Is there such a thing? I picked up a GL.inet GL-MT300N-V2 Mango Mini Travel Router reading comments about using to secure hotel wifi.
You would need a VPN to secure an open hotel wifi right? I thought I could use the free windscribe account for a little trip o/s later this year. But seems you need a pro acc.
How are people using this Travel Router? Am I misguided on what it's for?
Do you just buy a VPN for a month you're travelling?
You could also hire a VPS from, say, digitalocean for the time you are away and then install your own VPN:
https://github.com/Nyr/openvpn-install
https://github.com/angristan/openvpn-install
or
https://github.com/Nyr/wireguard-install
…. it really depends why you want to use the VPN - ie. to make your connection appear from another country, to ensure encrypted communications on non-encrypted wifi connections, to connect back to your home network, etc
I assume the use case is the hotel/airbnb gives free wifi, it's not secure/hacked/eavesdropped/etc and I put all my devices behind my GL.inet GL-MT300N-V2 Mango
Just extending a wifi won't make it any more secure right?
I don't need it any other time than my travel, and not for geo ip either.
Just extending a wifi won't make it any more secure right?
correct…
for your usecase, do you have a router at home capable of being a VPN server? you could always VPN back home and surf through there (or setup PiVPN or similar)
I don't know what a VPN server is.
I use Deco M5 direct into the pppoe.
I also have a telstra gen2 modem that's unused right now.
I have a synology ds920 that can run stuff tho?
Just extending a wifi won't make it any more secure right?
Actually, it will. It's not VPN security, but it means that other devices on the hotel wifi network can't talk directly to your devices nor be treated like trusted devices.
Only the devices you've connected to the travel router will be able to talk to each other directly. Devices on the hotel wifi will be isolated from you.
Yes, this does mean that you can snoop on other people's devices on hotel wifi and ethernet networks. It's even easier on poorly configured ones. a travel router provides some protection from that.
I use Nord VPN. I bought 2-3 years in one go, and use it regularly. It definitely came in handy when overseas (Disney+, and I think Amazon Prime, wouldn't work unless I VPN'd to Oz, same for ABC iView IIRC). It also comes in handy when troubleshooting connectivity issues too.
If you use Wi-Fi calling on your phone, then you have to be connected to a WiFi network (to trick your phone) and VPN to Oz (to trick your mobile telco). Then you can make and receive phone calls to Australia, no worries, and as far as your telco and anyone calling you is concerned it looks like you're on your phone in Australia. This isn't supposed to work for SMS (just phone calls), but it worked fine for SMS for me. I was able to receive SMS authentication codes for all of my Aussie banking, insurance, and other services even though I was actually in other countries. I never had a problem with that. I highly recommend using an e-sim service like Airalo too, if your phone supports it and you're travelling through multiple countries.
I've only occasionally used my Mango or Slate as the gateway to Nord VPN. Usually, I just use it as a quick way to redistribute hotel WiFi to all of my devices. Very handy if you're hotel hopping, or only allowed to connect one device to the WiFi. I also connect a phone to the Mango/Slate with a USB cable so that I can have tethered 4G/5G as a backup internet connection when the hotel WiFi is down/weak/expensive.
When I need to VPN, I usually just connect the device itself through the NordVPN app on that device.
TOR
I once looked at it, looked too complicated for 1 PC, let alone a bunch of devices
Most VPN providers do regular massive cashbacks for the first year or two if you don't use them regularly, I'd just subscribe to alerts on VPNs and wait for that.