Travel Routers Improve Your Life! Beryl AX Complete Setup

Summary

The video explains why traveling with a portable Wi-Fi router like the GL.iNet Barrel provides more security, convenience, and flexibility versus relying solely on hotel Wi-Fi. It walks through configuring the Barrel to connect to hotel Wi-Fi and route all your devices through it, bypassing captive portals. Additional capabilities like connecting to home servers via VPN, ad-blocking with AdGuard Home, and physical toggle switches to enable/disable functions maximize utility. The presenter demonstrates setting up VPN tunneling to Private Internet Access to encrypt traffic. Ethernet connections are preferred for reduced latency if available in hotel rooms.

Takeaways

• 😀 Travel routers increase convenience and security when connecting multiple devices on the go
• 👍 GL.iNet Barrel AX is a feature-packed tiny WiFi 6 travel router
• 🌐 Bypass hotel wifi device limits and captive portals using the travel router
• 🔒 Creates a private LAN to increase privacy and reduce public wifi risks
• 💻 Easily share streaming content across devices within the secure network
• 🛠️ Flexible WAN connectivity options: WiFi, ethernet, USB tethering, cellular
• ⛺ Works around campground wifi device number limits
• 🌉 Integrated VPN client routes all traffic through VPN provider securely
• 🔌 Physical toggle button instantly turns the VPN tunnel on and off
• 📶 Ethernet connections provide lower latency than hotel WiFi

Q & A

What are some benefits of using a travel router like the GL.iNet Barrel AX?

Some key benefits are increased network security and privacy while traveling, more control over DNS servers, ability to bypass device limits on hotel/campground WiFi, cast video from phone to TV despite client isolation, share a single travel data plan across devices, and set up a VPN tunnel for all your devices at once.

How can you power the Barrel AX travel router on an airplane?

You can use a power bank to power up the Barrel AX on a plane, pay for one WiFi connection, and share the internet access with your whole family while in the air.

What kind of WAN connectivity options does the Barrel AX support?

The Barrel AX supports connecting via Ethernet, as a wireless repeater, using an LTE modem over USB, or tethering through a smartphone over USB.

How can you remotely access home servers/NAS while traveling with the Barrel AX?

You can set up a WireGuard VPN connection to a home server. Then through that secure tunnel you can access LAN services at home like NAS devices or other resources you have exposed over the VPN.

What is the benefit of using the physical toggle button on the Barrel AX?

The toggle button can enable/disable functions like the OpenVPN client, AdGuard Home, or Tor without needing to go into the web interface. For example, you can have it toggle your VPN tunnel on and off.

Why is using Ethernet preferred over WiFi with the travel router?

Ethernet typically provides lower and more consistent latency than WiFi. The ping response times over Ethernet were very stable while over WiFi they fluctuated wildly in testing.

Can the Barrel AX function as a VPN server?

Yes, the Barrel AX can act as a VPN server in addition to a VPN client. This allows remote users to tunnel into the travel router's network when configured properly.

What parental control options exist on the Barrel AX?

There is a beta parental controls feature that likely maintains a block list to restrict access to certain websites. But the exact capabilities are unclear without further documentation.

Does the Barrel AX allow access to the underlying OpenWrt system?

Yes, there is an 'Advanced Settings' area that provides access through a web interface to the underlying OpenWrt operating system that powers the Barrel AX.

Can the Barrel AX combine multiple WAN connections?

Yes, the multi-WAN capability allows combining Ethernet, WiFi, and USB tethering with failover or load balancing across the links.

Outlines

00:00

😊 Introducing Travel Routers and Their Benefits

The paragraph introduces travel routers like the GL.iNet Barrel AX, explaining how they can provide convenience through centralized connectivity configuration and increased security on public Wi-Fi networks. It highlights features like VPN client/server capabilities and flexibility to connect via Ethernet, Wi-Fi repeater mode, or USB tethering.

05:00

😮‍💨 Understanding Double NAT Situations with Travel Routers

The paragraph acknowledges a downside of travel routers - creating a double NAT situation, which may cause issues with real-time communication protocols. But it states that web browsing and video streaming tend to work fine over double NAT.

