The Road Warrior 4G/Wifi Companion (travel router)

RouterOS General
1

Hey, hello everyone.
My name is Luiz.

This is my first post. I'm writing it because I cannot find a perfect hardware that will fit my needs.

The problem

I travel quite a bit because of the remote work. But a big problem I have when I go to somewhere else is the internet connection, including the Wi-Fi and mobile connections.

I need to be attached to a VPN and I usually need to get into my personal home network.

So, if I have my laptop with me, it kind of works because I can connect to the VPNs without any problem. But this is not true for other devices.

The solution I want

I want to have an excess point that it would connect to the internet via another Wi-Fi connection or 4G. Then it would forward the traffic using the VPN to my personal home network.

This way, this device would be able to connect it to a hotel wifi or use mobile plan as a backup. Also, this also means that it will allow any device, for example, my camera or my video game console, to connect to it via WiFi and get access to my home network.

Finally, I want something portable. I want something small. So, I also want something that would be powered by a USB-C cable.

The closest things I found

  • Raspberry 4/5: that would be perfect, powered by an USB-C table, M2 4G modem, etc. But RouterOS doesn't work on it.
  • ZimaBlade: x86, so it runs RouterOS, powered by USB-C cable. But there's no M2 slot for a 4G modem
  • Mikrotik hAP Lite: uses USB for power and it is small. But there's no 4G connection.
  • Mikrotik mAP Lite: very small. No 4G and uses microUSB for power.
  • Mikrotik hAP ac²: powerful. Big and don't even have 4G inside of it but supports via USB dongle.

Any ideas?

2

hAP AX Lite LTE
Ticks all your boxes.
2Ghz Wifi only but make no mistake, using the right client it can get to 400Mbps (which LTE can not provide).

Used it for testing once on a 10.000mAh power bank, over 8 hours and still the battery wasn’t empty.

The only comment I have on it is the package. Those feet are really … (how shall I say) “unhandy” space-wise when storing it in a backpack. On the other hand, I do understand it is needed to make sure there is sufficient airflow from the bottom.

3

To be picky its the hap ax lite LTE6

What do you have at home? MT router? Public IP, or ISP router that can forward port to MT router??

4

Oh, sorry for this long delay. I ended up forgetting about this forum post.

Answers

@holvoetn: yeah, I was thinking about the "hAP AX Lite LTE" but I don't like its design for travelling. As you said, it is not a design made to put into a backpack.

@anav I couldn't even find this model to buy on any store here in Brazil, unfortunately. And I have a "Mikrotik RB5009UPr+S+IN" and I'm waiting for my "MikroTik Chateau Pro ax" to arrive but it should take 1.5 month until I have it.

I ended up buying a GL-SFT1200

So, I ended up buying a "GL-SFT1200" from GL.iNet. It doesn't have LTE but that's ok, this was my experiment to see how it would be to have a router companion. Also, it is a very weak and slow device but I was already aware, that's the simplest option from GL.iNet.

I travelled with it once and it was a good experience. I was able to connect to my Wireguard VPN and route all my traffic through it. For some more advanced routing configurations, I was able to jump into the OpenWRT console and play a little more with it.

I was able to easily turn-on the hotspot on my phone and that's it. The GL-SFT1200 connects to my phone wifi, then "repeat it" but enabling the VPN and all the routing I've configured on it.

But the problem is that I don't have RouterOS, of course. I love RouterOS and the Android apps and that's what I missed the most.

I really want a Petit Chateau (you can use this name, I'll not ask for royalties)

I realized two things:

  • I don't want LTE anymore: it is VERY expensive to get a LTE plan here in Brazil for non-phone devices. It was a lot cheaper to create a hotspot using my phone and then connect my router to it, as repeater.
  • I really, really, want a Petit Cheateau: aesthetics is something very important for me. The Chateau model is beautiful and I really want a mini model like that one but designed to be travel friendly and with antennas like the GL.iNet models.

This may be a good market for MikroTik to jump into

Looks like Gl.iNet is playing alone in this "travel routers" market. There are other brands but nothing gets even close to them and they recently announced the GL-BE3600 model. This is a crazy impressive router given its form factor and features set.

It would be incredible to install RouteOS on a device like that and have all the VPN features and WiFi connectivity easily available from the "MikroTik Home" Android app.

So, yeah, I really want a Petit Chateau.

5

The GL-BE3600 looks very impressive. In real terms for lone travel I have found the little mAP, or mAP Lite powered directly from the computer, works remarkably well despite the apparently paltry specs by today’s standards. I run 7.18 on mine. Obviously I am not game-playing or downloading gigabytes.

For your original requirement (without LTE) I might have preferred the hAP ax2 to its lite version, as more powerful and more packable in shape.

6

@phascogale oh, I agree! The only reason why I didn’t get a mAP is because it uses micro-USB instead of USB-C. Over time, I realized that my things must be as simple as possible during travels. Everything I use recharges via USB-C, including my laptop and now my router. A new version of it with USB-C would be great but I still think we would need the software support to easily connect to hotel wifi and the Chateau aesthetics would be much better.

About the hAP ac², I don’t think it is a good option for travelling. I need a dedicated power supply for it.

7

Only a word of warning (if needed).
Using a USB-C connector does not necessarily mean that a device is USB-C compatible (in the sense of capable to draw all available USB-C power), see:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/hap-ax-lite-usb-power/172612/1