofuerza]

Saw video, Clicked on affiliate link, got device in less than 24hrs. This is saving me so much money and aggravation already. Thank you!

[@shawnmcnabb1165]

Not sure if it is mentioned here but GLiNet also makes the GL-750 which includes a battery. It's really handy for travel as you don't need power and it supports 4G LTE. Great for the airport, coffee shops, etc. I've been using one for a couple years, having replaced a HooToo device that got long in the tooth. The other really handy feature for families that travel, is that everyone can simply connect to a saved network no matter where we are.

[@rbolwell]

I've just purchased one of these after watching this video, and set it up in less than 5 minutes. It works beautufully. I do a lot of travel and this will come in very handy indeed, Thanks Dave!

[@unclerojelio6320]

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.

[@texman3641]

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.

[@JamieStuff]

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.

[@DavesGarage]

Cool, I didn't know they made one with LTE built in!

[@chunkychuck]

​@@DavesGarageThey even have a 5g model! Useful for home internet.

[@catchnkill]

@@DavesGarage They have a lot of models. GL.iNet is a interesting niche product supplier. Their wifi modems are usually higher price than similar China brands. Their core competitiveness is the embrace of openwrt. They put their openwrt firmware into most of their products. However their firmware is not standard openwrt. They do not open-source their openwrt. It fits the niche that a bit advance users want some advance function but do not want to build their own full-blown openwrt wifi router.

[@TRAVISGOLDIE]

@@DavesGarageI’d love to see a review of one with inbuilt lte!

[@Dark_Knight_USA]

Greetings: "unlimited"? What is Ur definition of "unlimited"? Perhaps it differs from mine and the advertised?

[@davidmedders8178]

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.

[@bagchief]

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

[@Bryghtpath]

The pocket router sounds like a game-changer for staying connected while traveling. Your explanation of how it works and the benefits for families with multiple devices is super helpful.

[@imadecoy.]

Most of this functionality is built into any Samsung phone

[@rbolwell]

​@@imadecoy.Then you leave the room and all other devices disconnect

[@imadecoy.]

@@rbolwell Weird that you need your devices in the room connected when you're not there, and you suddenly want no internet on your phone.

[@JonDisnard]

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!

[@hanginglights7874]

But what if you are not technical?

[@JonDisnard]

@@hanginglights7874 Dave's audience probably leans towards technical, but if otherwise... OpenWRT's web-ui has a straight forward way to flash firmware, which non-technical users could eventually learn how to make work, or seek technical support.

[@goat-eyes]

​@@hanginglights7874This dipshit doesn't care. Their comment was solely for self-aggrandizement.

[@lucaslegz]

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!

[@rhsujr]

on a cruise, there's no need for travel routers (NAT gateways) to connect multiple devices to one account. Instead, take advantage of the built-in hotspot capabilities of modern mobile phones (iPhone, Pixel, etc...), use the phones' Airplane mode with Wi-Fi enabled, cellular data turned off and then turn on the hotspot feature. This approach ensures seamless connectivity for all devices, allowing everyone onboard to fully enjoy their vacation experience without any unnecessary equipment like a travel router.

[@0thundr0]

In order to use the iPhone as a hotspot, it must be connected to the internet through cellular data. You cannot use the personal hotspot feature to share an external Wi-Fi network.

[@abqlewis]

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.

[@CaptainKremmen]

Before you could buy these? The Linksys WTR54GS Wireless G Travel Router with Speedbooster came out 7 years before the first Raspberry Pi.

[@mattbuchanan9024]

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

[@NickSealPueo]

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!

[@tolep]

So you're going to spend your time on a cruise ship just like you would at home? Streaming and social media? Does being mostly offline for a few days annoy you? On a cruise ship?

[@rustyshackleford6147]

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!

[@TexasCanuck]

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!

[@michaelmeyer2725]

Dave: Just bought one of these routers. I had it set up and running within 5 minutes. This thing is quite packed with features that will make it super useful. We travel to Europe later this month. That's where it'll get its best test. Between the hotel and then the hotspot we use once we get to our destination, hassle free access is the goal. I set the WiFi name/SSID to the same as I use at home, with my goal being that once my wife/kids start to use their devices, they'll connect seamlessly, meaning I won't have to touch each device. Not guaranteed, but my thinking is if it sees a known network and can connect to it automatically, all the better.