10:02

👍 Settings and Configuration Walkthrough

The paragraph provides a detailed walkthrough on connecting to the Barrel AX's dashboard interface and configuring settings like custom SSIDs, Wi-Fi passwords, enabling AdGuard Home DNS filtering, and setting up WireGuard or OpenVPN connections to VPN services for security.

15:03

🌐 Accessing Home Network Resources Remotely

The paragraph explains how WireGuard can be used to connect the travel router to a home VPN server, allowing remote access to local network resources like NAS devices while traveling. Useful for accessing files and services securely.

20:05

🔒 Step-by-Step Setup of OpenVPN Client

The paragraph walks through setting up an OpenVPN client connection to Private Internet Access on the Barrel AX, using a configuration file from the VPN provider's site. It also shows how to bind the physical toggle button on the router to enable/disable the VPN tunnel.

Keywords

💡travel router

A travel router is a small, portable WiFi router that you can take with you when traveling to create your own private network. As explained in the video, travel routers provide more security, privacy, and convenience when connecting to hotel or public WiFi networks. For example, the GL.iNet Barrel AX travel router allows all the speaker's devices to connect through one WiFi network he controls instead of having to connect each device individually to the hotel's network.

💡network security

Network security refers to protecting a network and devices connected to it from unauthorized access or cyber threats. The video explains how using a travel router increases security compared to directly connecting to public networks, as it creates a separate private network with its own firewall. Services like Rogue Support can further enhance network security at home.

💡WiFi repeater

A WiFi repeater mode allows a travel router to connect to an existing WiFi network and then repeat/rebroadcast that network so more devices can connect through it. This is useful in hotel rooms where the speaker connects the travel router to the hotel WiFi, then other devices connect to the travel router's network.

💡captive portal

A captive portal refers to the login page shown by public WiFi networks before granting internet access. Bypassing the captive portal with a travel router means connecting the router itself to log in, then other devices don't see the portal and connect seamlessly.

💡VPN

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, which encrypts internet traffic and masks your IP address and location. The video shows how the GL.iNet router can use VPN services like Private Internet Access to route all connected devices through an encrypted VPN tunnel for enhanced security.

💡DNS server

DNS (Domain Name System) servers translate domain names to IP addresses. The travel router lets you configure custom DNS servers like AdGuard Home for blocking ads/malware, instead of using unprotected hotel DNS servers.

💡network storage

Travel routers like the GL.iNet Barrel can connect USB drives for network storage accessible to all connected client devices. This lets you access files easily without needing internet connectivity.

💡WireGuard

WireGuard is an encrypted networking protocol that can be used for VPN tunnels. The speaker explains how the travel router could use WireGuard to securely access LAN services and NAS devices at home over the internet.

💡network modes

The GL.iNet router supports different network modes like router, wireless repeater, extender, etc. This flexibility lets you configure it as needed to best connect to the available networks.

💡ethernet

Ethernet refers to wired network connectivity which is faster and more reliable than wireless. The video emphasizes using the travel router's Ethernet port when possible for the best connectivity in hotels.

Highlights

Travel routers increase network security and convenience while traveling

Travel routers allow connecting multiple devices through a single Wi-Fi purchase

Travel routers enable local network communication between devices

Travel routers provide more control over DNS servers used

Travel routers create a separate LAN to increase privacy and security

The GL.iNet Barrel AX features a 2.5Gbps WAN port and 1Gbps LAN port

The Barrel AX runs OpenWRT and has built-in features like VPN and ad blocking

The Barrel AX has flexible WAN connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and USB tethering

The Barrel AX allows bypassing hotel Wi-Fi captive portals for all connected devices

The Barrel AX can connect to home VPN server for secure remote access

The Barrel AX can function as a VPN client to services like Private Internet Access

The physical toggle switch on the Barrel AX controls connecting to VPN on/off

AdGuard Home on the Barrel AX provides network-wide ad blocking

Ethernet typically provides lower latency than Wi-Fi connections

Ubiquiti Pro Ethernet switches with PoE lighting are featured in recommended video

Transcripts

Why exactly do you need a travel router?

