I am looking for a compact travel router that I can use to always appear in my home country when I am travelling. This router should have a killswitch if the VPN is disconnected so as to avoid leaking my location.
This is a pretty esoteric question, so I’m super curious as to the responses you get.
I don’t have a recommendation, but I can maybe suggest an avenue to explore…
If you can’t find a router that does this out of the box, there are a few high-end custom firmwares you can get that can be used on MANY commercial routers that add extended functionality. The one I’m thinking of is called “dd-wrt”.
I strongly suspect you could get such a system set up on a router running that firmware… And I’d be surprised if a guide didn’t already exist for that.
An alternative to a router would be to build an intermediary device to act as a VPN tunnel so that neither the gateway OR the computer is aware. I’m imagining a raspberry pi, maybe with a second wifi dongle.
Interested in seeing what other recommendations you get!
I have a GL.iNet Mango, which I think would suit your needs very well. (Either that or maybe a higher-spec router from the same company, anyway: the Mango lists VPN as a prominent feature so it’s definitely got that covered, but it’s only an 802.11N (300Mbps) device.)
The nice thing about GL.iNet routers is that they come with OpenWRT firmware already on them from the factory, so you can do whatever you want with them.
While I’m at it, here’s an OpenWRT forum thread explaining how to adjust the firewall settings to act as a “killswitch.”
This looks like great advice. Thanks for the resources!
I’ve run multiple GLI net devices myself. I have no complaints about them. You might want to consider what the power source is for your GLINet device. Make sure it matches the cords you’re taking. So it might make sense to buy a USB-C device if you only have USB-C cords.
I recommend the one I own the Slate travel router.
Although be aware it is an older model, so maybe there are some worthy revisions as of now, but this one does exactly what you want.
The Slate Plus looks great. I like the Mango that another commenter posted (especially for the price), but would prefer to have USB C that Slate has to avoid micro USB. Thanks friend!