[@allenbythesea]

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.

[@colfaxschuyler3675]

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

[@gjheydon]

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.

[@johnchristian7788]

Can you please mention how you power cycle it?

[@HQBergeron]

@@johnchristian7788 Unplug the power cord for a few seconds, then plug it back in.

[@gregNFL]

Thank you for doing my homework. If it’s good enough for Dave, it’s more than good enough for me.

[@ToddBurgess]

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!

[@MikeWood]

The Friendly Giant outro was so unexpected. Made me grin. :)

[@Bob-of-Zoid]

He's been using it for over a year at least already!

[@BillAndersonNS]

I too am an old fan of Rusty and Jerome.

[@2lefThumbs]

As a Brit, I wondered why he always does an outro mentioning chairs, as a voise-over to "early on morning? (I generally just listen, rather than watch Dave's output)

[@rickferrara5646]

Oh my gosh! I haven't thought of the Friendly Giant in years! I know we're a little off topic from the main video premise (which was really good), but that made my day! I watched that show on CBC also growing up in Detroit in the 70's, and once the 80's came around and I got into hair metal, "for another who likes to rock" took on a whole new meaning! Nice job on both the video, and the closing!!

[@singincowboy]

Google Pixel phones can do a hotspot while connected to Wi-Fi. You can just go through the walled garden in your phone, then connect your devices to the hotspot. I use a Chromecast to watch TV in hotels, a couple smart plugs and an old echo dot.

[@rbolwell]

So can most, if not all smartphones, not just Pixels. The picket router has much more functionality built in it. It can connect to multiple internet sources and aggregate them into one high speed connection. Plus there are LAN ports on the device that came in handy.

[@murrayvt]

If you're bringing your Apple TV onto a cruise ship, I'd say you need to re-evaluate why you're going on a cruise in the first place. I will say, this does facilitate and make it much easier to connect all your devices and your families devices to the Internet when traveling. I've been doing this for years. Albeit using a regular size router. Great video and good information.

[@laslohollifeld5463]

$15 raspberry pi zero w $20 lipo battery module $15 usb wifi dongle $3. Micro USB adapter Open source software Fits in your pocket, battery lasts 4 - 6 hrs Usb rechargeable

[@johnwilliam2474]

how to assemble? what is it missing from the device in the video?

[@ZoeyR86]

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.

[@tolep]

Why did you even get on a cruise ship? Wasn't it enough to find the video "Sea waves (10 hrs)" on KZbin and not bother leaving the house?

[@ZoeyR86]

@tolep it was planned with hundreds of people from conventions as a group. Just think of it as a way over 1000 gaming friends from online forums decided to party. For the most part the cost of a cruise isn't a big deal either a lot of have camera lenses that cost more than both combined

[@tolep]

@@ZoeyR86 What I meant was the irresistible need to be online all the time and with a good quality connection.

[@ZoeyR86]

@tolep we did live podcasts and twitch streams of the events

[@DavidM2002]

@@tolep Until you find that every so often the waves stop and you get an ad for Nord VPN...

[@exrayZap-ry1gh]

unusual to hear a youtuber who's every word actually mean something.. thanks for the info and for not wasting my time. you have a new subscriber .

[@smthrulez]

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

[@techieg33k]

And it even supports WireGuard.

[@smthrulez]

WG, ipsec, openvpn, sstp, l2tp, and now backtohome (wg with hole punching) @@techieg33k

[@RBzee112]

GL.inet supports Wireguard too.

[@LouiseBrooksBob]

Mikrotik is very good for exports because even the cheapest model can do almost anything network related, even set up a BGP connection.

[@n0b0d1-rc6dz]

Thx MikroDik I’ll check it out

[@justtheone5168]

Just ordered one for myself and im excited to try it! Thanks for covering this!

[@edwardchester1]

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

[@jmvelezpr]

I am using the slate on my fiber connection and wifi connected to my starlink for load balancing and fail over it works great. No matter what my Internet service is fast and 100% uptime. In case of a power failure the system continues to work with 3 tesla power wall and 48 solar panel. If that fails a Onan 35 KWH diesel generator kicks in and if that fails a 9.5KWH gasoline engine is manually started and transferred manually. Ready for the next hurricane with food, water, diesel, power and internet. For travel I use the cheaper version of the slate to connect to wifi in cruise ship or any restricted internet access.