You can absolutely go stay in a hotel room,

connect to that hotel's wifi

and surf the internet like everyone else.

But if you really wanna dial in both convenience

and security in your temporary home away from home,

you should pack a travel router.

In this video, I'm gonna be working

with the GL.iNet Barrel AX.

This tiny travel router is jam packed with features

designed to play nicely with your travel needs.

I'm gonna explain why you should be traveling

with one of these devices,

but I'm also gonna show you the complete setup

of the device step by step.

We've got a lot to cover, so let's get to it.

Travel routers are an excellent way

to increase network security while on the road.

But what about at home?

All of your gadgets, those smart lights and cameras,

personal devices, are they truly secure?

Are they tucked away in their own secure VLAN,

away from prying eyes?

Network security is one of the many things

that Rogue Support can assist you with.

Picture this, you've got a network issue.

With Rogue Support, you just open up a ticket.

What happens next?

Well, you get bids from top notch tech wizards,

hand picked by me for their stellar skills

and outstanding customer service.

And the best part, you don't pay a penny

until your problem is resolved.

So contact Rogue Support on the web today at rogue.support

and give yourself the peace of mind

that a secure and smoothly running home network can bring.

You won't be disappointed.

I bought the Barrel AX a couple of months ago.

This is not a sponsored video, by the way.

I did pay for this with my own money.

But when I saw they came out with a Wi-Fi 6 version

of the travel router that I had been using for years,

the GL.iNet Slate, I had to make the upgrade.

GL.iNet has Wi-Fi 6 on two of their travel router models.

They're pretty similar in specs and functionality,

but the Slate AX features one gigabit WAN port

and two gigabit LAN ports.

Whereas this one, the Barrel AX has a single gigabit

LAN port, but a 2.5 gigabit WAN port.

So you lose the extra LAN port,

but the WAN port is multi gigabit.

These travel routers are based on OpenWRT

and they have so many features built in,

such as AdGuard home, USB 3

for connecting network storage devices,

plus both VPN client and server functionality.

They're also extremely flexible in their WAN options.

You can use ethernet.

You can connect as a wireless repeater,

such as when you're staying at a hotel.

You can even use an LTE modem or tether

through your smartphone using the built-in USB port.

All of that for around 120 bucks MSRP.

And I actually often see these on sale

for less than a hundred bucks.

I've put the link to the Barrel AX that I bought

down in the description below.

So why then do you even need a travel router?

Well, there are a bunch of reasons,

but to me it really comes down to convenience and security.

In terms of convenience,

I often travel with a family of four, right?

I personally have my iPhone, my tablet, my laptop,

my kids and my wife also have their own devices.

Plus I usually bring along like a Roku stick

so that I don't have to log into

all of our streaming services

through the hotel's television.

All of those devices are pre-configured

to connect to the Barrel AX's wireless SSID.

So now I don't have to go around

to every single device that we brought

and log into the hotel's captive portal everywhere.

I just do it once with the travel router

and then all of my devices

are gonna connect to the internet no problem.

We also like to travel around in our RV.

And sometimes when we pull into a campground,

they limit the number of devices that can connect to wifi.

Now this is especially true for campgrounds

where they make you pay for wifi.

So you'll pay for like 10 bucks for the week or something

but they only allow up to three devices

to connect at a time.

You can work around those limitations

by only connecting the Barrel AX to the campground wifi

and then it appears as a single device

connected to their network

even though all of your devices are connected behind it.

By the way, this also works if you use a power bank

to power up the Barrel AX on a plane.

You can pay for one internet connection

and share that internet connection with your whole family

while you're in the air.

Now I mentioned that I like to bring along

a Roku stick for streaming services.

If I wanna cast a video from my smartphone

to the Roku stick,

most hotel wifi networks are client isolated.

So wireless devices cannot communicate with each other

for security purposes.

