4 ms·

Innovative how? Many travel routers already exist and support similar features

cromka 9mo ago
The way it automatically connects to your home and presents to your devices as part of your home WiFi. So you bring that device with you and everything else works like you're back home. I use OPNSense and OpenWRT myself and there's no way you can make travel routers this convenient with them.
- walterbell 9mo ago
  > presents to your devices as part of your home WiFi That will be fun for browser geolocation based on WiFi name.
  - shermantanktop 9mo ago
    In a 1 bit environment (==single SSID visible), sure. But most of the time multiple SSIDs are visible, and correlate to each, making detection of abnormalities easier. And the lat/long is also visible to help disambiguate.
    - walterbell 9mo ago
      Would both the stationary and mobile instances of that SSID be visible on public databases like https://wigle.net https://wigle.net?
    - gruez 9mo ago
      I think OP meant the opposite issue of broadcasting "I live at 123 evergreen terrace" everywhere you go, because SSIDs are vaguely unique.
  - lostlogin 9mo ago
    You’ve reminded me of a project I started and never got it working. A home network on a vpn to another location. So the usually ssid is in my home country, and another ssid is based somewhere else geographically.
- cycomanic 9mo ago
  Why do you think this would be difficult to do using openwrt? Wouldn't you just set up the travel router to have the same ssid and password as your home network and configure a wireguard tunnel from the travel router to your home network (that is if you want to be in your home network)
  - anon7000 9mo ago
    Because manually configuring wireguard tunnels on random devices is a simple task for most people lol. Unifi’s whole stack is all about making powerful tools easier to use for people who don’t want to fuck around with networking.
    - devilbunny 9mo ago
      Agreed. I use Tailscale (which the gl.inet devices support, because they're basically a pretty front end for OpenWRT, and it supports Tailscale) for my stuff, because I can do it and it's not a real pain to do, but you do have to know a bit at least about networking. This thing looks extremely promising for the "I know this should be possible and I want to do it but have no idea how" level of knowledge as well as the "I want to spend as little time as possible on configuring things" people.
    - cycomanic 9mo ago
      But you don't need to configure wireguard on the individual devices just on the openwrt router. That's one device and you can keep that on permanently.
      - throwawaysoxjje 9mo ago
        Except that sometimes you can’t. I don’t know if the Unifi router checks for this, but I’ve run into more than one network where the VPN conflicted with either the captive portal or the wireless network itself (and at least one in the DFW Admiral’s club that had draconian blocking)
- varenc 9mo ago
  Tailscale running in subnet router mode on a GL.iNet router comes close. You can setup Tailscale through the GL.iNet GUI but to have it also route traffic for everything over to your Tailnet you need to flip one setting via an ssh command. Not as convenient as this travel router sounds though, but comes close-ish for techies. (wish it didn't require that tweak via SSH. Maybe it'll be added)
  - ec109685 9mo ago
    Something something dropbox is simple :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 I wish Eero offered this feature. I bring three eeros to Airbnb’s to replace their crappy WiFi with my same SID, but it would be nice if it connected back through the home internet.
    - varenc 9mo ago
      hah, 2nd time in the last couple months I've been compared to that LEGENDARY Dropbox comment... In my defense, I'd argue that the average Tailscale user would be comfortable running an SSH command! And GL.iNet is just one very minor tweak away to making this entirely possible from the GUI. (though they might be intentionally avoiding it because of the support burden of quirks caused by Tailscale acting as a subnet router...)
- Onavo 9mo ago
  It probably needs a panic/border mode to disable all home access in the event of an emergency. You don't want to be crossing borders and give customs officials full access to your home network.
  - system2 9mo ago
    If you disable your password saving, I think it would prevent them somehow.
- vistu 9mo ago
  Although it does sound really nice from a user experience perspective I'm really hesitant with carrying a device with me that without any (additional) authentication would gain access to my home network wherever you plug it in. Would hate losing it or have it be taken from me.
  - cromka 9mo ago
    Why would you assume there's no additional authentication imposed? You definitely need to establish a connection wherever you are, and most likely you do using a dedicated and pre-authenticated app on your phone.

