Best travel router in 2024 – our top portable picks - PC Guide

Oct 31, 2024

Having a travel router with you during your adventures has many benefits; you can get an extended range, cater to multiple devices, and protect your data with various security and VPN options. However, we understand that selecting a router can be difficult, as there are various options ranging from high-end to budget routers, and then choosing one for travel is a whole other ball game.

So, to help you cut through the clutter and make an informed decision, we took the liberty of doing the research and putting together this in-depth guide that lists various options, their details, reviews, and pros and cons. So, let’s get into it, shall we?

To find the best travel router, we used our expertise to select items based on key specs, such as speeds, coverage, wireless standards, security, form factors, weight, and additional features. We’ve also delved into and weighted market sentiment and user views to ensure our selections align with users’ experiences with these products.

However, we don’t rely solely on specifications and reviews that anyone can read. We conduct in-house testing to check their signal strength, speed, and file transfer speed. If you’re interested in learning more about our process, check out our How We Test Routers guide for a more in-depth understanding.

For our top pick, we went with GL.iNet’s GL-AXT1800 Slate AX travel router. During our testing, we found that it has excellent physical and actual speed and can connect at 90 ft with the 2.4 GHz band. If you’re interested in reading more about it in-depth, check out the GL-AXT1800 review.

For starters, this router measures 125 x 82 x 36mm and weighs 245g. This means it is a decent size and should fit easily inside your travel bag. That said, it’s also powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and 512 DDR3L RAM, and there are plenty of ports for connectivity.

It has two gigabit LAN ports and a single gigabit WAN port. While these aren’t as impressive as what other routers have, we need to keep in mind its form factor and travel-friendly nature. So, you should be able to easily set it up anywhere for a wired connection during your adventure.

Selling itself as a portable router, it holds up well against standard gaming router options, which we wouldn’t expect from something designed on the go.

It has dual-band functionality and excellent range for wireless connectivity. When we tested its 2.4 GHz band, we were able to connect at 90ft, which included two rooms and four walls between the router and the device. 5 GHz, on the other hand, could only connect at 60ft, but that isn’t surprising as 5 GHz does have a shorter range than 2.4 GHz.

Either way, you should easily be able to cover 3,500 sq. ft. with both frequencies. There is a downside, though: This router isn’t battery-operated, which means you’ll have to find a power source for it to run. That could be a wall socket or even your laptop, as it uses a USB 3.0 port for power.

The Slate AX router has MU-MIMO technology, which enables it to connect to 120 devices simultaneously. So, if you’re traveling with a large party, this should be more than enough to cover everyone; you’d just need a high-speed internet connection to cater to every device.

Lastly, we measured its wireless speed for both frequencies. With 2.4 Ghz, it managed 119 to 8.9 Mbps download and 95.1 to 2.5 Mbps upload speed. On the other hand, 5 GHz managed 271 to 197 Mbps download and 293 to 137 Mbps upload speed.

Overall, this router is a solid option for traveling. While the lack of a battery might not appeal to some, its price, performance, and design are top-notch if you can overlook that.

Across its Amazon user reviews, the GL iNet Slate AX seemed to have a good rep for being easy to set up, as well as exceptional performance. To pull some quotes, one user said that “the router is easy to set up, even for those who are not tech-savvy”, which are always words you want to hear. Other users mentioned not just that “everything was straightforward to set up”, but that “the documentation is great”, so you should be able to find lots of resources online to help you if you do run into any installation problems.

Traveling can get expensive, but getting a high-speed internet connection wherever you are, shouldn’t. That said, if you’re operating on a budget, we recommend giving the GL.iNet GL-MT300N-V2 a shot.

In our GL-MT300N-V2 review, it had decent speed and signal strength for a pocket-friendly, portable router. It is powered by a 580 MHz processor and 128 MB DDR2 RAM. As for its dimensions and weight, they come to 58 x 58 x 25 mm and 40g, respectively. What this means is that it can fit in your pocket without feeling like you’re carrying any extra weight and secure your public network usage seamlessly.

On top of that, according to GL.iNet, this router can support up to 39 devices simultaneously, which means that its specifications should be enough for that. However, if you want a wired connection, it has two ports: 1 x 100 Mbps WAN and 1 x 100 Mbps LAN. While 100 Mbps might be less than ideal for some, it has a max speed of 300 Mbps, and these speeds should be enough to get a range of tasks done while traveling.