But by creating your own LAN for all of your devices,

you don't have that limitation, right?

Same goes for printing if you need to print documents

across the network while you're on the road.

Now let's talk about security.

By using a travel router,

all of your devices are on their own LAN behind the firewall

which increases privacy and reduces the risks

of connecting to public or semi-public wifi.

Now on the downside,

this does create a double NAT situation

which may not be ideal

but isn't really too big a deal in most cases.

I mean, general web serving and streaming video services,

those work fine over double NAT

but you may run into issues with voice over IP

or other types of real-time communication.

Another reason I like these devices

is that you have full control over the DNS servers

that your devices are using.

So whether you're using the built-in AdGuard home

to block ads and potentially malware,

or if you're using some public DNS servers

that do some level of content filtering,

you're not forced to use whatever DNS servers

the hotel provides for you.

I'm sure some folks will argue

that you can also protect yourself

by just using a VPN proxy service

such as private internet access.

And yes, you're right.

That is a great way to protect yourself

when you're connecting to public wireless networks.

But let's get back to convenience, right?

When I'm traveling with my family

and we have up to like 10 devices that need connectivity,

it's way easier to simply configure the barrel AX

to do that VPN connection out to private internet access

and protect all of those devices at once

rather than having to connect each device individually

and potentially hit the device limits

of what the VPN proxy service provider allows.

Okay, so I could go on and on and on

about these GL.iNet travel routers.

They're a really good idea

to bring with you when you're traveling.

But let's get into exactly how to set them up step by step.

You should know that I have also created a blog post

that goes along with this video

so that you can follow along

with the instructions there as well.

I mean, sometimes that's easier

than like pausing and unpausing a video.

And while I'm going to be configuring this barrel AX

in the video, all of their travel routers

are configured almost exactly the same way.

So you should be able to follow these instructions

no matter which model you own.

Okay, so sorry for the audio,

but I am actually in a hotel room

and we are going to walk through

this entire travel router setup from start to finish.

The first thing I wanna do is connect

to the routers Wi-Fi with my laptop here.

And what you should see is something like GL-something,

right, there's gonna be some sort of wireless SSID

that it makes it clear that this is the GL.iNet device

that we have plugged in.

So it looks like we're already connected.

I must have had the default credentials already

in my laptop, but if you need to get the credentials

for the default wireless SSID that comes with the device,

it's written on the label

on the bottom side of the barrel AX.

Now looking at pings here,

we can see that I do not currently have any internet.

So let's see what IP address my laptop was given.

And by running ipconfig,

we can see that I have 192.168.8.140

with a default gateway of 192.168.8.1.

So that is what we need to put in our browser

to initially configure this device.

And so here we go, I have put 192.168.8.1

into my browser, choose your language, English is fine.

We're gonna set a password here and we're gonna say apply.

And here we are now brought to the dashboard

of the GL.iNet barrel AX.

Now look at the dashboard here.

For the WAN side, we have four different options.

I always prefer ethernet.

All you gotta do is plug in that wire.

Usually with a hotel, they do not have any sort

of captive portal on the ethernet connection

because the captive portal is there to prevent people

from sitting in the parking lot

and connecting to the hotel's Wi-Fi.

If you're already in the room,

you can plug into an ethernet port

and you're already in the room, right?

So you've paid for the room, you're in there.

You're not really stealing their Wi-Fi

or stealing their internet from within the room.

But we're gonna set this up as a Wi-Fi repeater,

meaning that we're going to connect to the hotel's Wi-Fi

with the barrel AX, and then we are going to repeat

that Wi-Fi to our own client devices,

such as our smartphones, laptops,

if you've got a Roku that you want hooked up on the TV.

If you don't have wireless repeater or ethernet

as options for your barrel AX,

you can also tether through your smartphone

by plugging a USB into the barrel AX

and then into your phone and use your phone's

cellular data plan for the internet connection.

You could also use an actual cellular modem,

like if you have an LTE modem with a SIM card

that plugs in via USB.