The way it automatically connects to your home and presents to your devices as part of your home WiFi. So you bring that device with you and everything else works like you're back home. I use OPNSense and OpenWRT myself and there's no way you can make travel routers this convenient with them.

walterbell 9mo ago
> presents to your devices as part of your home WiFi That will be fun for browser geolocation based on WiFi name.
- shermantanktop 9mo ago
  In a 1 bit environment (==single SSID visible), sure. But most of the time multiple SSIDs are visible, and correlate to each, making detection of abnormalities easier. And the lat/long is also visible to help disambiguate.
  - walterbell 9mo ago
    Would both the stationary and mobile instances of that SSID be visible on public databases like https://wigle.net https://wigle.net?
  - gruez 9mo ago
    I think OP meant the opposite issue of broadcasting "I live at 123 evergreen terrace" everywhere you go, because SSIDs are vaguely unique.
- lostlogin 9mo ago
  You’ve reminded me of a project I started and never got it working. A home network on a vpn to another location. So the usually ssid is in my home country, and another ssid is based somewhere else geographically.
cycomanic 9mo ago
Why do you think this would be difficult to do using openwrt? Wouldn't you just set up the travel router to have the same ssid and password as your home network and configure a wireguard tunnel from the travel router to your home network (that is if you want to be in your home network)
- anon7000 9mo ago
  Because manually configuring wireguard tunnels on random devices is a simple task for most people lol. Unifi’s whole stack is all about making powerful tools easier to use for people who don’t want to fuck around with networking.
  - devilbunny 9mo ago
    Agreed. I use Tailscale (which the gl.inet devices support, because they're basically a pretty front end for OpenWRT, and it supports Tailscale) for my stuff, because I can do it and it's not a real pain to do, but you do have to know a bit at least about networking. This thing looks extremely promising for the "I know this should be possible and I want to do it but have no idea how" level of knowledge as well as the "I want to spend as little time as possible on configuring things" people.
  - cycomanic 9mo ago
    But you don't need to configure wireguard on the individual devices just on the openwrt router. That's one device and you can keep that on permanently.
    - throwawaysoxjje 9mo ago
      Except that sometimes you can’t. I don’t know if the Unifi router checks for this, but I’ve run into more than one network where the VPN conflicted with either the captive portal or the wireless network itself (and at least one in the DFW Admiral’s club that had draconian blocking)
varenc 9mo ago
Tailscale running in subnet router mode on a GL.iNet router comes close. You can setup Tailscale through the GL.iNet GUI but to have it also route traffic for everything over to your Tailnet you need to flip one setting via an ssh command. Not as convenient as this travel router sounds though, but comes close-ish for techies. (wish it didn't require that tweak via SSH. Maybe it'll be added)
- ec109685 9mo ago
  Something something dropbox is simple :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 I wish Eero offered this feature. I bring three eeros to Airbnb’s to replace their crappy WiFi with my same SID, but it would be nice if it connected back through the home internet.
  - varenc 9mo ago
    hah, 2nd time in the last couple months I've been compared to that LEGENDARY Dropbox comment... In my defense, I'd argue that the average Tailscale user would be comfortable running an SSH command! And GL.iNet is just one very minor tweak away to making this entirely possible from the GUI. (though they might be intentionally avoiding it because of the support burden of quirks caused by Tailscale acting as a subnet router...)
Onavo 9mo ago
It probably needs a panic/border mode to disable all home access in the event of an emergency. You don't want to be crossing borders and give customs officials full access to your home network.
- system2 9mo ago
  If you disable your password saving, I think it would prevent them somehow.
vistu 9mo ago
Although it does sound really nice from a user experience perspective I'm really hesitant with carrying a device with me that without any (additional) authentication would gain access to my home network wherever you plug it in. Would hate losing it or have it be taken from me.
- cromka 9mo ago
  Why would you assume there's no additional authentication imposed? You definitely need to establish a connection wherever you are, and most likely you do using a dedicated and pre-authenticated app on your phone.