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GL.iNET GL-AR300M (Shadow) Mini VPN Travel Router with 2dbi External Antenna, Wi-Fi Converter, Mobile Hotspot in Pocket, OpenWrt, Repeater Bridge, 300Mbps, 128MB Nand Flash, 128MB RAM, OpenVPN

4.2 out of 5 stars 715 ratings

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We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.
Brand GL.iNet
Model Name GL-AR300M
Special Feature WPS
Frequency Band Class Single-Band
Wireless Communication Standard 802.11bgn
Compatible Devices Laptop
Frequency 2.4 GHz
Connectivity Technology Wireless
Color with two 2dbi external antennas

About this item

  • [OPEN SOURCE & PROGRAMMABLE] OpenWrt/LEDE pre-installed, backed by software repository. DDWrt supported. USB disk extendable.
  • [VPN CLIENT & SERVER] OpenVPN and WireGuard pre-installed, compatible with 30+ VPN service providers.
  • [LARGER STORAGE & EXTENSIBILITY] 128MB RAM, 16MB NOR Flash + 128M NAND Dual flash, dual Ethernet ports, UART and GPIOs available for hardware DIY.
  • [PACKAGE CONTENTS] GL-AR300M-Ext mini router (Antennas color: Black or White) (1-year Warranty), USB cable, User Manual.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
715 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the router works well as an OpenVPN client and appreciate its compact size and value for money. The setup process receives mixed feedback - while some find it super easy to configure from the main GUI, others say it's confusing to set up. Connectivity experiences are mixed, with some reporting flawless connections while others experience connection problems. Speed performance is also mixed, with some saying it meets expectations while others find it unbearably slow. Reliability receives mixed reviews, with some describing it as rock solid while others report crashes.

73 customers mention "Functionality"59 positive14 negative

Customers find that the router functions well, with one mentioning it works perfectly with their wireless network and another noting it performs well as an OpenVPN client.

"...They will load balance, and do failover almost seamlessly, as long as the session running isn't using the connection you pull...." Read more

"...For such a tiny, lightweight product, this thing packs a lot of power. It receives WiFi signals very well, and it transmits them just as well...." Read more

"This little router does a pretty good job. I have found a few minor details that frustrate me a little bit, but for $45 I can't complain...." Read more

"...The results are telling!..." Read more

65 customers mention "Travel range"65 positive0 negative

Customers praise the router's performance as a travel device, particularly as an OpenVPN client, with one customer noting it provides the best mobile internet possible.

"...Latency is marginally improved (~5ms). WIFI penetration is acceptable inside a log cabin with a huge stone fireplace...." Read more

"...Signal strength: Because I was able to power this with a battery pack, that meant I could test the signal strength at greater distances...." Read more

"...makes it less suited as a travel router but enables applications with more demanding WiFi range, in which case the small factory antennas could..." Read more

"...Third reason of greatness: the range is amazing. For such a tiny, lightweight product, this thing packs a lot of power...." Read more

37 customers mention "Value for money"31 positive6 negative

Customers find the router to be good value for money, describing it as a great little unit that rocks.

"...Overall, this is a great value, and I can see it capable of many different uses...." Read more

"...I believe this is well worth the price. I recommend this 100%." Read more

"...In addition, it looks good and the LEDs are tiny - large enough to be visible but without being distracting even when dimming the light...." Read more

"...3. It has LEDs on the front that look nice. 4...." Read more

22 customers mention "Size"19 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the router's compact size, describing it as powerful but tiny, with one customer noting that the LEDs are small but visible.

"...In addition, it looks good and the LEDs are tiny - large enough to be visible but without being distracting even when dimming the light...." Read more

"...Third reason of greatness: the range is amazing. For such a tiny, lightweight product, this thing packs a lot of power...." Read more

"Works as advertised and then some. Unbelievably small..." Read more

"...This is the smallest and coolest device for the money that I have found...." Read more

52 customers mention "Ease of setup"36 positive16 negative

Customers have mixed experiences with the router's setup process, with some finding it super easy to configure from the main GUI and taking no time to get started, while others report it being confusing to set up and lacking clear instructions on usage.

