Review on GL.iNet GL-AR150 Mini Travel Router: Compact Wi-Fi Converter with High Performance, OpenVPN, and Antenna by Tom Oberhue

First off, this is a great wireless router. Forget it's small and advertised as a 'travel router'. It has great features and great software in a small package. I use this router with a standard firmware based on OpenWRT, which is stable, fully functional and easy to configure. This router is not made by some super smart company that spends 80% of its money on advertising, marketing and shareholder services. . If you want one of these, there are 500 or so other routers that come in a colorful box of extraordinarily happy people and include a one-page, frame-friendly poster titled "Quick Start." This device does not belong to these companies. This is a router for people who need to do something more complex than what milling machines can do. Most routers just can't do the job of this router because they have lousy hardware and lousy software in one slick package. Can you do this with a random router and DD-WRT? Absolutely! Especially if you want to lose a lot of hours. I was there/did it. I use this router as a gateway to connect networks. This comes in handy on site when I move from site to site as each customer has a different network and power configuration and set of service requirements. Because this router is extremely flexible, I can use it in any scenario I come across. An external antenna connection is useful, but not absolutely necessary. Another great feature of the AR150 is its very low power consumption, especially if you run it 24/7 or on battery power. A typical WIFI router costs over $30 per year in electricity to power it. It costs about $2 a year. I don't know about you, but I'd rather keep that $28 a year to myself than give it to OPEC and their friends. My Kill-A-Watt power meter shows my AR150 drawing about 1 watt under heavy load. As with anything you buy, you need to understand the specs, and you need to understand what the term "before" means in relation to the network. This is a 2.4GHz 802.11n device. It only has two Ethernet ports. Requires a 5V power supply via a micro USB cable (I'm using an older Android power supply). It does not come with extra cables, poster or manual. But what it really has is great design and engineering at a low price.