Spent $60 on a 'portable wifi hotspot' that barely works outside the hotel room

I bought this GL.iNet travel router in Tokyo last month thinking it would save me from cafe wifi drama. Turned out the thing drops connection every 10 minutes if there's more than one wall between me and the window. Anyone else get tricked by those tiny router devices or am I just using it wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

keith16410d ago

Wait, you mean the GL.iNet travel routers have issues? I thought those had some kind of repeater mode that was supposed to help with this. I've been using the GL-AXT1800 model for about six months now and it's been solid for me, but I always keep it within like 15 feet of my device. The one thing that trips people up is you gotta make sure you're using the 5GHz band on the repeater side, not the 2.4GHz. That older band just doesn't push through walls as well as people think it does.

river_thompson10d ago

Bro I got the same model in Seoul thinking I was being smart. Thing works great if you sit right next to the router with nothing between you and it. Walk two feet away and it's like the signal just gives up on life. I ended up just using my phone as a hotspot which honestly works better and I already pay for the data anyway. $60 could've been two really good meals here but no I bought a tiny plastic brick instead.

angela72810d ago

Friend of mine bought one of those in Bangkok. Worked great for the first day then just stopped finding networks. Ended up using it as a paperweight.