"...It was connecting to my home network via VPN. It was such a fricken easy setup, I had a hard time believing that it was actually going to work...." Read more

"...I failed to rebuild the firmware. The firmware can easily be built from the official OpenWrt code base but in that case the 128MB NAND flash aren't..." Read more

"...Yeah, it's not as user friendly in a way as the Hootoo custom interface but it was not hard at all to set up DLNA media sharing and openVPN for..." Read more

"...I powered it on, connected to it, accessed its config panel with a browser, and I was up and running sharing a public WiFi in no time at all...." Read more

44 customers mention "Connectivity"17 positive27 negative

Customers have mixed experiences with the router's connectivity, with some reporting flawless connections while others experience connection problems.

"...the router keeps dropping out * connecting to hotel wifi is unreliable - sometimes it works, sometimes not, and often when it does work it..." Read more

"...It was connecting to my home network via VPN. It was such a fricken easy setup, I had a hard time believing that it was actually going to work...." Read more

"...No lights, no function, nothing. I've tried using different cables, just in case the fault was there. No change...." Read more

"...mins, it works great accross my visible service, and allows me to connect multiple devices to a phone designed only to handle 1 at a time... SO......." Read more

22 customers mention "Reliability"15 positive7 negative

Customers have mixed experiences with the router's reliability, with some finding it rock solid and stable, while others report crashes and need better reliability.

"...It does exactly what it claims to, and it's super reliable at it...." Read more

"Here's the quick version: Great travel router with robust OpenWRT firmware, capabilities, and support...." Read more

"...But it fails over in less than a second. Practically instant. From what I've read, only WAN bonding can sustain a break in a connection like that...." Read more

"...I can't say much about the longevity, but it seems sturdy enough and tough enough to last. Only time will tell. Would buy again." Read more

21 customers mention "Speed"11 positive10 negative

Customers have mixed experiences with the router's speed, with some reporting it meets expectations while others find it unbearably slow.

"...Multiple videos in multiple tabs load noticeably faster. Downloads are faster only when you have multiples or are using a download manager...." Read more

"I tried this out for less than an hour but it was slower than my TPlink Nano..." Read more

"...Worked first try and transmission was flawless watching Amazone Prime video...." Read more

"...Trying to load up the configuration without being connected is unbearably slow...." Read more

FAR exceeded my expectations.
5 out of 5 stars
FAR exceeded my expectations.
For a long time now, I have been using a Tripmate Elite (HT-TM06). You kinda can't beat the functionality of it with the built in battery pack. Still, it's performance is not amazing and this GL.iNET device caught my eye due to the external antenna. Long story short, the performance does indeed blow the tripmate away. The attached images were for each device in our motorhome on the side of the house. I only had one or the other powered up for each test and both were placed in the same exact location by themselves. The results are telling! I love that this Gl.iNET thing is already running openWRT and it has good support with 128 MB ram and flash storage. Yeah, it's not as user friendly in a way as the Hootoo custom interface but it was not hard at all to set up DLNA media sharing and openVPN for hide.me. The use of the little hardware switch to turn the VPN on and off is pretty neat as well. Since the little guy has to do encryption/decryption for the VPN, the performance was not amazing but I did manage to get around 8 Mbps which should be fine for a 1080p netflix stream while traveling abroad. MAC spoofing is going to be soooooo nice to have at times as well. The 2dbi external antenna appear to use the standard mini connector so one could conceivably get even more powerful ones and connect them. You know what would be even better than this unit? This unit with a built in rechargeable battery!
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2017
    These little things are great. They have lots of features, but they do have performance limitations. With OpenVPN, you're not going to get 10Mbps with 256 encryption. More like 8Mbps. I've read that other protocols fair better.

    They will load balance, and do failover almost seamlessly, as long as the session running isn't using the connection you pull. But it fails over in less than a second. Practically instant. From what I've read, only WAN bonding can sustain a break in a connection like that. I have no problems gaming with load balancing enabled.

    I have a Unite Explore tethered over USB (configured as pass through) with a Netgear Nighthawk M1 over ethernet, both with external Netgear MIMO antennas. For some reason, load balancing didn't want to work by default, I had to edit some settings, and then reboot it a few times to get them to stick. I'm using USB + Wan for load balancing, and I wasn't even sure that would work. I couldn't find anyone else on the forums that was trying to do that.

