Hi
I've ordered a Calyx mifi and I know that I'll peobably need to go through a vpn to be able to get better than 2.5 mbps streaming video. I read a blog that said to achieve that, the OP connected to a Slate AX GL-AXT1800 mini which provided Wiregaurd vpn and also the ability to bypass the vpn per client. That's exactly what I need, but I don't necessarily need portability. Other than size, how is this router different from other home routers?. I'm also not clear which device is supposed to serve as the dhcp server on the network. How does this work?
Here you can compare all the different models: Product Comparison - GL.iNet
DHCP should be done by the GL router then as well - but it depends on your network topology.
I decided to order the Flint2 since I don't need portability. I'd really appreciate some help configuring this to work with the hotspot. I'm assuming that I'd want to disable wifi on the hotspot as the router would be performing that role? I'm guessing that after that I'd connect the mifi to the router like any other wireless device? I'm not sure where in the JEXstream interface to do that. It has not arrived yet. Any existing threads on the subject or anyone done this?
Thx
Mostly this might help First Time Setup - GL.iNet Router Docs 4
Since I don't know Calyx or JEXstream, I can't really help with that.
Agreed. I think this topic might be close to what I'm looking for.
He mentioned this was his fix:
Router in Access Point mode
Hotspot settings, enabled IP Passthrough
He didn't say whether he disabled wifi on the hotspot. It might not matter if both are listening, but I had read that multiple wifi can interfere. I also have another wifi router in the house that's my primary Windstream dsl. It's so unreliable which is one reason why I'm looking for alternatives here in the sticks. I might have enough sky for starlink if this hotspot doesn't work well.
TURNS OUT THIS DIDN'T WORK FOR HIM FOR SOME REASON. So, I'm wondering if this works at all? Seems like it should. Isn't this the basic premise of the travel routers like GL-AXT1800 Slate AX?
Also, it seems there may be an option to tether the hotspot to the router by connecting them with usb. Is that possible and what are th advantages/disadvantages? Ideally, I do want the router to work as a vpn and adblocker.
Edit: quick googe shows that with tethering to the router, the router's vpn or adblocker won't be used. Rather, if the tethered device has those active, they would be used. That sound right?
Yes, it is the tethering mode, connect to the phone with USB port, and the VPN client and ADG is available to work on this mode.
It is only the WAN source of the router, which comes from the phone USB tethering.
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But it's my understanding that the VPN part of the equation won't work when tethering. I guess I'll just have to do trial and error til something works. Seems using the router as a repeater may get what I need. But not sure.
Thx
Only VPN client will work.
While I was waiting for the hotspot to arrive, I thought I'd try to bridge my current junk modem/router from windstream to the Flint2. I found a note on reddit that some nice person left how to do that and it worked great and no issues at all. That is; cable connect the Windstream modem which is a Sagemcom FAST 5380 on the LAN port to the WAN/LAN1 port on the Flint2. I also had to set the 5380 to bridge mode. In the Flint2 interface it then prompted me to choose LAN or something like that and I clicked OK. So that allowed the Flint2 to now be my wireless router for the Windstream Modem which is now acting only as a modem. That allowed me to set up whole house vpn on the Flint2 along with Adguard ad blocker. Fwiw; I chose NordVPN and ran into the same issues others have on this website. That is; using Wireguard, only Seattle Nordvpn servers showed up in their list of 20. I'm on the east coast, so that was not going to work for me. I tried using openvpn instead of Wireguard and that wouldn't work at all. I got "auth failed" errors despite that I was using the correct id and password. I even made a less complex password and it still failed. So, I then decided to utilize NodeVPN's 30 day money-back guarantee. I then downloaded Surfshark and it worked immediately in Wireguard. So I wasted almost two hours trying to get NordVPN to work, then in five minutes I got Surfshark working to a Miami server. I'm in FL.
