It’s be nice if I could place a VPN in front of my entire home network instead of relying on each device supporting the VPN protocol… Enter GL.iNet’s “Slate” range!
Last year (2022), GL.iNet released their Slate AX Wi-Fi 6 travel router, a small gigabit router and access point powered by OpenWRT - I purchased it on the premise of its features
- Wi-Fi 6 support
- Router mode (DHCP, etc…)
- Repeater mode
- Wireless client mode
- USB file sharing
- USB internet sharing (i.e. tethering)
- VPN gateway
- 2x LAN ports
- 1x WAN port (reconfigurable as a LAN port)
- VPN mode toggle switch
- USB-C power input
Hands On
The unit comes at a rough weight of 500g; and it appears to have a fan inside the unit (though I have never seen it spin yet)
Mode Switch
Personally I’d like for the mode switch to be used to toggle between router/repeater mode - however currently (as of 22nd Oct 2022), the mode switch can only be used to enable/disable the VPN
VPN
The device has a simple control panel to enable OpenVPN and WireGuard connections; with options to route networking traffic through the connections.
Power Draw
- Standard - 5W
- w/ Ethernet - 5.3W
- w/ Network idle - 5.5W
- w/ Speedtest network activity - 6W
EDIT: 7th Jan 2023
I used the Slate AX in router + client mode during a holiday, connecting the device to my hotel’s ticketed wireless network (requiring a webpage auth prompt). The Slate AX connected to the network with no problem, and allowed me to connect my personal devices all to the Slate AX, and just enter the wireless authentication details once to bring internet connectivity to all of the devices