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Ray W. passes along a great tip, an inexpensive and light travel router that will let you share a wireless internet connection (even an inflight gogo connection) or turn a wired connection into a wireless one:
- I know there has been a lot of interest in travel routers lately. This is a really good deal on the HooToo nano.
If you use coupon BRQQQI64 and you have prime, you should be able to get it for $15 shipped.
Before anyone asks, yes you can use this to share gogo or hotel wifi to more than one device. The big catch on this one is that it does not have its own built in battery – you will need to plug it into a power bank (USB battery), or power it from your laptop, or into the airline outlet. On the other hand, it is super duper light (1 ounce!)
I find it super-annoying having to log into gogo from one device, and then want to switch to another. Usually I’ll be on my laptop, but maybe I take a photo with my phone and want to do something with it. This is small and light enough that it’s easy to toss into my laptop bag and not add weight.
It’s also frustrating when hotels limit the number of devices you can connect, for instance when your ‘free internet’ is good for only two devices but you and your travel companion each have a laptop and a phone. And maybe one of you have a iPad, too.
So this device seems like a worthy tip, and one I wanted to pass along.
The idea is that you use the travel router to create your own network. All of your devices connect to that network, which connects to the wifi. All you have to do is connect to the router, pull up a browser, and log in on the router’s admin page. From that page you search for and connect to wifi, whether at a hotel or inflight. Then your devices connect to your own network!
Here’s a better version with its own power source, listed at $110 knocked down to $40.
It won’t work with all computers but so far all my Windows devices have used connectify to successfully redistribute WiFi. No additional hardware to lug around and there’s a free version, and multiple other software that can do the same
I can see some enterprising individuals taking up a collection of $2 here and there from people around them and essentially getting themselves free wifi.
“The promotional code you entered cannot be applied to your purchase.”
Gary, thanks for the tip. I saw Ray mention this on FB…. do you know if your link still works? I’m getting a message that the promo code can’t be applied…. thanks, JP
There are only three usable 802.11b/g channels (out of 11 total). So as with everything else in travel hacking, when this catches on, it will stop working…LOL
Sorry about the promo code, was working when i wrote the post. Perhaps it had maximum uses. ~ $3 difference if i recall.
” The promotional code you entered cannot be applied to your purchase.”
+1 for connectify. Works great and does exact same thing using software so you have one less thing to worry about packing/not forgetting. Works to share a single connection with as many computers, phones and tablets as your heart desires no matter how tricky or expensive the login/payment process is. I would highly recommend you don’t waste your time on this unless you only carry a tablet and phone in which case connectify won’t work unless your tablet is running Windows (eg Surface).
Thanks for the tip. I’ve got a likely trip to Asia coming up in a month or so. This will be good for that. I also like the thought of it being a media hub in the car. The promotional code worked just fine for me.
Since the promo code was invalid I ended up buying the TP-LINK N150 Nano Router at the same $19 price instead, which is more capable (can act as a client, router, AP, repeater or bridge) but doesn’t act as a file server. It’s a more known name, although I’m sure they’ve got the same chip inside.
Here is a free way:
If you have a Win PC, use the login for your laptop and use this app on you win machine to share the internet conn with any of your other devices: http://en.beetmobile.com/
They also have an android app but this will NOT work, only does data tethering.
If you have a rooted android, get fqrouter2, then you can use any hotel / gogo wifi on your android as your main device and share it with any other device
Voila, saves you $, weight and lots of stress.
Instead of buying that device, donate a $ to a charity of your chosing 🙂
I just purchased one on Amazon and the code worked perfectly and gave me $4 off.
This is kind of an unnecessary product. Why not just tether a laptop or tablet to a smart phone? Tethering works great for me on GoGo, hotels, and on the road. No need for additional hardware or plugs.
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