Amazon.com: Customer reviews: GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext (Slate) Gigabit Travel AC VPN Router, 300Mbps(2.4GHz)+433Mbps(5GHz) Wi-Fi, 128MB RAM, MicroSD Support, Repeater Bridge, OpenWrt/LEDE pre-Installed, Cloudflare DNS

Compact, fast, all the right ports, VPN capable

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2019

We recently returned from an overseas adventure-vacation. While we had internet at the hotels, I remain nervous about the security risk of connecting to an open network. While stand-alone VPN solutions for each device are in theory an option, in practice this becomes clunky, and unreliable (I can't guarantee that everyone in my family will always activate their device's VPN).

So I came across this device, which purports to provide a router-level VPN connection between you and your VPN provider.

I have to say, this device is excellent. It's light-weight (with the antennae folded, it's about the size of a deck of cards). It has a decent signal strength, which deteriorates quickly outside of a ~ 30'x30' perimeter, which makes it ideal for hotel rooms, as it's less likely that the signal will extend to other rooms or the hallway/lobby. It has the ability to act as a wifi bridge to a wired connection, or as a wifi-extendor (providing VPN connections either way). Lastly, you can, if you must, connect up to two devices to it's LAN ports (it has a 3rd LAN port that's meant for LINE-IN).

A few tips:

- Make sure to get the latest firmware, as otherwise, it can't handle captive portals (the login screen that many hotels direct you to in order to activate your hotel wifi).

- If you'll be connecting to a VPN, make sure to NOT have it set to auto-connect. I spent about an hour trying to figure out why I wasn't being directed to the login portal of my hotel room. Turns out that if the VPN is set to auto connect, it immediately tries to initiate a VPN connection, preventing connection to the captive portal of the hotel wifi. Alternatively, manually "disconnect" the VPN, log in to your hotel wifi, then activate the VPN.

Once the VPN connection was established, it remained in place for the 48 hours we were in the hotel room without having to re-connect.

My only gripe (a small one) is the lack of a built-in battery. There were several times that I had to move the device around, and each time, our family's wifi was down until the device rebooted and re-connected.

Overall, an excellent product, and to my knowledge, the only travel router with VPN capability on the market in the U.S.

Pros:
- Small, light-weight
- VPN capable (I'm using NordVPN, but I believe it'll work with any provider that supports then OpenVPN protocol)
- Good user interface
- All the necessary ports
- Runs off USB port - even a portable battery if you'd like. Makes it much easier for travel purposes, especially overseas
- dual band - can have 5mhz and 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks up simultaneously (primary and "guest", for example).

Cons
- relatively small range (a plus IMO for security reasons)
- No built-in battery
- No built-in SD card slot

4 people found this helpful

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Noah Petramala

Compact Powerhouse: GL-AR750S Exceeds Expectations!

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2024

Verified Purchase

I've been thrilled with my GL.iNet GL-AR750S! I have had it for over a year and love the VPN capability. This compact router is a powerhouse, offering excellent performance and reliability. The dual-band Wi-Fi ensures a strong and stable connection, while the VPN compatibility provides an extra layer of security. Setting it up was a breeze, thanks to the user-friendly interface, and its portability is a major plus. With multiple features packed into such a small device, the GL-AR750S has exceeded my expectations, making it an outstanding choice for anyone in need of a reliable and versatile travel router.

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SSL

Nice single board router/PC with Qualcomm chips and OpenWRT.

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

WPA2-AES is working properly according to a current iphone firmware load which has detected WPA problems on other access points in the past successfully.

The new Tor client functionality (still in beta) works, but is slow to startup. Once working it delivers ~7MB/sec up and down through the Tor network - which is reasonable. Did not detect any out of band leaks in their Tor implementation. Tested Tor access through an iphone which was kinda neat. There is no formal Tor browser for the iphone.

GL-inet provides all the controls for OpenWRT...but places them behind a selection menu. I found their own GUI to be much easier to use than WRT's. So you really don't need that expansive WRT configuration menu unless you need something special.

