Saturday, October 5, 2019

October 05, 2019 | Posted in by Daiki | 1 comment

GL.iNET GL-MT300N-V2 Mini Travel Router, Repeater Bridge, 300Mbps High Performance, 128MB RAM, OpenVPN Client, Tor Compatible

GL.iNET GL-MT300N-V2 Mini Travel Router, Repeater Bridge, 300Mbps High Performance, 128MB RAM, OpenVPN Client, Tor Compatible

I am non-technical when it comes to computers. I just wanted a small router to take overseas, in case a hotel had hardwired internet (an ethernet jack in the wall), but no wi-fi. The idea was to plug the router into the internet jack in the hotel wall using an ethernet cable, then I'd have a wi-fi signal for my iphone. My concern was that this little router would need all sorts of technical setup in order to work. NOT SO. I simply plugged in a power source (a portable charger that I use for my iphone) and ran an ethernet cable from my home's DSL internet jack and plugged it into the WAN receptacle on the router. PRESTO, the router's wi-fi signal showed up on my iPhone and I was in business. No setup required. I didn't even try to change password, just used the one listed in the directions that come with the router. The router comes with a USB cable to connect a power source, but you'll have to buy the ethernet cable separately (something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Cable-Meters-Network-Internet/dp/B00GBBSNMY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1523723130&sr=8-4&keywords=ethernet+cable+3+feet)

I bought this and the GL.iNet Microrouter to test in hotels with captive portals (where you enter your room number or some other credential into a captive webpage in order to be connected with the internet). Briefly testing at home I was able to plug this into a USB power bank, log in, configure it to be an independent access point to extend my home network quickly and easily. The reset button is right there where you can get to it and it does what it's supposed to do and resets it to factory defaults. In a major Kansas City hotel, I was able to get it to connect to the hotel WiFi and spin up an access point. I was able to connect to the hotel WiFi through it with my laptop and get to the captive portal. I logged into the captive portal without trouble. After that, every device I connected to the Microrouter was able access the internet. Success! I bought this after a lot of research on the strength of other people's experience that it works with captive portals, and they were right, it does.
Sadly the cool little USB-stick-like Microrouter is going back as it dropped it's access point for 5 minutes ever 30. I can only assume that this is not normal and it was an individual failure. But since the less expensive GL-MT300N-V2 worked, I'll keep it.
Note: I've tried other little travel routers with captive portals and they have not worked (TP-Link TL-WR702N & ZyXEK MWR102 -- admittedly long ago).
Edit 11/2018: Two more Marriott Courtyards (GA & MA) and it worked in both. Need to try a different hotel chain, eh?

Funny think, bought a mesh wifi system (Tenda Nova) which works okay but had no way to do vpn setup on it even though there are some reviews and forums saying you can when you can't, was okay with this as it did extend my wifi to where I needed it. So I bought this item the MT300N V2 for the sole purpose of setting up the vpn which works great. I did try the wifi on this item and it did work without vpn but with vpn it kept cutting out and forcing me to either reset the device or go back in through the browser and reinitialize the vpn, so I simpy shutdown the wifi as was not needed and this thing works great. I did note other people had similiar issues with it cutting out so would suggest either using strictly as wifi device with no vpn or a vpn device with no wifi.

Update: suddenly stopped working 3 months into usage. Two issues occurred same day as it stopped working, first was power outage (it was still working after this) but did develop a problem after another program tried to force another vpn provider onto my system (did remove offending program but can not get access to the modem even after several resets). Leaving orginally review cause this item did work great and may do another update again in future if I can get it working again. Little pived cause now only computer is vpn protected. After playing with it for 5 hours managed to get back in and set back up and working good again so patience here is the key (I have very little of that).