All right, so let's go through our settings here.

Ethernet, there is no ethernet.

So we're on repeater down here.

We're going to want to click Connect.

It's gonna search around and try to find

all of the available networks.

It should find one for Marriott Bonvoy.

I'm staying at a courtyard here,

so that's a Marriott property.

And here we go.

So I can see this if I wanted to.

I could even connect to the Wi-Fi

for the Outback Steakhouse across the street here.

But no, we'll just connect to the Marriott Bonvoy account.

Here we're gonna click it and click Apply.

Now it says Connecting.

Now you might notice that there's no internet

when you first connect,

and you might have to come down here to your Wi-Fi

and see where it says Action needed, no internet.

You can now click Open Browser and Connect.

This has now brought up the Marriott Bonvoy captive portal,

so we can now put in our room number and last name,

choose our duration, we'll say two days, whatever,

and then Connect Now.

And we should now be connected.

Let me refresh the dashboard here.

Now it says still the interface is connected,

the internet can't be accessed,

but we can see that we do have an internet connection,

and we are connected to the 5G network

of the GL.iNet Barrel AX.

Let's do a quick ping test here.

And yes, we can see that we in fact do have internet.

It'll probably just take the dashboard

of the Barrel AX a second to catch up.

Oh, and there it is now.

Now that error has gone away.

Okay, so we have now successfully connected

through the hotel's Wi-Fi.

So our laptop connected to the LAN side wireless

of the Barrel AX, and then the WAN side wireless

has gotten to the captive portal

and bypassed that captive portal.

So now we now have our own little private network

inside the Barrel AX local area network.

Okay, so let's go through our settings now

and get everything set up.

By and large, you're only gonna have to do this

the first time you connect to the Barrel AX,

and then all you have to do is bring it to a hotel,

plug it in, and usually there's ethernet

which makes it real easy,

and if there's no ethernet,

you just have to go through that process

of bypassing the captive portal

and everything else should be set up

as in your devices should already know

the wireless SSIDs to connect to

for the LAN side of the Barrel AX travel router.

So let's click on wireless.

Here we can see five gigahertz Wi-Fi,

five gigahertz guest Wi-Fi

if you wanna enable your own guest network,

and then if you scroll down,

you've got 2.4 gigahertz Wi-Fi

and 2.4 gigahertz guest Wi-Fi.

Now the guest Wi-Fi is disabled by default,

but the five gigahertz and 2.4 gigahertz

Wi-Fi networks are both enabled by default.

So I don't wanna go with the default settings here,

so let's click modify.

Now you can only modify either the five gigahertz

or 2.4 gigahertz networks at a time,

so you wanna make all your changes to five gigahertz,

apply that, and then you can go through

and make all your changes to the 2.4 gigahertz.

So we're gonna call this on the road,

again, 5G.

We're gonna give it a nice strong password,

and then everything else we can pretty much leave default.

We're gonna click apply.

There we go.

Now, since we just changed the SSID for the 5G network,

we actually have to reconnect

to the one that we just created.

So on the road again, let's go ahead and connect,

and there we go.

We have now connected to our custom SSID,

and as you can see, we are getting pings once again,

so we are connected.

Let's now make changes to the 2.4 gigahertz.

I'm gonna refresh this page,

and we're gonna say modify on the road again, 2G.

Change the password and apply.

If we click on clients, we can see our connected clients.

Right now I've got this laptop connected.

I probably have a phone connected

since I'm using the same SSID and password

that I had before I factory reset the thing,

but there's where your clients are.

Now let's look at some of this other stuff.

I'm gonna skip VPN for now,

but we are gonna come back to that.

Under applications, there's dynamic DNS,

so you can create a dynamic DNS name

that anytime this device is connected

to an internet connection,

you can utilize that dynamic DNS name

to connect inbound to the device if you want.

If we click on network storage,

this is where you can take a USB drive

and plug it into the USB connection on the Barrel AX,

and it'll function essentially as a NAS

for this network that we've set up.