[@rolling_marbles]

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.

[@nezbrun872]

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).

[@nataliegrn17]

Does the Android offer the same features and protection as the pocket router to connected clients, such as firewall and IPS?

[@domi1kenobi]

you could connect the phone via VPN to your home network (that has all the features you want)

[@evangelicalsnever-lie9792]

This was excellent 🙏

[@real-webbe]

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

[@roysigurdkarlsbakk3842]

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.

[@imadecoy.]

Yeah Samsung phones have that functionality built in. Yet to see reports of other brands that can do it.

[@sizemo]

Hey Dave, just wanted to let you know that I appreciated this video! We went overseas recently and I picked up one of these routers to use for the duration of the trip and it made a real difference for us! I was able to connect my whole family on one device on the plane, and then when we were at our destinations, we were able to connect securely instead of on an open wifi connection and with AdGuard turned on. I even ended up using the ethernet from the back of the television trick mentioned in the comments here in one hotel.

[@masked_swan]

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!

[@nobodynemoq]

Apart from all security and cost matters, such router is a great thing when the hotel wifi is a bit weak. You can put this device in a spot where signal is the strongest (and it has better antennas than phones do), and then you have great wifi quality all over your apartment.

[@IanSebryk]

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. :)

[@paltrutzgigi9553]

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 !!!!!!

[@Misteribel]

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!!

[@benjaminlynch9958]

First world problems. LOL

[@LeifNelandDk]

You can share WiFi from the device that's connected to the public WiFi. Don't need extra hardware.

[@badawesome]

We all use them on our yachts

[@bigdaadio.K2WW]

@@LeifNelandDk Not via ethernet

[@LeifNelandDk]

@@bigdaadio.K2WW I don't see many places where you get an ethernet port to plug into. But you can share the "ethernet internet" over WiFi. You could theoretically add a switch and have two IP addresses on the same nic, and route between them, but that would require static IP's on your own net. That's too messy, just get a router then.

[@444destiny]

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

[@arminth]

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

[@craigslist6988]

yeah glinet makes great stuff imo, hardware is solid and price appropriate (as in don't try to host for several families on a travel router or it will freeze up). Takes a good company to embrace OSS instead of going for the infuriating "we ship our routers with a ton of so-called-cloud features (that we reserve the right to track and sell your data from! that's cool right?) you deeeefinitely want, we know you want them so much we'll actively pay our developers to try blocking you from removing them instead of fixing firmware bugs!"

[@shanent5793]

It's false advertising. You have to use their version of OpenWRT, you can't use an official OpenWRT

[@dziban303]

Huge plus to using a VPN tunnel to your home is that you can use your home Pihole to block ads on all connected devices

[@estusflask982]

This router blocks ads with Ad Guard

[@dziban303]

Ah, I didn't hear him mention that, but anyway using your home Pihole is one less thing you need to set up.

[@craigslist6988]

​@@dziban303still better to also route to home if you're capable of setting up a secure home vpn, for other reasons he said

[@GuillermoArellano]

But what about the advertisers? Poor souls are going to lose money if they don’t show you ads. Don’t be evil. /sarcasm

[@mysharyna1741]

Could you go over the steps on how to connect to a captive portal?

[@emmavillar3499]

Here is what to do with the captive portal issue. I think this is due to the fact that sometimes some custom DNS servers may not be utilized correctly. Installing a proxy on the device seems to work. Access the captive portal through that proxy. I recommend Squid.

[@RPMiller]

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.

[@TSPhotoAtlanta]

Haha, brllig - hxxing outta the ‘walled garden.’ All clean and peaceful-like, no bad intentions. Shame that life is so often a work-around! I traveled with one of these to a convention awhile back - we found more joy in getting around the center, hitting the beach, etc. I can see where you’re quite locked in on a cruise so this would double the benefit. Or with kids, family, going off the ma-, etc.

[@James_Knott]

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.

[@eDoc2020]

An easy workaround for this is a second travel router. Use that to convert the location's IP range to something else.