    Yes, I use this for home internet. It recognized my AT&T Unite Explore immediately with almost no configuration, and gave me 40Mbps+ down and 30Mbps up under ideal tower conditions. My phone is a tad faster, but hotspots have less priority than phones/tablets. The forums say they push ~90Mbps over the Wan/Lan interface over ethernet, so I wouldn't think this would be a bottleneck for LTE use.

    Load balancing does make surfing *feel* faster, and other people using the internet do not noticeably affect me. Multiple videos in multiple tabs load noticeably faster. Downloads are faster only when you have multiples or are using a download manager. Uploads are faster, more consistent in speed, and this makes all browsing peppier. Latency is marginally improved (~5ms).

    WIFI penetration is acceptable inside a log cabin with a huge stone fireplace. Not great, but at this price, that's not a con. I will upgrade the antennas soon.

    I've had to reboot it a few times over a couple of days span a few months back. I changed out my charger/PS to something rated for over 2A at 5V. No problems since. It powers my Unite Explore over USB, so maybe this was a factor in the original power supply with my WIFI output maxed out in the settings. I think I also had the WIFI on and range maxed out on the UE at that time. I was still experimenting.

    I've also noticed with a USB port voltmeter that not all cables will push over 1.5A, so make sure your cables aren't 1)cheap or 2)going out. I had a cable that tested perfect, and weeks later the wife said it wasn't fast charging on the QC 3.0 charger. I tested it, and it was not. Changed cables, and her phone was quick charging immediately. I can see how this would cause reliability problems with a travel router, as cables get twisted, stretched, and kinked constantly.

    So,in summary, for nearly 6 months, hardly any reboots have been necessary, and none since the larger power supply and cable check. More reliable than any other router I've had that cost less than $100, while pushing more data than I pushed through any of them in a month, and using load balancing on top of all of that, over LTE as well, spanned over USB/Ethernet interfaces. I have two desktops, 3 phones, 1 tablet, a Fire Stick that sees lots of use, and both desktops game often. All use VPN more often than not. I do not do much data transfer over the LAN side of things, so that might show it's lack of CPU. I've had 15 devices connected for a week at a time, and no issues. Most were phones, though.

    I use VyperVPN from the desktops and tablet, and they stay connected for several days at a time. I got the router to connect to VyperVPN, but as I said earlier, it was relatively poor performance at 256 bit encryption with OpenVPN. VyperVPN wasn't exactly plug and play like other services.

    However, we all know that the processor isn't a beast. This is low power. For what it costs, for its size, it has amazing functionality, and in context, reliability. OpenWRT allows this to be very, very flexible if you're tech oriented.

    I have yet to use the USB for anything but tethering and testing the webcam functionality, so I can't comment on its proficiency as a baby NAS or print server. My printer is ethernet.

    Overall, this is a great value, and I can see it capable of many different uses. I'll probably buy a few more and see what the Mesh performance is like. Pittsburgh Mesh uses an older version of these with great success.
    13 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2020
    I bought this hoping it would help with some WiFi issues I've had while staying at hotels and resorts.

    I find it hard to disconnect when I'm on vacation. I usually have at least 4 devices that need network connectivity, and a couple more that can be used offline. But there are times when I'm staying at a hotel or resort that has questionable Wifi.

    I have not actually taken this on the road, so it may not help... but I've run a bunch of tests on it to see what my expectations should be. I hope to express my findings here.

    So... the picture is a bit misleading. This is smaller than 1/2 the size of a deck of cards... so, pretty fricken tiny. The antennas rotate and fold, or can be completely disconnected when packing, so it's pretty easy to pack.... if that's what you want. But... you may not want to pack it away.... I'll explain later.

    Wifi throughput: I had two devices that are 30ft from the base unit. One was uploading large files to the USB drive connected to the base unit. One was streaming a movie that was stored on the USB drive. The transfer rate reported by the upload client was 1.3MB/s... not too shabby. The movie being streamed never experienced any delays or glitches.