This router also supports 30+ OpenVPN service providers and Wireguard, which should keep your virtual adventures and work safe from being leaked, traced, or hacked.

Being able to provide a great range of options to connect and secure to the internet, makes traveling easier by connecting plenty of devices to it.

There are some limitations, such as using the Wi-Fi 4 standard, meaning it won’t deliver the speeds you’d get from a Wi-Fi 6 router and only working on the 2.4 GHz band. During our review, we checked for its range at 10, 30, 60, and 90 feet. To put things into perspective, at 60 feet, there is a wall in between, and at 90 feet, there are two rooms and four walls.

That said, 2.4 GHz was able to connect at 60ft, and 90ft seemed too challenging for it to conquer. However, when we tested its actual speed, it managed 18 to 0.3 Mbps download speed for 10 and 60ft, so the sweet spot for it was the 30ft mark, which delivered 13.8 Mbps.

We saw a similar result for the upload speeds as it managed 21.4 to 0.4 Mbps for 30 to 60ft. So, it doesn’t have the strength to penetrate multiple walls, but it should work fine in an open space. However, if you’re wondering how it fared in wired connections, it managed 91.1 and 87.9 Mbps download and upload, respectively.

Overall, this is an excellent router that doesn’t cost a lot, gets the job done, and is easy to store and setup. While it might not have the best specifications, it has good protection features and can be used to extend an existing network.

When it comes to being used for travel, it seems that reviewers of the GL.iNET GL-MT300N-V2 are pleased with the router’s portability and size. One user mentions that “the size is super small”, and another that “what else is great about it it’s tiny”. What’s more, one review picks up on the fact that “there are only a few out there in the entire world that come in the color yellow” – so, if you want a colorful router, you might want to snap this one up.

However, one user does say that “if you set the VPN on, it doesn’t keep the connection when the computer falls dormant (‘goes to sleep’)”, which is worth keeping in mind if you’re planning on using VPN a lot whilst on your travels.

The NETGEAR Nighthawk M6 Pro is the last router on our list. We went with this option for two reasons: first, during our Nighthawk M6 Pro review, it had excellent performance, and second, its battery-powered nature makes it an excellent choice for traveling.

This router measures 21.5 x 105 x 105 mm and weighs 256g with the battery. This means it can snuggly fit inside any pocket in your bag and won’t take up a lot of space. It also has a 5,040 Lithium-ion battery, which, according to NETGEAR, can last up to 13 hours. So, you should be able to get a lot of work done or watch plenty of videos while you’re on the move with this router powering your internet connection.

It supports the Wi-Fi 6E standard, has tri-band capabilities, and has a single 2.5 Gbps LAN/WAN port. So, if you were wondering whether it’ll deliver fast speed over wired and wireless connections, rest assured—it is more than capable of doing that.

The M6 Pro can also connect to any network if you insert an unlocked SIM. This effectively turns it into a high-speed router by leveraging the network’s capabilities, such as a 5G data connection. After that, you can create a 2.4, 5, or 6 GHz network, depending on which band your devices are compatible with.

The Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro (MR6450) is an incredible piece of hardware, the great tech it is able to fit inside makes it one of the if not the best mobile routers out there.

During our testing, the 2.4 GHz frequency had better signal strength than the 5 GHz frequency in both mobile and Ethernet connections, but 5 GHz had better latency, with figures ranging from 8 to 12 ms compared to 2.4 GHz’s 23 to 35 for 10 and 60ft, respectively. That said, the M6 Pro does have two TS-9 antenna ports, which can be used to extend its range.

As for the actual download and upload, the 2.4 GHz mobile ranged from 11 to 8 Mbps download, while the Ethernet delivered 33.7 to 9.1 Mbps. The 5 GHz mobile ranged from 149.5 to 52.1 downloads, while the Ethernet delivered 262 to 60.2 Mbps.

The upload speeds on 2.5 GHz ranged from 13.5 to 8 Mbps for mobile and 43.8 to 5.3 Mbps for Ethernet. For 5 GHz, the values were 17.5 to 14.1 Mbps for mobile and 270 to 58.1 Mbps for Ethernet.