We can enable AdGuard Home if we want,

and then you can choose to have AdGuard Home

be the DNS server for clients

that are connected to the Barrel AX.

There we go, and we can see the DNS queries.

In fact, let me go ahead and turn this on fully.

There we go, and so now we can see all of the DNS queries

that are going through this thing.

We have parental controls,

so we can enable parental controls.

This is a beta feature.

I don't exactly know what this does.

I assume it just has some sort of block list

and is able to block certain sites

on the internet or something.

I'd have to read up on this.

I've never actually used this.

I'm gonna leave that off for now,

and then we have both zero-tier and tail-scale, right?

So these are kind of the VPN proxy services

that would allow a connection out to those devices,

and then by virtue of that connection held open

from the Barrel AX out to tail-scale or zero-tier,

you can then have access inwards from other locations,

so VPN, sort of inbound access,

which is actually really cool.

I wish they also had Cloudflare tunnels in here.

That'd be amazing.

Okay, looking at our firewall settings,

we've got port forwards.

We can open up ports on the router.

We can create a DMZ if we want.

We're not gonna worry about any of that.

You can do multi-WAN, so if I plugged in ethernet,

I could have both wireless and ethernet,

or I could have wireless with my phone tethered as a backup,

so you can have multi-LAN,

and that'll do either failover or load balancing

across those multi-WAN connections.

That's pretty cool.

When we click on LAN, this is where we can set our subnet,

so by default, we have a subnet that is 192.168.8.1,

and then we have a DHCP scope

between 192.168.100 to 192.168.8.249,

so we can change this if we want.

You can also make a completely separate guest network.

Here's your guest network DHCP settings as well.

If we click Advanced,

that lets us completely change everything,

so if we wanted a slash-8 network instead of a slash-16,

we could do that.

I don't know why you'd need to for a travel router,

but if you want to, that option exists.

Then we have DNS, and it says right now

that AdGuard Home is enabled,

so the router must use DNS provided by AdGuard Home,

but otherwise, if you're not using AdGuard Home,

here's your DNS settings.

Different network modes.

Are we functioning as a router, an access point,

an extender, et cetera?

We can enable IPv6 capabilities if we want.

We can clone a different MAC address with this device

if we want to do that, and on and on and on.

If we go to System, here's our overview, CPU overview.

We can turn off the LED if we want.

Let's actually, oh, also, by the way, here is Upgrade,

so my firmware's up to date,

but the first time you run this device,

you probably want to go to System, Upgrade,

and actually get it on the latest firmware.

If you come all the way down to Advanced Settings,

you also have this, so GL.iNet basically

forked their own version of OpenWrt,

but if you want to go to the actual OpenWrt interface,

that is still available to you.

You can just get to it with this link here,

so if I click there, for example,

and then log in with the password that I set

for the router when I first set it up,

here is the full OpenWrt interface for the GL.iNet.

I'm gonna go back to their friendly interface, though,

and let's talk about VPN.

This is one of the cool things about this device,

is that it allows you to set up VPN clients.

The way that I like to do this is you put in a VPN client,

so say that's like OpenVPN out to Private Internet Access

or NordVPN or some other VPN proxy service

so that you are surfing through that connection

when you go out, or you can do something like WireGuard

to a home server.

For instance, I have PyVPN set up in my home network.

I could create a certificate for the GL.iNet,

and then we can connect to my home VPN on demand

once I connect into this router,

and I can be surfing as if I'm surfing

from my home internet connection,

and I also have access to all of the LAN services at home

that I have exposed to VPN.

For example, if I had a NAS device at home

and I wanted to access the files on that NAS device,

I could do that right through this interface here

by using WireGuard connected to a VPN server

that I have set up at home,

and then whatever I've allowed through that VPN server.

Really cool.

Okay, so this can also, by the way, function as a VPN server

but for this demonstration,

I'm going to connect my Barrel AX

out to Private Internet Access,

and I'm gonna show you how to do that right here.

So it says OpenVPN and it says Set Up Now,

so if we click there, oh, NordVPN is the default.

