Slate Plus vs. just a VPN

VPN
1

Hey guys,

Trying to figure out the best course of action. I’m an airline pilot so I live in hotels and airports half the year. I’d like to take my mobile security to a better level so I’m trying to decide whether to buy a travel router or whether to just pay for a VPN.

I don’t do anything crazy on the road, just usually my phone, an iPad and maybe a laptop occasionally and doing just internet stuff, streaming, and sometimes I have no choice but to do some banking. I was looking at purchasing the Slate Plus.

So the 2 questions I have:

  1. Is it beneficial for me to buy a travel router or do I just pay for a VPN provider?

  2. Do I need a VPN to go along with the router or can I just use the router by itself and still have a secure connection without a VPN?

Also, just trying to understand the difference between the two, am I correct in thinking that the router will provide the security and the VPN would provide the privacy? I could be way off here.

Thanks for any help anyone can give me!

2

If you want vpn privacy and protection you have two options. Pay for a vpn service, or buy two routers. If you buy two you can set one up at home as a vpn server and bring one with you as the vpn client.

That said, you can buy one and leave it at home cause you can get openvpn or wireguard apps for your phone and computers to connect back to your home router working as a vpn server.

A free option is the tor browser, but that only helps web traffic used on the tor browser, nothing else.

The main benefit of using the router as a vpn client is that it encrypts data from devices that can’t use a vpn natively like a tv or game console. Your phone, ipad, and laptop should all be able to use a vpn through an app so there’s really not much need to get one.

3

There is an extra layer of protection when using a travel router. If for example you connect a laptop to a hotel WiFi anybody on that network can potentially probe your device/s for vulnerabilities. That and you don’t even know if the WiFi network you’re connecting to is actually the hotel WiFi or a man in the middle WiFi network introduced between you and the hotel used to intercept information as it moves between mediums.

If you utilize a travel router, only the router is on the hotel network. Each device connected to the travel router gets it’s own private IP address which cannot be reached from the hotel WiFi network. The newer travel routers also support WPA3 to help better secure over the air traffic between your devices and the router. Coupled with a VPN client connection on the travel router you’d have secure encryption over a potentially unencrypted medium. Public unencrypted WiFi can still be found.

I don’t travel anywhere as much as you, but I’m always packing a travel router with me where ever I go. The only WiFi network I trust is the one I manage at home.

4

Thanks for all of the info. This is really helpful!

5

The router has no VPN. You need one to use it. People typically buy a Glinet router AND a VPN subscription.

The main difference is that if you buy only a VPN you need to set it up individually on your laptop, iphone and IPAD. If you buy the router you set it once there and then all connected devices use it automatically.

So to answer your questions

  1. If you want to do just one, then buy VPN
  2. Yes you need VPN subscription along with the router. The router on its own doesn’t offer VPN capabilities

Also ask yourself why you need a VPN in the first place. Most applications use HTTPS nowadays so security is not that big issue. People use VPNs mostly to unlock geo-located content.

6

I like the travel router because I bring my Roku and plug it into the hotel TV. The travel router allows me to use US streaming services.