I travel for business every month and I have been looking for a good travel router for long time. This one has all the features I need.
1. It creates a private subnet for your devices, so other users can not see your devices. In the airport and even in the hotels, some hackers often setup a "Public" WiFi to lure you to connect. Those "Public" WiFies do not connect to Internet. It just alows the hackers to hack into your laptops or Phones. Hackers can hack into your laptop or phones using the Hotel or airport WiFi too. This travel router can provide one more layer of protection to your devices.
2. This item allows you to use your phone to accept the "Term and Conditions" (the Captive Portal) and all the other devices connected later will connect to Internet straightly without steps to accept the Term and Conditions again. This feature is ideally for the company's laptops which need to connect to the company's VPN before any browsers can be used. You can not connect to your company's VPN or Internet before you completed the Hotel's user authentication.
3. This item has a RJ45 WAN and a LAN Ethernet port. The Ethernet connection's speed is much faster than the Wireless connection. Even you are using the Wireless connection, this router's wireless link speed is much faster than the hotel's wireless link speed limit per user. When you feel the Internet link speed is slow, it usually is because the hotel or Coffee Shop's WiFi speed is slow because the hotel's WiFi is shared by many users.
4. It is very light weight and low power consumption. I can carry it with my laptop bag, just leave enough air circulation if you want to leave it running on in your laptop while your are walking to the airport gate.

Below are my advices other users:
1. Upgrade the firmware to the latest version for best performance and security.
2. Disable the DNS rebind protection if you experiece any issue to start or complete the User Authentication or Accepting the "Terms and Conditions Agreement" (the Captive Portal page). Detail steps in https://docs.gl-inet.com/en/3/troubleshooting/captive_portal/

Update in Yellow. THis is one of the few 6 star items. It is my swiss army knife. The latest update (which says its beta) allows me to use my USB link, or connect to wifi, and add a VPN. The adblock package does need some help but I can connect in and use my own list.

I had a hiccup, but I could easily reset and restore it. I will probably get the dual band next, but this is just so versatile. It has the simple front end, then the regular OpenWrt, but also you can ssh in and do more.

One hiccup - I couldn't do individual hardware interfaces or tweak the wireless in the Luci screens, but that may be OpenWRT. The main system though did everything very smoothly.

ORIGINAL

I have two of the blue routers, and the only visible difference is the internal micro SD card slot in them v.s.none here - it seems to have a 2nd serial port inside though.

Mainly I use it for adblocking (search for "OpenWRT adblock"). and malware filtering using 9.9.9.9 as the default DNS. It helps having both a WAN and LAN hardwire port so you can filter across each side. And the wifi can have multiple instances so you can use it to filter or extend there too, provide wifi or connect to one, or both.

Excellent value. The only thing most of these don't have is 5G, but I don't really need that and I wonder if the USB port.... You need a heftier power supply for some USB peripherals, but it works with my USB mifi as well, so I can use it to route that as well (I haven't quite tried to setup failover)

But I can make it what I need it to be, and to add filtering for the non-computer types, this is an inexpensive solution.


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Feature Product

  • MINI TRAVEL ROUTER: Convert a public network(wired/wireless) to a private Wi-Fi for secure surfing. Tethering, 3G/4G USB Modem Compatible. Powered by any laptop USB, power banks or 5V DC adapters (sold separately). 39g (1.41 Oz) only and pocket friendly.
  • OPEN SOURCE & PROGRAMMABLE: OpenWrt pre-installed, USB disk extendable.
  • LARGER STORAGE & EXTENDABILITY: 128MB RAM, 16MB Flash ROM, dual Ethernet ports, UART and GPIOs available for hardware DIY.
  • OPENVPN CLIENT: OpenVPN client pre-installed, compatible with 20+ VPN service providers.
  • PACKAGE CONTENTS: GL-MT300N-V2 mini router (1-year Warranty), USB cable, Ethernet cable, User Manual. Please update to the latest firmware from the following link before using: https://dl.gl-inet.com/firmware/mt300n-v2/v1/

Description

GL-MT300N-V2 mini travel router is the upgraded version of GL-MT300N. It is powered by MTK 7628NN 580Mhz SoC with a better Wi-Fi and a faster OpenVPN encryption. Memory increases from 64MB to 128MB.

Wi-Fi Converter:

Wi-Fi is extremely popular but still may not be available at anywhere. If you are still using a wired network at hotels or cafes, this mini router is able to convert it to a wireless network for sharing the Wi-Fi with all your devices.