Overall, the Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro (MR6450) is one of the best travel routers currently available based on its performance, portability, and other features. That said, it does cost a premium, and that might be a deterring factor for people operating on a budget.

According to Amazon reviews, this router is fairly easy to set up, has great performance and coverage, and can support up to 32 devices. One reviewer said, “In a nutshell, the NETGEAR Nighthawk M6 Pro is an impeccable marriage of design, function, and performance.”

If size isn’t an issue and you want a router to take with you on your travels, we recommend the Acer Connect X6E. We tested this router and its capabilities in-house for our Acer Connect X6E review, and given its two-in-one functionality, it had decent performance on network and mobile.

This router measures 101 x 101 x 206mm, meaning it isn’t the smallest travel router option available, but if you have space in your luggage, it’s a good option. The Acer Connect X6E can be used with a WAN connection, or you can insert a SIM card into the SIM port and make a 5G mobile hotspot wherever you want. However, since it isn’t battery-powered, you will need a power connection to make it work.

It has tri-band capabilities due to its WiFi 6E standard, meaning you get 2.4GHz, 5GH, and 6GHz frequencies to work with. However, the 5 and 6 GHz frequencies can’t be used simultaneously. It has a maximum speed of 5.4 Gbps and one 1 Gbps LAN and WAN port. So, if you want a wired connection on the go to your laptop or console, that is also possible as long as your mobile data can deliver fast speeds.

The Acer Connect X6E provides a strong solution for your networking setup. Being a mobile router makes it a useful feature if you want to use it in different places, or combined with ethernet can give you a dual WAN solution.

The setup process for this router is also straightforward and doesn’t have layers of technicalities to figure out. You simply need to connect to the IP address, follow the instructions, change the password, and get started. A neat aspect of this router is that it offers data tracking, which is particularly useful if you’re using mobile data. This allows you to ration the data and ensure that you don’t overuse it and run out of it during an important meeting or gaming session.

We checked for this router’s internet speed on the network and mobile to gauge the performance difference between the two accurately. With a network connection, the 2.4 GHz band managed download speeds of 58.2 and 45.6 Mbps and uploads ranging from 105 to 18.9 Mbps. When shifted to the mobile connection, the download speed increased while the upload speeds took a hit. They came around to 129 – 41 Mbps and 46.9 – 16 Mbps, respectively.

Moving to the 5GHz band also showcased a significant improvement. On the network, the 5GHz band had download and upload speeds of 90.1 – 71.5 and 286 – 54 Mbps, respectively. The mobile download speeds came around to 232 – 123, and uploads ranged from 46 – 39 Mbps. So, there is a significant improvement in speeds with the 5GHz band, but that isn’t surprising given that this frequency has a higher bandwidth than 2.4GHz.

Overall, this is a solid router for travel and can be easily used as a stationary router as well. It has a handful of features such as parental controls, data tracking, and more that aren’t locked behind a paywall, which makes it even better.

A handful of factors need to be considered when choosing a travel router. It’s not all about going for the most expensive or the smallest one. Plenty of options are available, but instead of spending top dollar on the fanciest, here are some considerations that should help you make an informed decision.

The first thing factor you need to consider is the size of the router. You don’t want to haul a router that takes up a lot of space and increases the weight of your luggage. There are plenty of routers that are small enough to fit comfortably in your pocket and make for excellent options. So, we recommend opting for a router with a compatible Wi-Fi standard with your devices and is light and small enough to carry.

The latest Wi-Fi standard is Wi-Fi 7, and while it has a significant performance lead over Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, it isn’t as widely supported as the latter standards. That said, the speed of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E is nothing to laugh at and should be more than enough for various entertainment and professional needs while traveling.

One of the most important factors to consider while deciding on which travel router to get is the power source. Some options are battery-operated, while others require a direct and continuous power connection to operate. Both have pros and cons, and we recommend weighing them to see which options best suit your needs.

Yes, travel router hotspots typically have better antennas and can therefore gather better signals. The above-listed devices can also handle more devices being connected to them than an average phone hotspot.

Sean is a tech enthusiast who contributes predominantly to networking content on PC Guide - using his knowledge and love of routers and modems to give expert advice to beginners and enthusiasts alike.