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Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

kulesz.me

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Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#21

Post by rodlette »

The usecase of providing ethernet to devices without wireless makes sense.

I also hear about travel usecases for these, even for devices with wireless which I don't understand.

Some cite security, which I don't understand. Which device's security depends on the network to provide security? Are they weak on 4G?

Some cite avoiding captive portals. Are they that annoying that it's worth maintaining and carrying a travel router?

I trust this is just my lack of imagination. Please enlighten. :)

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#22

Post by Obscurity4340 »

deeesstoronto wrote: post #14

I think it's also worth looking at mikrotik. I run a HAP ac2 for travel which is small, has dual Wi-Fi radios, and enough power for good speeds on IPsec VPN. It also supports wireguard. They also have a tiny, less powerful unit (mAP) that may fit with some travel use cases.

Can you link to the exact product or at least give an easier way for us readers to end up with the right product page :)?

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#23

Post by Roark66 »

I was hoping to this would be an lte-wifi router. Unfortunately it isn't.

I wish we had open source modern lte hardware, but it's not just that we haven't got any open source stuff. There is barely any commercial stuff either. Qualcomm seems the only company I'm able to find that makes lte cat 20 hardware, let alone cat 24. I wonder why. Wouldn't open source hardware projects like limesdr have the resources necessary to deliver it? (there is an fpga on board).

Likewise with WiFi 6 and 7. But here were talking about high frequencies so I can understand a lack of open hardware.

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#24

Post by transpute »

rodlette wrote: post #21

The usecase of providing ethernet to devices without wireless makes sense. I also hear about travel usecases for these, even for devices with wireless which I don't understand. Some cite security, which I don't understand. Which device's security depends on the network to provide security? Are they weak on 4G? Some cite avoiding captive portals. Are they that annoying that it's worth maintaining and carrying a travel…

Not specific to travel, but ethernet avoids https://www.google.com/search?q=wifi+baseband+vulnerability

For those traveling with multiple devices, it's faster to connect one router to a transient network, than to connect N devices.

A travel router can VPN back to home network, e.g. via Tailscale, https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mt3000/

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#25

Post by easyKL »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #2

This is awesome. I had always had a travel/pocket wi-fi router since a long-long time. Started from the likes of D-Link, TP-Link, etc and now my next target is to check out one from GL•iNet[1]. They are flashable with OpenWRT. Their Beryl AX[2] looks spicy. I find the benefit of a router with you when traveling are; - More secure (you can set it up the way you want). - Your device(s) do not need to be configured to w…

Make sure you have a good AC adapter and cable. Mine it's the GL-MT300N (v2) and I keep on missing the signal (although it's not rebooting). Not the proper voltage or amps might be the reason.

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#26

Post by Solvency »

Roark66 wrote: post #23

I was hoping to this would be an lte-wifi router. Unfortunately it isn't. I wish we had open source modern lte hardware, but it's not just that we haven't got any open source stuff. There is barely any commercial stuff either. Qualcomm seems the only company I'm able to find that makes lte cat 20 hardware, let alone cat 24. I wonder why. Wouldn't open source hardware projects like limesdr have the resources necessary…

Because when someone makes it, the NSA comes knocking.

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#27

Post by szszrk »

cookiengineer wrote: post #19
Brajeshwar wrote: post #2

This is awesome. I had always had a travel/pocket wi-fi router since a long-long time. Started from the likes of D-Link, TP-Link, etc and now my next target is to check out one from GL•iNet[1]. They are flashable with OpenWRT. Their Beryl AX[2] looks spicy. I find the benefit of a router with you when traveling are; - More secure (you can set it up the way you want). - Your device(s) do not need to be configured to w…

Do they use a different fork/package for AdGuard home? I'm asking this because the smaller models from them are limited to 32MB flash and 128/256MB RAM, which is way too less for typical AdGuard Home usage. Personally I'm using some older Linksys WRT 1900AC/3200ACM models for my malware homelab and for the 1900AC the AdGuard daemon is constantly OOM once a few blocklists are selected. Does anybody maybe know whether…

Last time I had a glance only their stronger models had adguard built in from factory. Likely for reasons you mentioned.

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#28

Post by mcny »

Solvency wrote: post #26
Roark66 wrote: post #23

I was hoping to this would be an lte-wifi router. Unfortunately it isn't. I wish we had open source modern lte hardware, but it's not just that we haven't got any open source stuff. There is barely any commercial stuff either. Qualcomm seems the only company I'm able to find that makes lte cat 20 hardware, let alone cat 24. I wonder why. Wouldn't open source hardware projects like limesdr have the resources necessary…

Because when someone makes it, the NSA comes knocking.

Even Apple isn't satisfied with its own work on modems if rumors are to be believed. I'm sure Apple will gladly spend billions of dollars in research and own the modem rather than pay Qualcomm year after year.

Just some napkin math, Apple had 232M iPhone sales in 2022. If Apple paid USD 8 (low end estimate) per iPhone sold, that would be USD 1.8B just for 2022. If I were Apple, I'd gladly spend USD 2B a year if that meant I would not have to pay Qualcomm USD 1.8B

My guess is this work is actually difficult especially given all the patents/royalty traps you'd have to avoid and not something people have not simply gotten around to doing.

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#29

Post by petesergeant »

easyKL wrote: post #25
Brajeshwar wrote: post #2

This is awesome. I had always had a travel/pocket wi-fi router since a long-long time. Started from the likes of D-Link, TP-Link, etc and now my next target is to check out one from GL•iNet[1]. They are flashable with OpenWRT. Their Beryl AX[2] looks spicy. I find the benefit of a router with you when traveling are; - More secure (you can set it up the way you want). - Your device(s) do not need to be configured to w…

Make sure you have a good AC adapter and cable. Mine it's the GL-MT300N (v2) and I keep on missing the signal (although it's not rebooting). Not the proper voltage or amps might be the reason.

interesting, I run the old model of the beryl on just about any old USB and it works fine

Re: Building a freedom-friendly WiFi pocket-router (2020)

#30

Post by KRAKRISMOTT »

Roark66 wrote: post #23

I was hoping to this would be an lte-wifi router. Unfortunately it isn't. I wish we had open source modern lte hardware, but it's not just that we haven't got any open source stuff. There is barely any commercial stuff either. Qualcomm seems the only company I'm able to find that makes lte cat 20 hardware, let alone cat 24. I wonder why. Wouldn't open source hardware projects like limesdr have the resources necessary…

Fabrice Bellard has one

https://bellard.org/lte/

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