What Functionality Does a Wireless Travel Router Serve?

[easysurfer]

I've seen wireless travel routers on Amazon.

But I can't figure out what function they serve?

If I'm traveling, I try to use the secure wifi at the hotel. If the place doesn't have a secure wifi and I need to connect a device like a laptop wirelessly, my smart phone also can serve as a hotspot. That way, I get a secure connection. Sure, I can't play games or download big files, but at least get on knowing there won't be any snooping going on.

Which leads me to my the question. What does a travel wireless router do that can't be done just using a portable hotspot device?

 

[audreyh1]

I don’t know what that is. What problem are they trying to solve?

We use our mobile hotspots. We each have plenty of high speed data available each month. 40G. So we can actually do data intensive stuff if we really want.

Eons ago we had the very compact Apple WiFi router called Airport Express that could plug into hotel Ethernet. That is long gone - they haven’t made it in a long time.

 

[Freedom56]

Some hotels only allow one connection per room and charge extra for additional connections. If you want to connect multiple phones, and laptops to a public connection, a travel router can be used. Some hotels still only provide wired internet (they are rare) so a travel router becomes useful.

 

[audreyh1]

I haven’t run into the only one wifi connection per room issue.

We might be able to create a local wifi with our iOS devices and Macs and share. I vaguely remember doing this a long time ago.

If we are way out in the boonies, no cell signal, and connections per room are limited to Ethernet, well, I suppose we might wish we traveled with an Ethernet cable, but we haven’t needed one in years.

Well, DH does have an Ethernet cable in his computer bag but we often don’t travel with his computer. We haven’t used that cable on the road in a very long time.

 

[easysurfer]

I don’t know what that is. What problem are they trying to solve?

We use our mobile hotspots. We each have plenty of high speed data available each month. 40G. So we can actually do data intensive stuff if we really want.

Eons ago we had the very compact Apple WiFi router called Airport Express that could plug into hotel Ethernet. That is long gone - they haven’t made it in a long time.

Not really trying to solve a problem. Just trying to understand what purpose does a travel router perform.

I guess as mentioned, in the case when no-wifi and only hard wired.

Similarly, at one point I thought about getting a portable hotspot device for the times I travel and don't have a secure connection. But when online chatting with a friendly Consumer Cellular agent, she said, hotspot ability is already included with my cell phone. Just need to turn that on ... no extra charge.

 

[audreyh1]

Mobile hotspot is really common nowadays. Not all plans include it, or have data and/or speed restrictions. We pay attention to that when upgrading our cellphone service.

 

[jollystomper]

Some hotels only allow one connection per room and charge extra for additional connections. If you want to connect multiple phones, and laptops to a public connection, a travel router can be used. Some hotels still only provide wired internet (they are rare) so a travel router becomes useful.

+1

I have run into the "connection limitation" issue in the past - for example, limiting DW and I to 2 connections when we each have a laptop/phone/tablet. Also, sometimes the wired connection was faster and more stable than the wireless.

I did ask a hotel about the limitation, another reason is for non-guests coming in and guests giving them access to wifi (e.g. holding a meeting/party in a room).

Maybe not as big an issue these days in the U.S., but we have also run into this issue in other countries.

 

[HenryD]

I just bought one for use on our boat. There is no wifi away from the marina, and bad mobile reception in the areas we anchor. A unidirectional booster improves the mobile signal, and I can measure the improvement on our phones, but the reach of the boosted signal is short enough that it's not useful everywhere onboard because it's really meant for car use.

A dedicated hotspot we can leave next to the booster's interior antenna should work well and provide a strong wifi signal. It comes with it's own sim card and a readout of the monthly usage. There is a cost of course, but I can justify it by using it for w*rk. Up til now we've been using my phone as a hotspot, but then I have to remember to leave the phone in one spot and the wifi doesn't stretch that far either.

 

[target2019]

Plug into Ethernet and create private network.
Use printers and USB devices.
Extend network.
Add dual band network.
Additional security in unknown environments.

 

[jollystomper]

Plug into Ethernet and create private network.
Use printers and USB devices.
Extend network.
Add dual band network.
Additional security in unknown environments.

+1. You reminded me of my Megacorp days when we would conduct hands-on classes for clients on the road (at a client site or a hotel or a local Megacorp location), where we provided the laptops and sometimes printers, but the site had network connectivity restrictions. We used travel routers to work around those issues.

 

[Mook1e]

The best models have 2 wifi radios (one to connect to the public/hotel network and one to make a personal network) and a 4g/LTE/5g radio as well. They also include the ability to run the entire personal wifi network through a VPN for privacy.

 

[clobber]

If you travel with an FireTVStick, Roku, etc it can be very difficult to use in a hotel. Many hotels have the login page which is hard to get past with those TV devices. If you connect it to your own travel router it is not a problem.

When you are connected to the hotel wifi, you are at the mercy of their security. If you are connected to your own router, you have your own (firewall etc).