The box itself is just a Qualcomm chip on a PCB - which is the way I like to buy our routers. Will be ordering another soon, and might buy a bunch for Christmas since this box includes DNS over TLS. Good way for family to update their network by inserting this box ahead of whatever they have. Saves money and grief. No one should be using the old DNS system - it's a security risk. This is a simple upgrade for anyone with old hardware.

Besides, ALL of the IEEE standards for wifi have been compromised/hacked. Even Wifi6E has been a disappointment. So everyone should really isolate their wifi traffic to OUTSIDE their primary network (which should be wired). Wifi - you just can't trust it. Every phone or laptop you own using wifi should also be on a VPN.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/04/11/flaws-in-wpa3-wi-fi-standard-allow-attackers-to-crack-passwords-and-view-traffic/?sh=3249d14a7050

The Qualcomm ® XSPAN TM QCA9563 is a highly integrated and feature-rich IEEE 802.11n 3x3
2.4 GHz System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for advanced WLAN platforms.
It includes a MIPS 74Kc processor, an SGMII interface and an external memory interface for
serial Flash, DDR1 or DDR2, UART, PCIe, two USB 2.0 Host controllers with built-in MAC/PHY
and GPIOs that can be used for LED controls or other general purpose interface configurations.
The QCA9563 supports 802.11n operations up to 216 Mbps for 20 MHz and 450 Mbps for 40
MHz, and 802.11b/g data rates. Additional features include Maximal Likelihood (ML) decoding,
Low-Density Parity Check (encoding) and Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC).

Pretty certain this MIPs processor is free of the Spectre flaw. Virtually EVERY processor made over the last 30 years contains this flaw. May mean you will be forced to throw out ALL your computer hardware someday. Nice touch that this little box can stay? Maybe the kind of CPU you want protecting your network 24/7?

One person found this helpful

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Dubu

Works Okay and a nice little device. But it has some caveats

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2021

Verified Purchase

Nice little device and I would recommend getting it but it I had some issues with it and I'd like to post those issues here.

The main issue is that I used it as a repeater for my my router. The device would work for weeks without any issues than all of the sudden would fail to connect to the internet. I had to unplug and plug the device in several times before it would finally reconnect to the main router.

With that said I reconfigured the device as a router so now. I have to switch between internet connections to manage the systems on the new router network. It's no big deal but a little irritating.

The management interface is nice and well thought out so it's worth the purchase and now I'm thinking it might be an issue with my internal network that caused the repeater to disconnect randomly but it's hard to troubleshoot that without some advance network tools, which I do not have.

Buy it and try it out and I think you'll be pleased.

One person found this helpful

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Steven

The Ultimate Travel Router with Top-Notch Performance and Security!

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2023

Verified Purchase

The GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext (Slate) Gigabit Travel AC VPN Router has been an absolute game-changer for my travel and remote work setup. With its compact size and powerful performance, it's the perfect travel companion. The dual-band Wi-Fi with speeds of 300Mbps (2.4GHz) and 433Mbps (5GHz) ensures a stable and fast internet connection wherever I go. The 128MB RAM allows for smooth multitasking and quick data processing. I especially appreciate the MicroSD support, which provides additional storage space for my files on the go.

The built-in Repeater Bridge feature enhances the versatility of this router, enabling me to extend Wi-Fi coverage or connect to a wired network effortlessly. The pre-installed OpenWrt/LEDE firmware offers a world of customization options, catering to advanced users who seek total control over their network settings.

Security is a top priority, and the integrated VPN support ensures my internet connection remains encrypted and private, even on unsecured public networks. The inclusion of Cloudflare DNS further enhances my online privacy and helps speed up browsing.

I've used this travel router during my trips, in hotels, and even at coffee shops, and it has consistently provided a reliable and secure internet connection. For anyone seeking a powerful, secure, and travel-friendly router, the GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext (Slate) is an excellent choice that has truly exceeded my expectations!