Even in places like cafes or restaurants with Wi-Fi, it may not be a good idea to expose your devices to the public network directly. This router converts a public Wi-Fi to your own Wi-Fi with a firewall and then works as an agent for securer surfing. The agent connects all your devices when switching to a new Wi-Fi. You don't have to input password for each of your devices.

The router is also able to convert your phone tethering, or 3G/4G USB modems into a private Wi-Fi.

Portable Travel Mate:

The router is lightweight, pocket friendly, and portable. It can be plugged into any laptops, power banks, or 5v DC adapters for power supply.

Open Source and Programmable:

OpenWRT is pre-installed and backed with a repository of 4000+ software packages. Pre-installed with an OpenVPN client, it works with 20+ VPN service providers.

Larger Storage and Extendibility:

The router is equipped with 128MB RAM and 16MB Flash, which can be further extend using external USB sticks. There are 2 Ethernet ports, 1 UART, and 4 GPIOs available for hardware DIY hobbyists. It is an ideal portable gateway for IoT (internet of things) development.

For more details, please check out our online documents at http://www.gl-inet.com/docs



This is amazing for $20. You can flash with dd-wrt or use the firmware on it. Make sure you perform the update, and reboot. Great for Linux users. It is slow to reboot, but not a big deal for me.

I was looking for a router that could run ipvanish VPN. This does that and a whole lot more. Would be perfect for someone who travels a lot. You can power this with a battery or your laptop usb port on the go, and have access to you local VPN. Easy set up openvpn share certificates and you have a secure LAN/WAN. Watch movies from you home server on the go, or access files and photos.

You can also connect a external hhd or thumb drive to the usb port and file share on your network. But on that note I was not able to access the file share from my LG tv. (Movies, etc.) From my PC running win 10 no problems.

Sorry I am all over the place, but seems like a great product. Let's see how long it lasts.

A few hotels in the U.S. and abroad still don't offer WiFi and instead offer only wired internet service via an ethernet cable. The problem is that many devices today -- smart phones, slim laptops, tablets -- cannot be wired directly to a source. This mini travel router allows you to connect to a LAN port and then broadcast the signal so that the multiple non-wired devices can then connect. I set up mine at home as a repeater using a browser page and then packed it for just such a use. It worked exactly as described. It does offer more advanced settings for greater security; however, it still needs to be connected to an internet source via ethernet for any of that to work. Again, not all hotels have wired connections as people move toward WiFi only.

This little router offers another way to connect and is especially good for travel when you don't know what kind of internet access you'll get. It does require power in addition to internet service, and it comes with a USB cable (not an wall outlet adapter) to power it via computer or your own wall adapter.

-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

Coming from an IT individual, I really expected the device to be larger. It's size, combined with the features it packs, really makes it worth the purchase. Setting up OpenVPN Client worked easily. Functions as designed. As others mention, it does take about 90 seconds to boot up and be ready (however, I have a Cradlepoint MBR1200b that takes longer).

Thus far, I've tested (and appreciate) OpenVPN Client, WISP, and Ethernet connectivity. I've not tested with a USB Modem or with USB Tethering yet (both are coming in the next two weeks), but I have been thoroughly pleased with the overall functionality thus far. And it is amazingly small to pack such a punch.

Great for EasyTether!

Power-wise, it draws 150-200mA when running on its own, or 600-650mA when used for USB tethering (my purpose). So, make sure you're running it from a USB 3.0+ port or dedicated 1-Amp USB plug if tethering.

I wrote a great forum post on the GL.iNet website describing the setup process, so it shouldn't take someone long to find.

I just wish this model came in black!

Happy Hacking!

I love this thing! Note that I'm not using it for Wi-Fi routing at all, so if Wi-Fi is the main usage for you, I'm afraid this review won't be of any help to you. I needed to proxy some data to keep traffic off of my main network, and this helped me get there with minimal effort (already had LEDE installed when I got it). I tweaked the settings, installed a few packages, and away it went! It seems very nicely built, the form factor is spectacular, and I just love everything about it (even the crazy mango color). Well done, GL.iNet! Your $20 travel router was able to solve a problem with a $1000 device! ;)

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