[@James_Knott]

@@eDoc2020 Why not just change your subnet? It's very easy to do and that way you avoid the problem. Also, you still have to configure those travel routers to avoid conflicts with either end of the VPN. Of course, the best solution is to use IPv6. I can connect my VPN via either IPv4 or IPv6. It works well either way. Also, with IPv6 you don't need NAT and all the problems it brings. With IPv6, you don't have the address shortage that made NAT necessary. I get 2^56 IPv6 addresses from my ISP.

[@eDoc2020]

@@James_Knott It's not practical to renumber your entire network every time you stay someplace that has a conflicting network. 172.16 is common enough it's still an issue. I agree if you can go all-IPv6 the issues would be solved.

[@James_Knott]

@@eDoc2020 That's not what I'm saying. What I said is that subnets in the 172.16 block are rare, based on my experience setting up equipment in many, many businesses. There are 4096 /24 subnets in that block to choose from, so throw the dice to pick one.

[@James_Knott]

Correction, I have a /56 prefix, which provides 2⁷² addresses.

[@MikeDSutton]

Recently came back from a cruise and had the similar GL-MT3000 (Beryl AX) with us which worked a treat. Also worth noting that it runs off USB-C, so if you need to use it outside of the cabin just take along a portable USB power bank or laptop and your private network is available anywhere onboard - Highly recommended.

[@PapaBradAbides]

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

[@robertheinrich2994]

I can see why this thing is golden if you are in a job that requires you to travel a lot. and for the people, who like to do a bit more DIY stuff, there are plenty of router-boards (banana pi) available.

[@gedgicat2063]

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

[@ramyhuber8392]

Thanks, my brother had a similar device years ago before they became mainstream. He lived in a place up in Northern California with hardly any cell towers (at the time) and before starlink. Was magical to all his neighbors.

[@fredlack1948]

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.

[@davidclift5989]

Just got hold of one of these and in the UK it comes with the UK and EURO plug adapter which is very handy. Another great video thank you Dave

[@anwalt693]

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.

[@j.mccarthy3008]

Fascinating!! I think I understand about 10% of what you said!! I will check with my grandchildren. They will know!!!

[@Iswimandrun]

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

[@SenileOtaku]

When the terms say you're allowed to use the connection with "one device", well that's exactly what you ARE doing. It just happens to be that the ONE device is a router. And you could say your company requires you to not make direct connections but have to go through a device with it's own security.

[@KangTheDigitalNomadInitiative]

love the simplicity in the explanation. Key to know.

[@noahengstrom]

I've been doing this for some time with various brands of pocket routers. There are a couple things I didn't see here. 1) WISP mode. That may be a brand specific term, but it is a bridge mode that is specifically designed to pass through the captive portal to any client. 2) you can do this with bridge mode on other routers and you can also use something like DD-WRT to give you more features. 3) the bandwidth isn't great and I've seen lots of issues with various streams sort of locking up with capacity of the device (may be just brand). 4) The issue with a captured portal not coming through is pretty common. It's likely a DNS issue that the router doesn't route properly. I've had success trying to first connect to high level domain like apple, which somehow gets it going. 5)Hotel connection speeds vary and I've had issue with the device not picking the closest or strongest Wifi signal. Strongly recommend this strategy for anyone spending lots of time in hotels.

[@mrowproductions]

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

[@Hammerphone44]

This is an amazing video - I had no idea I could do any of this.

[@gregorylewis8471]

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! 😁

[@RobShinn]

For the hotel and AppleTV example, you can solve it the way I do in my RV. I connect my laptop to the WiFi then share the WiFi connection from my laptop to my streaming device, phones, etc. No need for extra hardware.

[@imadecoy.]

You can also do that from Samsung phones, maybe other brands I'm not sure

[@Lettuce-and-Tomatoes]

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!!!

[@hulamei3117]

I understood 20%😢 I sooo low tech we had Party Line!

[@trailwhim]

I just bought this router off of Amazon and it will be arriving tomorrow. Thanks for this overview. I'm excited to try it out.

[@Kandralla]

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).

[@pud469]

I always carried my AirPort Express in with my Notebook. Even today using the shared WIFI is typically pretty slow with all the users, not to mention the decreased security. Being able to connect to a hotel ethernet port always has improved the connection, and with my small network using my Notebook and Phone on the same network is really convenient. Having a device with an extra ethernet port, like the one you have, would also be handy for a direct connection, while on the same network as my other devices for gaming.