    Power Consumption: I have a small battery pack that is not useful for my phone because my phone needs more power than what the battery pack can provide. But all of my tests were done with the base unit connected to the battery pack. So far, it's been on the battery pack for 2 hours, and consumed only 1/2 the power. This would make the device useful on a flight where you might want to share WiFi among your family that's traveling with you, but don't want to pay multiple Wifi fees. So.. you may want this in your carry-on, and not packed away.

    Signal strength: Because I was able to power this with a battery pack, that meant I could test the signal strength at greater distances. I brought the base unit outside, multiple layers of walls, and a distance (30ft) from my in-home Wifi router. It didn't have any problems. I will update with an actual limit test. But for now, I'm pretty impressed. On the other side... I placed the unit in my front yard, and went to my back yard... so again... multiple layers of walls, and even a greater distance (60ft). My phone didn't have any problem connecting. It showed 4 of 5 bars, and never lost the connection.

    OpenVPN: OMG!!!! This is probably one of the coolest features. At home, I have a Cisco router that supports OpenVPN. I downloaded the OVPN config file to my phone, then uploaded it to the router, added my credentials and BOOM!!! It was connecting to my home network via VPN. It was such a fricken easy setup, I had a hard time believing that it was actually going to work. And... by tweaking a setting, you can turn on and off the VPN using the switch on the side. So, you don't have to connect to the Admin Page to enable VPN.

    Setup: The Admin Page is pretty ficken intuitive with menus named the way you might expect them to be. You really only have to tweak a few settings to be up and running.

    CON: Okay... it's not 100% good. There is only one USB port. So if you're tethering via USB to your phone or using an other form of USB network, you can't share contents of a USB drive. There's no reason, they couldn't have added a second USB port. The box is big enough for 2 or more, or they could have used a Micro-USB or USB-C port.

    Bottom Line: I'm expecting this will perform well when I actually take it on the road. I believe this is well worth the price. I recommend this 100%.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Earpuller
    5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best travel router on the market
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 25, 2017
    All I can say is wow what an outstanding tiny travel router. This was exactly what I was looking for a mini portable travel router which would accept an RP-SMA antenna but with accepting two its a bonus. I've attached this to my monster WIFI set-up consisting of a 20DBi panel antenna, 2500MW 2.4 GHz Sunhans amplifier and 12 DBi omni directional antenna with mind blowing results. With this set-up I now get consistent speeds over 25 MBps down and 1.5 MBps up connected to a network over 50 meters away with trees blocking the line of sight path which I have permission to use. Previously I was using my custome I4 Hazwell laptop from 2015 to run a Windows 10 mobile hotspot using a Realtek 8812AU dual band USB wireless card connected to the amp with speeds over 20 MBps but the network would drop out if more than 2 devices streamed video at the same time. It was rather frustrating to dash up to the laptop and restart the hotspot using the netsh utility. I should mention I was using Windows 7 drivers for this card as Windows 10 drivers don't support hosted network mode through netsh they force you to use the user interface. Sometimes the Windows 10 hotspot would run for days at a time without issue but at other times it would randomly disconnect but the mini router has been rock solid. I've powered the unit from several power banks for over 9 hours without the power banks losing much juce so the unit is extremely efficient. During heavy usage the unit will warm up slightly like all routers but this can easily be resolved by placing a 40mm 12V cooling fan next to the router especially if the unit is placed in direct sunlight in a hot climate. I've also used this in the garden placed on a concrete barbacue and placed on some decking with a full scale WIFI signal over a wide area using a 6 DBi and a 5 DBi omni antenna. I cant wait to use this connected to two 12 DBi large antennas when out and about.

    GLI's support team have been outstanding before I decided to order this unit I had several questions related to the unit regarding how accessible the web interface would be using screen reader software such as Freedom Scientific JAWS for Windows, the open source NVDA screen reader and Microsofts Narrator. I've always received extremely helpful polite replies within 1 business day even when asking a number of different questions via Email. This router has one of the best accessible interfaces I've ever come across some routers are next to impossible to configure quickly with screen readers as icons arn't labeled correctly or the HTML doesn't meet web standards for accessible content but every part of the interface has been read correctly even parts of the LUSI advanced interface which I have no experience with at all.

