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I no longer understand how technology works so am appealing to the expertise of the STW.
Heading out of lockdown means going back to work. For me that means regular nights away and also in 1 person office (which honestly is going to be a blessed relief).
Everywhere seems to either have shifty wifi or 1 Ethernet plug. Before lockdown I was looking at so called “travel routers” but the technology seems to have moved on again.
I want something that I can plug into said 1 Ethernet socket that will then give me WiFi for laptop, phone, chromecast etc. all on same network so once all devices are trained to recognise this router, wherever I plug it in, it should just work straight away.
Anyone got any experience of this and does a travel router actually do this? Or have I just made it up and misunderstood how technology actually works.
I just bought a generic router this one for my garden office the other week.
Before I set it up to have the same wifi name / password as the home wifi, I plugged it into the existing router and it came up with it's own wifi name / password, without needing the house internet's details.
On that basis, it would seem to do what you want it to - don't know it if would be too bulky to cary about dat to day tho.
You can plug the laptop in then use that as a WiFi hotspot for all the other devices. Does make you laptop wired if you can live with that (buy a long network cable)
I'm in a similar boat - when working normally I spend quite a bit of time away from home. I went through a whole bunch of these devices (TP-Link / DLink / even a Raspberry Pi), before sticking with one of these:
https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-ar750/
You can plug in the ethernet to a wall connection, and it will share that connection between all of your devices connected to wifi, with your own SSID (so all your devices can auto connect to it). You are also behind a firewall for a bit of extra protection.
If there isn't a wired connection wherever you are, it will also share a wifi connection in a similar way, which can be useful where they have limitation/charges per device.
Of all of the devices I've had, it's the most reliable of all of them with the least firmware issues (don't buy DLink!). It will also do 'extra' stuff like act as a VPN client (I've used it to connect back to my home network, but it would also connect to something like Nord if you wanted, but the VPN slows things down).
Looks like there's been some newer versions released since, so might be worth getting one of those for future-proofedness.
Yep, I used to carry a tiny Wifi AP with me for exactly the same thing especially hotel rooms in Africa where Wifi was pretty unreliable.
I can't see that working when you're away though, unless you know you'll have access to wired network. Maybe a 4G router with a Sim card? Create your own WiFi hotspot, obviously still dependent on 4G coverage but a dedicated router should give better 4G reception and WiFi than your average hotel.
But with any solution that uses the mobile network you're tied to a provider and in an area you might get better coverage with one provider than another. I see no point in these mobile routers...why not just tether from your smartphone? its the same thing. the reason why you don't do this is because you might not get great coverage with your current provider and that isn to solved by going for a 4G router tied to one of the service providers.
Thanks Jon,
that's just what I'm looking for.
from the OP sounds like he IS counting on having an ethernet port? In which case any wireless AP should work? On the 2nd point, doesn't your phone just do that anyway without any additional hardware?unless you know you’ll have access to wired network. Maybe a 4G router with a Sim card? Create your own WiFi hotspot
Gl.Inet get a +1 from me. I use one here and it is pretty damn good. Also cheap.
I travel(ed) a lot for work and have a Vodafone 4G router. costs £33 (on a rolling month contract with unlimited fast as possible data) a month and gives pretty decent speeds to run a laptop or two and an iPad. Way faster than most standard hotel WiFi and often cheaper than paying £5 a night for the premium WiFi. It does not have any connections other than USB though.
Previously used my iPhone as a hotspot but it was good as a phone or hotspot but struggled as both.
from the OP sounds like he IS counting on having an ethernet port? In which case any wireless AP should work? On the 2nd point, doesn’t your phone just do that anyway without any additional hardware?
Agreed on both counts. Though as someone else said, you don't even need an AP. Laptop into Ethernet, share the connection, your laptop is now for all intents and purposes a wireless AP. It's the same concept as using your phone as a hotspot, you're just bridging two networks.
If you're going the 4G route, look at Smarty. They do unlimited data SIMs for very little money.
The reason I suggested a 4G router over using your phone as a hot spot is the aerials on the router will be better for receiving a 4G signal and creating the WiFi hot spot, and if you have multiple devices they can all log in simultaneously as with any other fixed network. There's also dual SIM variants, all depends on how much you want to spend.