[@rdhunkins]

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

[@jackjackman7023]

Ok wow. Just got back from my cruise. We were so happy with this pocket router. Thank you for showing us this. We bought a RC key program that came with one stream connection. Then we followed your setup. Which was perfectly easy for anyone. And it let all 4 of our devises on. Not sure if it’s possible but it seemed to run a little cleaner than when we were just in the boat WiFi. Even when more than one devise was streaming it just worked!! Thank you for the tech advice!!

[@supernova8962]

I have a question.... how did you connect to the ship WiFi and then start tethering/hotspot. The second you start hotspot which is the two paperclips/tethering symbol you are no longer connected to the ships wi-fi. And at what speed were you getting ? And what is this RC Key Program. ..thanks

[@ChipEstrada]

You have never been on a vacation Dave, you should try it. No phone, no computer, just you and your loved 9nes focusing all your time on each other and the sights and experience. It's life changing. Try it you'll be better off gore it.

[@stephenl3224]

What a badass... Dude is very likable

[@edgecrush3r]

I love the spoofed mac trick 😂

[@robbybankston4238]

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

[@TristouMTL]

I noticed that too. Ah, the good old days...

[@JxH]

@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.

[@syrus3k]

Nevermind the speed, the reliability and latency of fibre is awesome

[@Dwigt_Rortugal]

Man, we've got a gig fiber connection, and most of the time, we barely approach its full bandwidth. 5 gigs is some serious torrent action! Going back to the subject of the old-school Internet connection on a cruise ship, that sounds a lot like our old connection out here before even ADSL came to town. When we first moved in, I had this cheap satellite provider that used a dish for the downlink and 56k over copper for the uplink. "Broadband," they called it, assuming all your bandwidth consumption was needed on the download side. Committing to a contract for that provider was a big mistake. It was okay during off-peak hours, but when everyone got on the satellite in the evenings, forget it. Smoke signals or torches on hilltops were more effective.

[@calisamgal]

Funny. I'm half a block from the new tower and my signal is shite on 5g. Luckily my Droid version let's me downgrade to the fast 3/4lte. Nevermind that I was forced to buy a 5g capable phone 🤦 maybe it's only great through fiber though

[@vincenthernandez3009]

GREAT video. I learned something new today. Thank you. We are going on a family vacation to MX soon and have adults and kids who need to be connected to the internet. I may have to check this option out. Thanks again.

[@kbsanders]

Is that a router in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

[@aussiegruber86]

Both 😅

[@teamavatar6460]

lmao

[@CrowArchLane]

It hurts when IP... If your connection lasts more than 6 hours consult a doctor

[@j.d1614]

No it’s just the radio waves causing my tesiclesto swell

[@richcarless7740]

What a great little device. Open WRT brings home the win. In your video you mention no plug adapters. In many ways it would be better with no plug at all. Many hotels have usb holes in the wall and we all have things you can hook usb up to. Great review though, thanks Dave.

[@FreeTimeMastermind]

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.

[@ArtimJar]

Seconded!

[@FreeTimeMastermind]

@@ArtimJar There you go Dave. If not, ask me to narrate it.

[@BuckWezr]

I've become quite a fan and ever since stumbling upon your channel I've been trying to figure out why your name seems so familiar (those dots remain unconnected lol). In the 1980's I encountered Kim Kokkonen(sp?) over a misunderstanding regarding a set of Turbo Pascal tool libraries I'd rewritten in assembler. I mention that because that encounter lead to me "rewriting" most of MS-DOS (initially out of curiosity and ultimately as a means of making DOS work more reliably in a multi tasking environment, the final phase being an OS level driver named ttSys, a multi tasking and multi user environment for stand alone PC's, but once I started looking under the hood of VMWare, I knew the product I had in mind was already beyond obsolete lol). By the time 1991 rolled along, you were having a blast working what I still believe was a dream job for me. Massive kudos to the trajectory you've enjoyed, and surely struggled through at points!

[@jasonsgreen]

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

[@nicocesar]

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

[@nickswebtsv]

I got my first travel router from them about three years ago. Have never looked back. WireGuard back to home and then I can access all I need to for my network. I’m eagerly awaiting a Tailscale Integration.