GL iNet GL-SFT1200 Opal Portable WiFi Travel Router Mini VPN Wireless Router for Fiber Optic Modem Mobile Internet

I have a different reason for wanting a wireless router like this than most people. I wanted something small that could fit in the back of my mixing rack for my bands gigs. This allow us to connect to the mixer using phones and tablets to control monitor mixes and the main mix. Easy to use as a bridge to connect to the house WiFi for internet access while keeping the mixer off of the WAN. Simple setup and flat out works. The VPN features are cool but I have no need for them in this situation so haven't played with them. For me it came down to format, feature, and cost factor. This scored high in all of those given my needs. I'll buy again as needs arise. Read more

Small form factor, with a small case it doesn't take up much space in a case or bag. Range could span a few hotel rooms easy on high power, low power is enough for the room and into the hall. It connects via wifi, Ethernet, or a USB tethering. It has a built in OpenVPN and Wiregaurd client and a hardware switch to enable them, so you can tunnel traffic out of the shared upstream network. The interface is basic, but easy to use. You can use OpenWRT directly too if you prefer more advanced options. I've used this on trips for days and is more limited by the upstream hotel connection than this device. I've used it to stream movies, play games via Parsec and upload photos and videos without any issues. Read more

The router performance is about the same as the Tenda AC1200 AC8 it replaced. It does that with MUCH smaller antenna and only two of them compared with 4 antennae of the AC8. Prepare for very small fonts in the start up instructions! I did have an issue and needed to go online to the site for clarification. Possibly due to language differences there was confusion as to which password to enter into the router once it rebooted. Either the new router password or the host password. That was resolved and the router has run smoothly since 12/11/24. It was setup in our house but it will be transferred to an office environment shortly where its host and password will again be changed before it settles into service at that location. Based on its performance we ordered three more. This router was approved for use by our national organization. We also bought the carry cases for them as Amazon offered a case designed for this router. We do need a case to protect the router when not in use. If you use "WISP" mode to connect to the host wirelessly this router does not have one. Its equivalent mode is "Repeater" and it works the same as WISP as it connects to the host and on to the Internet in our case. We have not used the router in any other mode, however we expect that it will meet our expectations. There are two LAN and one WAN port along with a 2.0 USB port. With its small size we may use a switch for allowing access to other devices. A four port switch device is very light and won't interfere with portability this router affords. The color blends in very well with our office surroundings. The AC8 was only offered in black or white colors and with 4 large antennae it did not blend in very well. Packing it for travel or storage was very annoying. This Opal router works well and has side benefits. The antennae design worked well in a TP-Link access point we used several years ago. The Internet speed test we ran did not differ very much from the AC8 design so we expect about the same performance from this smaller unit as compared to the larger Tenda AC8 design. I also bought one for our house. A nice touch was the power supply and cord. Both match the unit color and the plug has a unique design. The cord is a flat design that FOLDS very nice within itself. I am NOT going to purchase round cords any longer. When one coils (folds) this cord just follow the contours that you see when you first look at the unit in the box. You can then fold it back into the same size. I took a photo of it so I could refold it correctly and it DID! A nice small package without using an elastic. Its funny how the little things add up to a nice design. The Gli folks have a nice design throughout the product. Even the box design is very well done. BTW the route unit takes up about 1/2 the box and the cord and power supply take up the other half. The router is in a soft sleeve and one will realize it is only 1/2 of the box size. The plug of the power cord will need a 10 second assembly. It seems to be a universal plug that allows the unit to adapt to US, EU and other electrical systems. The contacts assembly are separate from the remainder of the cord assembly. The instructions indicate how to connect the contacts to assemble it to the cord unit by aligning the contact unit with the cord unit and then clicking the two into place with a slight twist of the wrist. Sounds complicated BUT it is like aligning an aspirin bottle top with the bottle edge and slightly twisting the top on. The U.S. model has a standard U.S. plug contacts. The units going to the EU probably have the EU type contact assembly. Slick! We do not need speed greater than the AC1200 standard right now. However, if we need more speed or more features the GLi company will be the first place we will look. GLi put a lot of thought into their design and it makes me confident that their electronics are designed with the same care and detail. Read more

This was not expensive as i went for the cheaper model. Using it at a long term stay at a Holiday Inn where we all share a public network. This allowed me to create a 2.4 and 5G network to run a bunch of devices and add a layer of security to my browsing. I run an Alexa, and several LED wifi bulbs (its a LONG TERM STAY) my phone and a laptop. Configuring it to its fullest requires a little work on your end to find Youtube videos that can really help you. My buddy couldnt get his PS5 to work on the Hotel network but when he got one of these, he was able to make it work as well. I really love it as a travel router. Its small and fairly reliable - i have to go into it and reconfigure it from time to time but that could be a hotel problem. I stream my firestick off it too - and thats been flawless. Read more

This baby rocks! It does EVERYTHING! It is one of the easiest routers I have ever setup. Well documented online and ample support on the website. I could go on and on about how much I love this router, but I want to explain about the "bonus." There is a usb port on the router. I did a little research and you can turn this baby into a NAS or network drive with a usb thumb drive! I just happened to have a 1TB usb drive laying around, so I gave it a try. I found out on their website that I needed a router upgrade to install the app to handle the network drive. I had the latest "stable" upgrade, but needed a beta upgrade for the app. I installed the beta upgrade and everything worked like a charm. I set everything up in the routers setup program. I connected my new network (NAS) drive to Q4OS linux in my shop and to Windows 7 in my study. Pretty much all NAS, network and ethernet drives are well over 100 bucks! This baby is a super cheap alternative with the addition of an inexpensive thumb drive!!! I LOVE it! Beats all the Belkin, Linksys, Cisco, AT&T Spectrum and other routers I have ever owned or dealt with! I will definitely be buying another when this one dies. I have owned mine for about a year now with zero issues. It has stronger wifi than the AT&T router in my home. I got this to extend the range of my Wifi to my shop and garden. It has far exceeded all of my expectations! Read more