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Mac Mead

Quite a capable router and very modern

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

- I wanted to have decent range (more than 25’) as I planned to hide the router and didn’t want attenuation to destroy the signal.
- DC power. I didn’t want to use AC, either shore, generator or the inverter. To that, the router must be powered by 12V, in this case 5VDC via USB. I also purchased a 12V USB converter, similar as you would find in an auto.
- Speed. I needed it to hand multiple clients at 5G speeds. While you’ll never operate at those speeds, having the 5G capability makes slower speeds, such as what I needed for Netflix, etc., work robustly.
- Security. The router had to have the most up to date (WPA3) encryption. I also wanted VPN in case I needed it for work (not that I work… 😀)
- Ease of connectivity. I wanted to be able to repeat, extend, or tether. Once set to a network signal, I didn’t want it to forget. When in range, I wanted to router to just obtain it and log in. In other words, zero maintenance except for adding a new RV park signal, if appropriate.

This router does all of this and much much more. It is actually more capable than my home router.

When I’m at home or using a RV park signal, I extend which means the router receives the available WiFi and then creates another network(called a subnet) where devices receive their own IP addresses. I can also view (and limit) the bandwidth of each if I care too (my home router doesn’t do this!). When I want to use my phone’s hotspot, I can either broadcast as I was before or use a usb cable to connect the phone to the router (called tethering) where the signal is controlled and the phone is also under charge. Once set up (connection saved) the router connects. It actually will connect to two inputs, say my home internet and the tether at the same time!

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Tyler mueller

So far so good!

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

I bought this device with the intention of setting up my whole network as a VPN. It did exactly that. The software is super easy and seamless. Setup is smooth and configuration is really easy to do. It works with almost all mainstream VPN services and you can create your own if need be. Their is a toggle switch capability for quick on/off of your VPN as well. Internet speeds with the VPN connected are great, if you have good internet.

On a side note. When I was configuring the repeater mode through wireless connection, it crashed and I had to do a hard reset on the device. But a wired WAN connection to my other router seemed to fix this issue. I've only had the device for a couple days but there has been no crashes. So keeping a wired connection is the way to go for me. It might have been that i was too far away... idk.

Over all, this is a great device hands down. I would recommend this device to anyone who wants a secure connection as their whole entire network.

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Julian

Incredibly awesome, incredibly frustrating, and be ready to hack

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

I've spent several hours every evening for the last two weeks trying to get this device to do what I want, which is to act as a repeater for a public municipal Wifi network into my apartment. The hardware is excellent, the proprietary interface (theoretically) is full of great easy to set-up features, and the backing open source OS make it readily hackable to do what I want. Unfortunately, I still haven't been able to make it work as a stable repeater for this particular network.

Pros:
- Decently powerful hardware
- Open source OS (OpenWrt) lets you debug and attempt to fix any problems yourself if you have the skills
- Online forums where GL developers chime in regularly, sharing knowledge of the internals and responding to user issues.
- GL interface is easy-to-use and is full of features
- Wireguard support out of the box. To set up mullvad you just enter your account id.
- Cloudflare DNS support is amazing. One checkbox and DNS is encrypted.
- Can power it off a battery pack.

Cons:
- Lack of support for DFS and certain authentication schemes meant that the default interface would not let me connect and stay connected to the network I am working with. You may also run into these problems if trying to repeat public networks.
- Random crashes. Had to do one factory reset after just rebooting the device seemed to brick it.
- Firmware is outdated. Only OpenWrt 18 is supported, which is end-of-life. Good luck installing packages, they will be ancient versions.
- Antennas are non-removable. Installing better antennas would help if trying to repeat weak signals. I was able to add an unofficial antenna port with the use of a part off eBay, a screwdriver, a razor blade, and some glue, but c'mon.
- Sometimes it can be quite fast, but sometimes it will only top out at 15Mbps even if I'm standing next to the AP that delivers 250Mbps. Idk what's going on. (VPN is off).

It may have to do more with the particulars of the public network I'm dealing with, but through all my attempts at using the default interface or a custom setup I have not been able to connect reliably without either: 1) slow speeds, 2) nightly disconnects requiring manual intervention or 3) hourly disconnects for 30 seconds each.