So now I have to figure out how to integrate the hotspot as a second network or at least second WAN source. The hotspot is supposed to arrive today but meantime I thought I'd try to configure my phone as a hotspot to see if I can get the configuration of it working before the unit arrives. I am assuming that using my phone as a hotspot will behave the same as the actual hotspot. I'm not even exactly sure how I want the hotspot to behave; like a failover or load balancer, same network or 2nd network. I'm not sure if I can add the hotspot into and keep the same dhcp network; e.g. 192.168.8.x Or do I have to set up a completely separate dhcp network. Anyway, anyone who's done this and has suggestions; I'm all ears. Meantime, I'll report back what I end up doing. Hope it's not horrible. 
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So far, the Flint2 Internet configuration cannot see another WAN connection for Ethernet 1. That is ideally what I want... I think.
I have the phone connected via a usb to Ethernet adapter to the other WAN port on the Flint2. But it isn't recognized. So, I tried repeater mode and it does connect wirelessly. I had disabled Wi-Fi connection on the phone though as I didn't want this to act like an extender to the existing network. I wanted the phone to be a new WAN through my wireless ISP, so I disabled WiFi. It is connected now as a repeater, but I'm not sure what to do with it. It's labelled as a Verizon hotspot name/2.4ghz, on a different network subnet 192.168.55.x So what is that good for? There's no dhcp server to serve out 192.1658.55 addresses. Anyone ? I'm still hoping that my actual hotspot will be recognized through that ethernet cable. But I've read that other people have had issues getting ethernet connections to be recognized on the Flint2. I also wondered if the Calyx Jextream wil be able to connect via the cellular internet option since it has a builtin modem. Anyone done connect that way?
Hmm; this is quite interesting. So, under Multi-Wan, I changed the priority to Repeater at the top of the list. I rebooted my wife's Linux computer and saw that it was still connected to the Flint2 2.4 wireless router name. However, a internet speed test produced about 1mb download speed which is about what I'd expect if I connected to my cell phone's hotspot. And ifconfig shows the address is still from the 192.168.8.x pool So, I can only surmise that the router is smart enough to use the Repeater for WAN connection even though it's on 192.168.55 network. That's actually good news. Meantime, while I was fooling around with the router, I found that one of my surge suppressors was turned off. I clicked it on and then the lights came on the usb to ethernet adapter. I didn't realize it needs juice. So, I'm hoping now that the ethernet port will be recognized.
So, Ethernet1 now says "Connecting" at least, but it still says that. I did have the hotspot connected as a repeater while it was trying to connect. So, I disabled that configuration and it still says connecting. I think I may reboot each and see what happens.
Unlike my phone hotspot, the JEXtream won't connect as either cable connected ethernet nor wireless. That's pretty disappointing. It's also disappointing that there's not any help on this forum.
The hotspot did an automatic code update as I was bouncing it and now the Ethernet 1 connection works, and I set LB to prefer Ethernet1 first. That's all fine but it's dog slow. Roku box detects it as 1MB download. Going to try 5G again. Seemed it worked briefly at about 9mbps on my phone, but then didn't work.
It works, just terrible performance from Calyx hotspot. When buying this, the caveat was that you have to check your coverage on the TMobile map. Well, I did that and I've got 4G and 5G Extended...my address is bathed in fusia. Yet I'm getting speed between 1mbps to 2mbps and no connections to 5G anything. I would have thought 4g lte would get me at least 8 to 10 mbps. And these speeds are direct connected or through the Flint2 router which is a little slower, like 1mbps or less. So, I will call the Calyx tech support and see if anything further can be done. I have the vpn set up as I had heard that can stop the throttling for youtube videos and whatnot, but I'm getting low speed on regular desktop connections. Lot of money for terrible performance. Hope these tidbits helps others. I have a friend that has TMobile cell phone. I'm going to see if she can come over and do a speed test. She has used her phone here before. If she gets much better performance, then that will tell me that I'm probably being throttled, and that was not part of the deal.