5 models compared
Travel routers
Pocket-sized routers built to sit between you and someone else's network. Sorted by total wireless bandwidth — though for this category, VPN support and how it takes power usually matter more.
| Model | Wi-Fi | Total speed | WAN | Wired ports | USB | Year | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NetgearNighthawk M6 ProAXE3600 | Wi-Fi 6EDual-band | 3,600Mbps | 2.5G | 1×2.5G | 1 | 2023 | $999.99 |
| GL.iNetBeryl AXAX3000 | Wi-Fi 6Dual-band | 2,976Mbps | 2.5G | 1×1G | 1 | 2023 | $99.90 |
| GL.iNetPuli AXAX3000 | Wi-Fi 6Dual-band | 2,976Mbps | 2.5G | 1×1G | 1 | 2023 | $459.90 |
| GL.iNetSlate AXAX1800 | Wi-Fi 6Dual-band | 1,800Mbps | 1G | 3×1G | 1 | 2022 | $119.99 |
| GL.iNetOpal | Wi-Fi 5Dual-band | 1,167Mbps | 1G | 3×1G | 1 | — | $39.99 |
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What a travel router is for
The point isn't speed. It's putting a network you control between your devices and a network you don't.
One login covers everything. Hotel and airline captive portals often allow one or two devices. The travel router authenticates once and everything behind it comes along — including devices with no browser to accept the terms on.
Your devices keep their own network. Your laptop, phone, and Chromecast stay on the same SSID and subnet everywhere, so they keep seeing each other. Casting in a hotel room generally doesn't work without this, because guest networks isolate clients from one another.
A VPN covers the whole client side. Run a VPN client on the travel router and everything behind it is tunnelled, with no per-device configuration. This is the real reason to own one, and it's why the WireGuard guide overlaps heavily with this list.
Specs that matter, in order
- How it takes power. USB-C from a laptop or power bank is what you want. A proprietary barrel jack is one more thing to pack and lose.
- Battery, or not. Only some models have one. A battery makes it a genuinely mobile hotspot; without one you need an outlet or a power bank. Where a model has a battery, its capacity is on the product page.
- WAN flexibility. Good travel routers accept an uplink from Ethernet, another Wi-Fi network (repeater mode), a tethered phone, or a SIM. The more of those, the fewer situations leave you stuck.
- VPN throughput. These have small CPUs, and VPN speed is a CPU spec — see the WireGuard guide for the numbers. A travel router doing 30–80 Mbps over WireGuard is normal and usually fine, because hotel Wi-Fi is slower than that anyway.
- Size and heat. They run warm in a bag. Fanless is the norm here.
Raw wireless throughput is last on this list on purpose. You are almost always limited by the network you're borrowing.