    I had an issue where on my home WIFI network I wished the travel router to have a static IP as I have several port forwarding rules configured and it was frustrating to have to log into both routers to determine their local DHCP addresses then make changes to the rules on my main router but a quick email to GLI solved my issue with clear easy instructions to disable DHCP in the LUCI interface and then to enter the static IP. Now when connecting to other networks in WISP mode it only takes a minute to reenable DHCP.

    This has to be the best travel router currently available on the market I havent even mentioned uses for the RJ45 ethernet port and the RJ11 WAN port as well as the full sized USB port this unit is so versatile and future proof.

    My first unit develped a fault after 2 days where the left antenna jack stopped working I noticed there was a much heaver load placed on the WIFI amp which alerted me to the issue but again a quick email to GLI through Amazons message system gave me clear instructions for a full refund I sent the faulty unit back and ordered a new unit which arived today. My first unit came with an older version of firmware which updated faultlessly when I checked for firmware updates but the new unit is running the latest 2.261 out of the box.

    One tiny thing which could be potentially added is a security symbol next to detected networks in WISP mode so screen readers can announce if a network is locked meaning its secure or unlocked meaning its open ssuch as already happens in Windows 10's native wifi interface and on most phones but apart from this minor issue its a 10 star product. Deffinatly grab one of these units support from GLI and from the GLI forums and Amazon community is outstanding.
  • amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars DS-Liteルーター
    Reviewed in Japan on July 29, 2022
    テレワークでルーター壊れると大変なことになるので
    安いのを探してました
    2台体制で安心
    Report
  • JM
    5.0 out of 5 stars Geniales Teil, mein übernächster Nachbar teilt seinen DSL Zugang mit mir !
    Reviewed in Germany on October 24, 2020
    Mein eigener DSL-Zugang funktioniert nicht richtig und mein Provider kriegt einfach die Reparatur der Leitung schon seit Ewigkeiten nicht hin. Den Internetzugang brauche ich für Musik, Videostreaming und natürlich auch dringend beruflich. Netterweise hat mein einer meiner Nachbarn Hilfe angeboten, aber leider ist sein Haus rund 200 Meter weit weg und so "sehe" ich sein WLAN nur ganz schwach.

    So habe ich mir diesen kleine Router gekauft und gleich zwei etwas längere Antennen dran geschraubt, die noch bei mir rumlagen. Die bekommt man für knapp 10€ auch hier: Antennen

    Die Einrichtung war ganz extrem schnell und einfach, ich habe nur die Sprache ausgewählt und auf der WEB-Oberfläche das WLAN meines Nachbarn eingetragen ( das Passwort hat er mir freundlicherweise gesagt). Die beiliegende Bedienungsanleitung ist kurz und sehr gut zu verstehen. danach habe ich das gute Stück nur noch aus dem Fenster in Richtung des Nachbarhauses gehängt und es über USB und einem Handynetzteil mit Strom versorgt.

    Zwei Minuten später habe ich mich im Gl-AR300M WLAN mit dem Passwort goodlife angemeldet und konnte über den DSL-Zugang meines Nachbarn surfen. DANKESCHÖN!

    Der Router kann natürlich noch viel mehr, aber ich setze diese Dinger meistens zum "Verlängern" von irgendwelchen Hotel-WLANS ein. Man kann den Router einfach per Powerbank mit Strom versorgen und auf der Strecke zwischen funktionierendem WLAN und dem eigenen Zimmer verstecken. Klappt immer und man kann danach auch mehr als ein Gerät im Hotel WLAN anmelden.

    Statt als Router kann man das Gerät auch als reinen Repeater oder als Accesspoint verwenden. Wer es ganz kompliziert aber auch ganz umfangreich möchte, kann auf die Oberfläche vom installierten OpenWRT umschalten. Damit kann man viele Dinge tun, wer mag kann auch einen Webserver auf diesem kleinen Teil laufen lassen...

    Fazit: Das macht Spaß, Daumen hoch!
    Customer image
    JM
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Geniales Teil, mein übernächster Nachbar teilt seinen DSL Zugang mit mir !

