GL-iNet Portable/Travel Routers

[RastaManBob]

Hello Networks & Internet Connectivity!

I think this is probably my first time venturing into this forum - I hope I can benefit from your knowledge!

Background: In the Black Friday sales I purchased a VPN. Very little reason other than the subscription was cheap and I thought it would be interesting to learn a little bit more... Just another gadget! Fast forward a few months and I thought it'd be fun to put the VPN on a router rather than the individual clients. A Google search for "VPN router" had all arrows pointing towards GL-iNet and I've spent a good few evenings trying to determine exactly to buy. I'm pretty set on getting one but there are so many available and the site does not make selection an easy task (particularly given lots of models with similar model numbers, many of which are discontinued).

Use Case: Internet is only ADSL (approx 10 Mbps) with a very basic Sagecom 2704n router. Given the modest internet speed I don't think it's unreasonable to go for a VPN router that can max this out. (It seems that these small routers use MIPS processors and OpenVPN is very CPU intensive; the processor will be the ultimate bottleneck). Given the current router I currently have no Gigabit Ethernet ports or 5 GHz WiFi. I have a small number of devices on the network (certainly less than 10). Therefore, my needs are low. Having said this, like all gadget shopping it's easy to over-spec and it has got me thinking if I'd use such a device outside of the home (when on holiday to save having to connect each device to a hotel network individually, for example). Plus in finding these devices I've learnt about OpenWRT - I can feel it's all just turning into a game at this point!

Devices:

I think I've shortlisted the following devices...

GL-MT300N-V2
The device I stumbled upon on the first search. Tempting because of the price (~£20) however research seems to suggest best case OpenVPN of about 6-8 Mbps which is a little slow compared to the requirements I'd earlier set. Two 10/100 Ethernet ports.

GL-AR300M
Very similar to the above but a faster processor and additional 128 MB NAND storage (faster storage with greater capacity). The processor seems to be good for 8-10 Mbps which would just about meet my needs but I'm not sure on the storage - It turns out this is an additional memory to "dual boot" two different operating systems. On the one side I don't like this (perhaps confusing and I imagine I'd feel compelled to keep both up to date - I'm not sure what the point is) but on the other this is largely an impulse gadget purchase so perhaps another avenue to explore. Cost is about ~£35.

GL-AR750
The same processor as above (8-10 Mbps) but without the NAND. Adds an extra 10/100 Ethernet port, SD card slot (file server?) and dual-band WiFi. Cost is about ~£45. Seems a no brainer against the above but the device is a bit physically larger and requires 5V/2A power supply. I know I'm splitting hairs at this point but it would have been a nice plus to use USB ports on the back of other A/V equipment and I'm not confident these are good for 2A.

GL-AR750s
Very similar to the GL-AR750 but a faster processor (15-17 Mbps), adds back the NAND (but cannot dual boot from this as far as I can tell), all three Ethernet ports upgraded to Gigabit Ethernet and two foldable external antennas. This appears to be the currently best supported device but from what I can tell (although it looks like test firmware is available for the other devices so probably not a big deal). Same size as above, same power requirements, same disadvantage. Cost is ~£80.

So - I'm sure there must be experience of these routers in this forum. Can anybody recommend one of these devices? Which one? Why? I'm torn; I think I've discounted the GL-MT300N-V2. The GL-AR300M is probably the most suitable to meet my actual needs but the temptation of £10 more for extra gadgetry is tempting. And before I know it I'm trying to convince myself to stretch to the GL-AR750s and convince myself its maybe a bit more future proof.

TL;DR - Got lost in a world of mini, feature-rich routers and not sure which model to use to scratch the itch... Help!

 

[BigT]

Are you really sure you want your entire network behind a VPN? The pros of convenience and it being fun may be outweighed by it becoming a PITA when your banking and streaming services don't work any more because they block VPN IP address blocks. I have a VPN on my pfSense router but implement policy based routing so only the type of traffic I want tunnelled via the VPN does so to avoid such problems.

I can't say I know any of the devices you listed so can't comment on their suitability. If you're throwing into the mix that you want it to also be a travel router and do wifi then I suspect there's not that much choice about. These seem alarmingly cheap but given they're only claiming 10mbps performance on OpenVPN at least they're probably being up front about setting performance expectations. Hopefully someone will be along who has some experience of them.

 

[Avalon]

As above, routing everything via VPN is generally a bad idea unless you like additional security checks, no streaming of domestic/region locked streaming services or live in a dictator controlled country where your privacy is an illusion. If you want OpenWRT support, buy something that gets decent OpenWRT support, buying a travel router unless you travel constantly seems like a compromise that isn't worth making.

 

[RastaManBob]

@BigT @Avalon - Thank you for taking the time to reply. I understand your concerns regarding putting everything through the VPN and I do not intend to do so. Initially I'll just run a second wireless network (running OpenVPN) so devices can hop on/off easily enough. Eventually I'd like to start exploring how to enable/disable routing devices through the VPN by router configuration. Policy based routing - I may have got the wrong end of the stick (I just did a Google to see if these routers support it) but it would appear that policy based routing is available: https://docs.gl-inet.com/en/3/app/vpn_policies/

I do require a wireless router (some of the devices I'd like to route do not have Ethernet) however travel is not mandatory. It's attractive that the device is small and portable but I'm unlikely to carry it regularly; certainly an exception rather than the rule (for example hotel use).

Can you recommend any particular parameters to look for/avoid? I'll be the first to admit that I'm still learning what I'm looking for but the reviews for GL-iNet are particularly compelling - Please take a look.

@Avalon can you please recommend alternative OpenWRT routers? Ideally within the same sort of price range (the AR750s in the original thread is definitely at the top end of what I was looking at, so ~£80 is probably a good working upper budget, but £40-50 is a better target given the other models on the list).