I can't imagine a better device in this category, but still, good luck.

UPDATE 02/22: A recent software update fixed most of the crashing, including a memory leak in the Wireguard client. It now runs OpenWRT 19. I've been using this to repeat a public wifi network for a year (yay free internet). It's somewhat more stable now, but the overall review is the same.

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Jay H. Cahow

Not Ready For Prime Time

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

I had high hopes for this little travel router based on a magazine article and some of the reviews I read here on Amazon.

After spending the better part of a day trying to use it I have to say I should have believed the reviews with poorer ratings. While it has great promise I think they have quit a few issues that need to be worked out before i would rate it any higher.

Where do I start:

I had problems trying to set it up over my iPhone using Firefox as it does not list any exiting Wifi networks when I scan for them. Now that may be a problem with Firefox so I switched to using a PC and used Firefox using the same internal web page and it scans and shows existing Wifi networks.

While it lists both my 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks it will only connect to my 2.4Ghz Wifi it will not connect to my 5Ghz Wifi. The 5Ghz Wifi is listed as a DFS network (which I needed to lockup meaning it shares space with some radar frequencies) and I contacted the vendor and they got back to me saying they are not DFS certified and it would not connect to that specific network. They did send a complicated work around manually using SSH "This devices is not test to get a DFS certification so we disabled DFS in the UI. You can ssh to the router and configure using uci if you want".

That seems strange to me as I have no problems connecting any other device to my existing 5Ghz network. I am only testing this at home (Netgear R7000 Nighthawk Router) so may it works better on other routers. I saw no way in my Router to turn off DFS on the 5ghz network so my 160Mb download rate was limited to 30Mb on the 2.4Ghz one.

It was also very confusing because the Router web page allowed me to select "other" network on the scan results and manually enter my SSID and password. I would then get a "successfully connected" message but there would be no connection actually made (no internet). I presume this is because it make a connection and then shuts it back down because of DFS being involved.

So I left it connected to the 2.4Ghz network as a 'Repeater" connected to one of its two Lan ports. I could never get it work at all when I tried "Cable" mode when connected to my wired network or directly to my Cable modem. I have quite a sophisticated home network (1Ghz and 10Ghz) using over a dozen switches using a Netgear commerical router (with no wireless capabilities). I therefore just use the Nighthawk Router as a wireless access point (no DHCP) plugged into one of my switches but this same action did not work for the travel router. It also would not work connected directly to the Cable model which is not surprising since Comcast has my MAC ID on file and I have to contact them when I make a Router change. I suppose I could have tried spoofing the Cable Modem MAC ID but I never got that far.

Then I tried to follow their instructions on their vendor web page to setup a VPN. I had problems following their instructions because their were confusing errors where Server and Client were miss named in the images. I got the Server setup but the Client process was a dead end as I Never got the Popup window that was suppose to show my VPN configuration that I was suppose to paste somewhere else. I suppose this again could be tired to Firefox somehow but everything else up to that point in the VPN setup process was going fine.

I then wondered if there was maybe new firmware as i was running 3.025 out of the box so I checked that option on the Router and it told me a newer version 3.10 was available so I had it download and install it but alas it did not correct any of my issues I had encountered. More importantly when I checked the vendor page later I see that the 3.10 version is labeled as Beta and being tested which the Router itself never mentioned leaving me to believe it was regular release. I would have tried it anyways but the Router probably should not be showing Beta firmware.

I am confused about the Micro Sim card option as well. I thought it was going to allow me to place up to a 128GB card in the router for access purposes (shared drive). I placed a 64GB card in the Router before I ever turned it on but I do not recall seeing anything in the firmware referencing it or about its purpose.

I am no professional IT person but I think I know my way around networking fairly well and I setup everything at my home myself. I found the Router user interface lacking and confusing, their documentation inaccurate, and the only technical support I could locate was sending their support an e-mail (no supports tickets or user forums).

While they did get back to me within half a day it seems obvious that they are located in China (or close by from the name on the e-mail)) and that English is their second language.