    Reviewed in Germany on October 24, 2020
    Mein eigener DSL-Zugang funktioniert nicht richtig und mein Provider kriegt einfach die Reparatur der Leitung schon seit Ewigkeiten nicht hin. Den Internetzugang brauche ich für Musik, Videostreaming und natürlich auch dringend beruflich. Netterweise hat mein einer meiner Nachbarn Hilfe angeboten, aber leider ist sein Haus rund 200 Meter weit weg und so "sehe" ich sein WLAN nur ganz schwach.

    So habe ich mir diesen kleine Router gekauft und gleich zwei etwas längere Antennen dran geschraubt, die noch bei mir rumlagen. Die bekommt man für knapp 10€ auch hier: Antennen

    Die Einrichtung war ganz extrem schnell und einfach, ich habe nur die Sprache ausgewählt und auf der WEB-Oberfläche das WLAN meines Nachbarn eingetragen ( das Passwort hat er mir freundlicherweise gesagt). Die beiliegende Bedienungsanleitung ist kurz und sehr gut zu verstehen. danach habe ich das gute Stück nur noch aus dem Fenster in Richtung des Nachbarhauses gehängt und es über USB und einem Handynetzteil mit Strom versorgt.

    Zwei Minuten später habe ich mich im Gl-AR300M WLAN mit dem Passwort goodlife angemeldet und konnte über den DSL-Zugang meines Nachbarn surfen. DANKESCHÖN!

    Der Router kann natürlich noch viel mehr, aber ich setze diese Dinger meistens zum "Verlängern" von irgendwelchen Hotel-WLANS ein. Man kann den Router einfach per Powerbank mit Strom versorgen und auf der Strecke zwischen funktionierendem WLAN und dem eigenen Zimmer verstecken. Klappt immer und man kann danach auch mehr als ein Gerät im Hotel WLAN anmelden.

    Statt als Router kann man das Gerät auch als reinen Repeater oder als Accesspoint verwenden. Wer es ganz kompliziert aber auch ganz umfangreich möchte, kann auf die Oberfläche vom installierten OpenWRT umschalten. Damit kann man viele Dinge tun, wer mag kann auch einen Webserver auf diesem kleinen Teil laufen lassen...

    Fazit: Das macht Spaß, Daumen hoch!
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    Customer image
  • Luacard
    5.0 out of 5 stars Très bon produit
    Reviewed in France on September 28, 2017
    Routeur vraiment minuscule. Tient dans le creux de la main
    Alimenté en 5v (micro-usb).
    Très facile à configurer, malgré que l'interface ne soit disponible qu'en chinois ou en anglais

    Configurable en routeur ou en bridge. Permet également d'être configuré en répéteur wifi.
    Son port usb lui permet de partager une connexion mobile , soit par clé 3G/4G, soit par tethering USB

    Le port usb vous permet également d'y brancher une webcam, ou une clé usb pour partager vos fichiers

    Ce routeur est également compatible avec Tor, et vous permet d'y installer des applications tierce. Un genre de appstore étant inclus vous permettant de chercher et d’installer automatiquement les applications compatibles (un peu plus de 5000)

    Et surtout, la fonction pour lequel j'ai acheté cet appareil : OpenVPN
    La configuration est des plus simples : vous choisissez votre ou vos fichiers ovpn (possibilité de choisir directement un fichier .zip, pour envoyer un lot de fichiers de configuration), et c'est tout !
    Vous indiquez les login si nécessaire, vous choisissez le serveur sur lequel vous souhaitez vous connecter (menu déroulant) et c'est bon.
    C'est nettement plus simple et agréable à utiliser que sur dd-wrt, que j'utilisais auparavant sur un ancien routeur.
    Et un petit bouton sur le coté du routeur peut être configurer pour activer / désactiver le vpn à la volée.

    Vraiment satisfait de mon achat
  • J
    5.0 out of 5 stars Worked well without any hassle
    Reviewed in Australia on April 9, 2021
    I wanted to create secondary wifi because the main one was not connecting to my Hunter irrigation controller. I connected this to the main modem and it worked well from the first time, with no hassle. I bought another one before did not work.