this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2024
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Mobile hotspot with VPN: is GL.iNet the only game in town and is it trustworthy? (lemmy.sdf.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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So I'm on the market for a 4G or 5G mobile hotspot with a build-in VPN client I can carry around in my backpack and connect my cellphone to. I've looked far and wide, and really the only manufacturer that seems to make what I want is GL.iNet.

The two battery-powered models they offer that interest me are the Mudi v2 and the Puli: they only do 4G and I wish they did 5G too, but I can live with that. Other than that, they really tick all the boxes for me.

From what I could read, the GL.iNet company also seems very open and very responsive. That's a plus too.

But I have one giant problem that prevents me from whipping out the credit card: GL.iNet is a Chinese company, and those products are sensitive applications. I know I can flash OpenWRT separately on those devices to ensure they're not doing stuff behind my back, but I don't really want to do that because I'd lose the GL.iNet plugins and custom UI. Not to mention, I have no free time for that. I'm looking for a ready-made solution if possible with this one.

Anybody knows if GL.iNet can be trusted?

Also, has anybody ordered from Europe using their EU store? They say they ship direct from Europe but they give no details.

And finally, what do you think of those two mobile VPN routers if you own one. Do they work well? I read somewhere that they can be buggy with certain VPN providers. Do they work in Europe? I assume they do since they sell EU plugs but maybe there are caveats.

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[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

get a older cell phone. Put lineage OS on it, or calyxos… share your VPN over hotspot, these are the only two ROMs that I’m aware of that allow you to do that

That's what I thought too. So I tried it on my CalyxOS phone and... it doesn't work: the hotspot doesn't route through the VPN. And from what I read, it's by design.

I have an old Nokia 4.2 running LineageOS. I might try that one.

end-to-end VPN

Incidentally, do you know if the GL.iNet devices can act as a VPN server too?

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I use a calyxos device to share VPN, as of a few months ago.

Hotspot & Tethering

  • Allow clients to use VPNs

https://calyxos.org/features/list/#network

Perhaps your confusing GOS? If not, can you cite the design decision to disallow this feature? I'd be curious to learn about it

If openwrt can do it, gli-net can do it

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 weeks ago

I use a calyxos device to share VPN, as of a few months ago.

Hotspot & Tethering

  • Allow clients to use VPNs

Oh wow I totally missed that. It works great! Genius!

Thank you for that. Suddenly it makes repurposing one of my old cellphones a very simple and viable proposition.

(and I'm posting this from my laptop connected to the hotspot connected to the Calyx VPN 🙂)