I do not like NordVPN,

but we're gonna use Private Internet Access instead,

and we can click Add Manually,

and what it's gonna look for,

it'll say Private Internet Access,

and then it says Select a File or drag it here.

So we need an OpenVPN configuration file

which we can generate at Private Internet Access.

Let's go ahead and log in over there.

Ah, and interesting, it wasn't letting me connect it first

because AdGuard Home was actually blocking

PrivateInternetAccess.com for some reason.

So I turned off AdGuard Home.

I am now able to get to Private Internet Access.

Let's go ahead and log in.

Okay, so within Private Internet Access,

I'm gonna click on Downloads,

and then I'm gonna scroll all the way to the bottom,

and we have our OpenVPN configuration generator.

So let's go ahead and do that.

We're gonna open that up,

and let's look at our options here.

OpenVPN 2.4 or newer is fine.

I'm gonna choose Linux for the platform,

and then we can pick which server we wanna connect to.

So I'm out here on the West Coast,

so let's just do the, I think they have a US West.

Yeah, right here, US West.

So I'm just gonna choose the US West server,

and then this we're gonna leave default,

and we're gonna say Generate.

This generated an OpenVPN file right here, as we can see.

So now I'm gonna select that file,

and then I also need to give it

my Private Internet Access username and password,

and we apply that change, and there we go.

We now have a new profile for Private Internet Access.

Let's go ahead and try to connect it.

Start, boom, so green light here

means that we are successfully connected

to Private Internet Access,

and if we bring up privateinternetaccess.com

slash what is my IP, we can see that we are protected,

and this is from the router.

So all of my devices behind this router

are protected by Private Internet Access.

Let's do one better.

On the side of the Barrel AX is a physical toggle switch,

a physical button that we can switch on and off.

So when I'm setting these up,

what I like to do is I go to the toggle button settings,

and so the toggle button right now is set to no function,

but we can do a lot of things with this.

We can turn AdGuard home on and off,

we can enable our OpenVPN client or a WireGuard client,

or we can connect to Tor.

So we're gonna do OpenVPN client on off,

and we're gonna click Apply.

So what this means now is when I toggle that button

on the side of the Barrel AX,

it's then going to connect to Private Internet Access,

which is really cool.

I don't have to turn it on and off through the interface,

I can just toggle that button.

So now if we go back to the Barrel AX dashboard,

I can see a number of things.

We are connected in repeater mode, I have VPN enabled,

I have a five gigahertz and a 2.4 gigahertz network,

and then I have three wireless clients.

That's gonna be my two smartphones and my laptop.

Now, again, when I'm typically connecting,

I try to do ethernet for everything.

So I plug my laptop in to the LAN port,

and I plug the WAN port of the Barrel AX

into whatever LAN connection I can find in the hotel room,

if there is one.

To me, that's the most solid setup,

and that's what I prefer doing.

One more quick thing that I wanted to show you,

I just said I always prefer ethernet.

Here is why.

If I bring over pings,

so right after I stopped recording

from that last little segment,

I plugged in the ethernet, right?

Because I'd rather be on ethernet.

And look at the difference here.

So you can see in the pings,

the response time is all over the place,

300 milliseconds, 100 milliseconds,

65 milliseconds, et cetera, et cetera.

You can see it's jumping all over the place.

And then right about here,

I plugged in the ethernet and look at it after that.

It's about 60, it's like within a few milliseconds,

like 65 to 70 milliseconds solid, all right?

That's why we prefer ethernet over wireless.

You're not always gonna have the ability

to plug into ethernet in your hotel room,

which is why these travel routers

provide so many different WAN connectivity options.

There's basically a WAN option

for however you wanna connect,

even if you're tethering through your smartphone.

Okay, links to the product,

as well as the blog posts are down in the description.

And if you'd like to keep this party going,

I have hand selected a couple of videos

for you to watch next.

The top video is my recent overview

of the new Ubiquiti Pro Max switches with ether lighting.

And the bottom video is my rant

about Wi-Fi 7 is mostly marketing BS.