GL.iNet GL-MT3000 (Beryl AX) Portable Travel Router, Pocket-Sized Wi-Fi 6 Wireless Travel Gigabit Router, with OpenVPN & Wireguard for Public & Hotel Wi-Fi Use, Suitable for Cruise/RV/Airplane/Hotel

Extremely pleased with this travel router. Your only regret will be that you didn’t buy this sooner.
Short version:All the positive reviews are legitimate. This thing is great. If you travel, you won’t regret the purchase; in fact, your only regret will be that you didn’t purchase it sooner. I recommend just using the web UI for set up and configuration. The app is okay, but I rarely use it for anything just because the web UI is so good (and the app thus pales in comparison).Longer version:I cannot believe I didn’t buy a travel router before now. This was also my first experience with GL.iNet, but I felt decently confident buying theirs over a competitor. And I’m *extremely* pleased with my decision. My experience was so good I looked into what other products they sell, including looking into whether the sell home network systems.This product is very easy to set up as long as you have very basic knowledge in this area (I have advanced knowledge in networking, but this router doesn’t really require that). It broadcasts a strong signal. Could it maybe be stronger? Well, sure, but there are tradeoffs between portability and broadcasting capability. And this thing is potent.I have used the web-based UI almost exclusively just because it is extremely good. The app is okay, but it pales in comparison. The web-based UI is also mobile responsive, so if you access it while on your phone, it almost feels like an app anyway. It’s just a really solid piece of work from the GL.iNet team.For the price point (less than $100, and even less if you catch it on a sale), it’s a great deal. It prompted a firmware update on first use, but that was quick and painless. It doesn’t run hot, and it’s quiet. It has tons of options for configuration, so if you are worried you’re going to get a really “watered-down” router given it’s a travel router, you are mistaken and in for a pleasant surprise. For those wanting even more control, you can also easily access LuCI and have full control, as this runs on OpenWRT. At the same time, if your needs are pretty basic, it still does well in that domain also.I tested the router in multiple different locations, both with and without captive portals for initial access to the Internet via Wi-Fi: Hotel (with captive portal), airport (with captive portal), and another hotel (no captive portal). Each time, connection was pretty painless (obviously more annoying with the captive portal, but still not bad at all). And once the router is connected, you can broadcast your own secure network (again, with or without VPN) and connect your devices to that. That’s so convenient. I am eager to try a hardwired connection “in the wild” (I tested at my house and it was great, but that’s a far more controlled environment), but if anything, that should be even easier than connecting the router via Wi-Fi. It also supports tethering if you need it, which is smart and an extremely consumer-centric move.You can easily configure it to connect to a VPN client, either through a commercial vendor or to your home VPN server if you run one. You can toggle global VPN connection (all clients on the router will be routed through the VPN) or specify the clients that should be routed through the VPN. The router also supports other functionality, like ad blocking through AdGuard Home and parental control options. The integration of AdGuard Home is fantastic, and depending on how you use it, you may not even need the additional parental control features they offer outside of AdGuard Home (this is what I’m doing when my kids are traveling with me, so I can’t speak to how well the parental control features work). There are several other features I’m not covering here, else this review would be pretty long. Suffice it to say it’s a feature-packed router.My only real criticism is their UI doesn’t acknowledge VLANs if you configure those in LuCI. I get that setting up their custom UI to *configure* VLANs might be a tall order, but I’m not asking for that. However, getting their custom UI to still *acknowledge* VLANs and faithfully represent connected clients even in the presence of VLANs is an opportunity for them to improve, and it shouldn’t be too hard to do. And looking at their forums, others have said the same and asked for the same. But if the word “VLANs” means nothing to you, fear not: It just means I functionally have zero critique that’s relevant for you! If you do want to implement VLANs, know you can still do that, but the portion of the UI showing connected clients will stop being a faithful representation. This is still pretty “work-around-able”, though. And depending on your use case, you may just be able to use their built-in guest network, which operates on a different subnet from the main network (it’s not a VLAN). This is what I’m doing given I only use this when I travel and my networking needs are different when I travel (so, a bit of a compromise vs. my VLAN setup for my home network).In summary, this is a fantastic product. Two thumbs up to GL.iNet. You have a new fan in me.

Outstanding travel router
I’d originally bought the TP-Link AX3000, purely because I was more familiar with the brand. I found it to be a bit of a pain to configure – it just seemed fiddly and unreliable. I ended up returning it.I’m glad I did, because the GL.iNet model is better in just about every way:- When in repeater mode (my typical use case for a travel router), scanning available Wi-Fi networks takes a second or two, vs. nearly a full minute with the TP-Link.- Similarly, switching to a different available Wi-Fi network is almost immediate; with the TP-Link, it took at least a minute.- Known Wi-Fi networks are stored – it isn’t necessary to re-enter credentials each time you connect.- The VPN support is significantly better – for example, Mullvad and Tailscale integration are built in and painless to configure.So far, this router just seems more straightforward and reliable than the TP-Link – would definitely recommend.

Free VPN Use Proton OpenVPN
This review is for people that know very little about travel routers and are looking for a free VPN. We bought this as we were traveling overseas and needed to point back to the US. While I was a techie 30 years ago I know very little about networking today. What I learned is that there is only one real option for the “free” part and that is using ProtonVPN through OpenVPN. The Wiregrard setup doesn’t work with this router. It took me many hours of researching and finally got it working. If you are paying for VPN this is going to go a lot easier. 4 stars for not providing better directions.

Ik kan niet anders zeggen dan dat dit een super fijn routertje / wifi repeater is om mee te nemen tijdens vakanties of hotel bezoeken. Ja, enige kennis van routers kan erg handig zijn, maar met een beetje goede wil en het volgen van een youtube video is het ook voor een leek heel goed te doen.Wij hebben het router nu op verschillende campings in Europa gebruikt en het werkt prima. Sommige campings laten per geboekte plaats nl maar een beperkt aantal apparaten toe. Wij staan nu in Italië op een camping waar 2 apparaten per plaats toegestaan worden, meer wordt geblokkeerd. Door dit router hebben wij nu 2 laptops, 2 smartphones en een iPad gekoppeld en het werkt super goed.Ik heb de vpn ingesteld met Nord VPN en ook dat was vrij vlot aan de praat. Zo hoeven we niet bang te zijn voor pottekijkers en hebben we geen probleem met bepaalde streaming abonnementen.Ik heb ook nog een router met antenne van Alfa Network gebruikt, maar dit is veel gebruiksvriendelijker. En ja de Alfa heeft een groter wifi bereik, maar dit router doet het niet heel veel slechter.

Bardzo pozytywnie mnie zaskoczył. Super oprogramowanie w urządzeniu. Mnie najbardziej zależało na VPN – jest elastyczne w konfiguracji.