Maybe others are having much better luck with this product but the product and its support are not up to my expectations and it is going back to Amazon. What a frustrating day working with this product.

For those trying to connect to 5Ghz DFS networks using SSH here is the remainder of the e-mail I was sent (part is missing as their screen prints at the end do not show here) :

step 1: exec following command and wait a minute. the channel value is the upper-level wifi channel.
uci set wireless.radio0.doth='1'
uci set wireless.radio0.country='US'
uci set wireless.radio0.channel='104'
uci commit wireless
wifi

step 2: exec logread | grep DFS to check.
root@GL-AR750S:~# logread | grep DFS
Sat Feb 8 07:01:22 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: interface state HT_SCAN->DFS
Sat Feb 8 07:01:22 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: DFS-CAC-START freq=5520 chan=104 sec_chan=-1, width=1, seg0=106, seg1=0, cac_time=60s
Sat Feb 8 07:02:26 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: DFS-CAC-COMPLETED success=1 freq=5520 ht_enabled=0 chan_offset=0 chan_width=3 cf1=5530 cf2=0
Sat Feb 8 07:02:27 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: interface state DFS->ENABLED

step 3: connect as follow guide

Screen prints do not show.

9 people found this helpful

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Richard Burk

Flawed setup, but got working quickly, would recommend for travel router

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2022

Verified Purchase

I bought this to replace my hootoo travel router. I needed both WIFI 2G and 5G as some hotels and others no longer provide 2G WIFI in my experience. This provides both. Also I travel internationally via cruise ships and other modes and stay in hotels, airBnbs, etc. So having something that just works is of prime importance to me. Most importantly, I want to get past captive portal pages no matter where I am. Secondarily, I want to be able to VPN home (USA) without issues. First I setup the WIFI, took a bit of trial and error and searching for a manual as it was not intuitive. The admin page should really either link to the documentation or build in the documentation with an information bubble/popup (!). That would have helped instead of accessing the internet from another device during the process. Next was setting up the VPN. My primary VPN was not one of the listed VPNs supported, so I have to go through trial and error to get it setup. It worked after about 30 minutes of futzing around with it. I then setup the VPN for a supported VPN, that actually took me longer to setup as the provided instructions while technically correct assumed certain information that I needed to lookup to make it work. I got it working too.

For getting both VPNs to work independently of each other, the startup process failed the first time, and it took a few times of restarting it, and then it worked, so I suggest that the instructions be updated to note that if it doesn't work the first time, try it again up to 3 or 4 times.

For the unsupported VPN, I setup several USA states and the supported VPN, I setup an entire USA VPN. This helps me out because VPNs in my experience are not always available no matter how many VPN end points that the VPN provider may have. Both have thousands available, but sometimes they just don't work.

I did not take advantage of the entire suite of applications available. I did entire the NAS storage via USB and allowing remote disk access. I haven't tried it yet. I expect it should just work. I just need to figure out how to do it via windows and linux. Shouldn't be hard. I expect to mount the HDD as a network drive on windows and as a network/remote mount on linux. I have done the windows drive map before on other devices. I haven't done the linux remote mount before, so that will be a nice challenge.

The router arrived in pristine condition and as pictured. I am powering it from my multi-port USB charger and plugged in my USB HDD. It seems to run the HDD just fine thus far. I have access to it from the web interface. No issues.

There are other applications and such available, but I have not tried them out. It appears to support DDNS which is great though I doubt I will ever use it.

6 people found this helpful

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GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext (Slate) Gigabit Travel AC VPN Router, 300Mbps(2.4GHz)+433Mbps(5GHz) Wi-Fi, 128MB RAM, MicroSD Support, Repeater Bridge, OpenWrt/LEDE pre-Installed, Cloudflare DNS

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GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext (Slate) Gigabit Travel AC VPN Router, 300Mbps(2.4GHz)+433Mbps(5GHz) Wi-Fi, 128MB RAM, MicroSD Support, Repeater Bridge, OpenWrt/LEDE pre-Installed, Cloudflare DNS

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