GL.iNet GL-AR300M16 Portable Mini Travel Wireless Pocket Router - WiFi Router/Access Point/Extender/WDS | OpenWrt | 2 x Ethernet Ports | OpenVPN/Wireguard VPN | USB 2.0 Port

Good little unit, especially for the price. With OpenWRT it has extraordinary features and flexibility, while pulling down just under 1W on average, so my typical "10,000mAh" battery pack could run it all day.Various small things could be slightly better. It should use USB C power - who uses micro-USB these days?Also, as a travel router it should have some sort of cable management for packaging the cables you need. It weighs almost nothing because inside is mostly air that could instead be cable storage/management. They should recess the sockets so cables can stay attached, perhaps with guides to wind the cables around the unit when it's packed.Of course 5GHz ac and a USB 3 port would be awesome (a mini-Beryl), but for $30 it's hard to find something significant to complain about.

I recently started a remote job that required a hardwired Ethernet connection, and this travel router has completely changed the game for me—it gave me back my freedom! I have it set up to automatically connect to my home network when I’m at home and to my mobile hotspot when I’m on the go. All I have to do is turn on my hotspot, and I’m good to go.It’s compact, well-built, and super easy to set up. I love that it’s USB-powered—no extra power adapter needed. It plugs right into my laptop, so as long as my laptop is powered on, the router is too. For convenience, I’ve velcroed it to the top of my laptop to keep it secure and avoid dangling wires.Overall, this is the perfect portable router!

These are the best mini routers. I use the GL-AR300M16 for ROOters, and much prefer the Qualcomm Artheros chips (GL-AR300M series) over the MTK ones (GL-MT300A). It seems like these are smoother, a little more solid with the wireless, and just less quirks (not that the MTK had a lot of them, this one just seems flawless). If using for ROOters check or ask on the forum, because sometimes (as of writing) the firmware is not on the website (ofmodemsandmen) for many including the AR300M models but may be in the forum.Finally, I'm not sure if it's as important with other models or chips (such as the MTK ones), but with this one if you need to access Uboot mode to change or update the firmware (how I load the ROOter firmware) be sure to plug in your Ethernet cable to your computer BEFORE plugging in the power cable to the router (while holding the reset button long enough to access Uboot as stated in the documentation). Otherwise, it will fail to connect (just will time out) when connecting to the Uboot web interface at 192.168.1.1. If you plug in the cable and have the static IP set on the computer before powering up the AR300M, Uboot will come right up when trying to access it.Also - the AR300M16 is the NOR flash only version (of which the current ROOter firmware I use for it is - this may change in the future), but the AR300M has both the 16MB of NOR and 128MB of NAND and is kind of a different/new beast.Also - even though I really like these for ROOter routers there is nothing wrong with the stock firmware! Very good and flexible with lots of options! Can't beat these if you need a few little routers for something.

Pretty straightforward to set up and similar to TP link. However, I used this thing literally 3 times in a few months and it quit working. Tried a factory reset with no luck. I get the indicator lights that show that it is functioning but it does not transmit a signal. I am going back to the TP link for better reliability at a similar price. Might try customer support first!

This is a very basic, very inexpensive little portable router. It runs Open WRT; though with minimal RAM and a slow CPU it won’t be able to do much or perform particularly well. But that’s probably not what you’re looking for in a $30 router!I often tether to my phone when camping in my RV. The problem with this is twofold. One; tethering to multiple devices is sometimes flaky. Second; devices sometimes spontaneously disconnect because phones and tablets often stop broadcasting the SSID to save battery, causing client devices to fail to reconnect if they glitch or go out of range. Requiring you then to open the settings on the host device and reconnect everything. A real pain!This device does exactly what I need. I have an old iPhone I never use plugged into it via USB, with it’s own unlimited data plan. (Note that, of course, your plan will have to support tethering). Now I have a WiFi router in my RV with a decent internet connection for streaming and the like on rainy days when I can’t be outside. It works!I wish it was USB-C. Really nothing after 2017 or so should still be using micro USB. It’s a flimsy connector prone to breaking and has more limits on how much power it can carry; which also limits power that can be passed through the USB port. It appears to be limited to 500mA. This is fine for cellphones but if you plan to connect a larger tablet, or wanted to share files from a power hungry USB hard drive; you’ll find that to be limiting.That said, it does sip power. Meaning one potential use case would be to connect this to a USB power bank of some sort for truly portable Wi-Fi when tethered to a phone or USB modem.All in all, for $30 I’m happy with it. Time will tell how well it works as time goes on!