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Plug into Ethernet and create private network.
Use printers and USB devices.
Extend network.
Add dual band network.
Additional security in unknown environments.

When I was w*rking we would sometimes travel and the team would spend a week or two in an intensive meeting coming up with the design concept for a new building (a “design charrette” for those interested). Such a router was a necessity for the reasons given above. Hotel wifi almost always sucked, and these meetings often occurred in rural areas or on military posts where cell phone data coverage was spotty or nonexistent. Cell phones are better now but security was a priority.

 

[easysurfer]

After reading the comments, I want a travel router.

Main use would be to go in bridge mode to make a non-secure hotel wifi to a secure one. That way won't have to use the data from my phone's hotspot.

I've seen the light .

 

[Z3Dreamer]

We bring our FireTV on some trips, but have never brought a router. Clearly a router would provide much more security from other devices on the hotel's network, but for streaming purposes and maybe a few others where security was not an issue, what about a wireless access point? Just plug that puppy into the ethernet port and away we go. I am just bringing up the concept because I already have a WAP. In practice, I see compact travel routers for $29.99. A new WAP would be about $5 less, maybe.

 

[audreyh1]

If you travel with an FireTVStick, Roku, etc it can be very difficult to use in a hotel. Many hotels have the login page which is hard to get past with those TV devices. If you connect it to your own travel router it is not a problem.

When you are connected to the hotel wifi, you are at the mercy of their security. If you are connected to your own router, you have your own (firewall etc).

I would just watch on my Mac or iPad.

We use a VPN that provides encryption.

 

[marko]

Funny side story: (off topic)
Back in the day when internet/email was dial-up, a colleague and I were travelling somewhere in the UK. For some long-forgotten reason we needed to log on in the middle of the day.

So we went to a hotel, rented a room for about $200, logged in, downloaded whatever it was we needed, logged out, and turned our hotel key back at the desk, 20 minutes later.

I can only imagine what the desk clerk thought!

 

[upupandaway]

The primary feature that I purchased one for was to be able to use my own VPN and connect multiple devices. The one I bought natively supports openVPN and auto connects when powered up. This means I can quickly setup my own wireless SSID in a hotel that has a fully encrypted tunnel back to my house or direct to the internet using my VPN provider.

The issue with "Secured" wireless at a hotel is that it is secured from your endpoint to their wireless AP. After it hits their AP the traffic can easily be inspected or intercepted by the hotels IT staff. This is normally not nefarious and prevents things like visiting malicious sites or file sharing using their bandwidth.

The features everyone has mentioned here are spot on. Device limitations are a real thing however sometimes they are 3 to 5 connections which is not a problem until you travel with kids that have multiple devices. I don't utilize USB connected devices to the router while traveling but it's there. The fire sticks have gotten a lot better at using hotel wifi but there is no configuration needed at all with a travel router. I also have the travel router set to the same SSID as my home so every device connects automatically no matter what fire stick or tablet I happen to bring.

 

[teetee]

Hotspot only uses cellular for wan but travel router uses wifi for wan.

Some travel routers supports wired connections.

 

[teetee]

Funny side story: (off topic)
Back in the day when internet/email was dial-up, a colleague and I were travelling somewhere in the UK. For some long-forgotten reason we needed to log on in the middle of the day.

So we went to a hotel, rented a room for about $200, logged in, downloaded whatever it was we needed, logged out, and turned our hotel key back at the desk, 20 minutes later.

I can only imagine what the desk clerk thought!

They thought you two were involved in some high tech spy business!?

 

[target2019]

After reading the comments, I want a travel router.

Main use would be to go in bridge mode to make a non-secure hotel wifi to a secure one. That way won't have to use the data from my phone's hotspot.

I've seen the light .

If you order now it will be on your doorstep tomorrow!

 

[easysurfer]

If you order now it will be on your doorstep tomorrow!

I actually looked but won't arrive on time for an out of town hotel stay starting on Monday.

That's okay though as I really didn't want to spend the whole time tinkering with a router .

 

[Aerides]

I actually looked but won't arrive on time for an out of town hotel stay starting on Monday.

That's okay though as I really didn't want to spend the whole time tinkering with a router .

You can still order it and have it shipped to the hotel to your attention, and have it waiting at the front desk when you check in.

 

[target2019]

I actually looked but won't arrive on time for an out of town hotel stay starting on Monday.

That's okay though as I really didn't want to spend the whole time tinkering with a router .

It is much better to look. I think if buying I would definitely want Ethernet WAN and LAN ports. The device might be more useful. For instance say I'm travelling overseas and the facility has ethernet port on wall (or accessible through a router or switch), then I'd tap that and no configuration would be necessary if they auto assign DHCP wired connections.

At home this would be useful when guests come to stay. I can plug it into one of my routers and set up another LAN just for them.

VPN support is also nice to have.

 

[Mook1e]

I recommend this model:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082X2DLMY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_XFF9TQDEM2QR276M7FEP