Spitz GL-X750: first impressions

davidmaxwaterman · 2019-08-18T10:54:02.137Z

I’ve been using it for a few days now.

Overall, very impressed. It’s a nice, neat package and (so far) it is pretty much doing everything I want of it.

My previous set up is to have a SIM card with unlimited data (including tethering) from Three in a phone and share its connection as a hotspot. This worked quite nicely, but I also like to use a VPN and have an ExpressVPN subscription, and that requires a client on each device, which I was doing.
However, it is a slight pita to connect each time, and I’m limited to 5 concurrent connections, which is occasionally a problem - though not often.

So, I thought I’d give this Spitz thing a go. I was attracted by the OpenWRT firmware - I guess it is using it, though I have trouble finding any mention of it when I go to the device’s admin page (perhaps there’s too much ‘company’ skinning?).

The first problem I experienced was with the SIM tray. It didn’t seem to be the correct size for my SIM - I had all the various size adaptors, but I couldn’t figure out which one was correct. Eventually, I managed to get it in using one size, but it didn’t really feel like it was the correct size until I had the tray ‘shut’. Unfortunately, while I was fiddling around, the tray came off, and that was a bit disappointing - it wasn’t broken, though, so it just needed a little encouraging to get it back on. After I had the SIM in it and clipped it closed, I left it alone.
It would be nice if that tray was more robust.

I was a bit disappointed that the power was via a wall-wart. I dislike these because they only plug in one way up, and seem to be designed assuming the sockets are the normal way up, with the earth pin uppermost. Unfortunately, some of my power sockets (on an extension cord) are already upside down so that they can accommodate plugs in the normal orientation, and these wall warts mean the extension sockets don’t sit on the floor.
The wall wart actually has a replaceable ‘plug’ part, but the UK one only fits in one orientation - I would have thought it would be reasonably easy to design it so it would be inserted either way up, and work for both…it’s the same for other devices, though, so not GL-iNet’s fault here.
I was disappointed that it uses AC at all, tbh. Is there a reason it couldn’t use USB 5V? I guess some would try to use it on 500mA USB, so perhaps a support issue, but it would be very convenient to be able to use it from a USB battery, from time to time - at least to move it around the house to find the best reception, but also using it in a car might be nice.

Setting it up for ExpressVPN was easy, and I was able to load several VPN configurations ready for my trip to China.
I notice it does seem to take a long time to switch between different servers - actually, perhaps this is a problem in the configuration file in this instance[1] - yes, switching to other ones actually works. I will have to get ExpressVPN to update their configuration file for that server, I think.

I’m not seeing amazing speeds through the thing…though it’s quite difficult to tell what I would get from the SIM in a phone without taking it out. I suspect it is slower than my phone…but it is totally usable. I’m streaming youtube to my MiBox, and other video at the same time, so no problem…and none of them need to be running their own VPN client, so that’s nice.

When I get to China, I’ll be using a wire internet, so that’ll be a different experience…I wonder if I can test that before I go (OTG ethernet adaptor on my phone, perhaps).

So…pretty happy with it at the the moment

Max.

[1] Currently, it is saying:
"
SIGHUP[soft,init_instance] received, process restarting

WARNING: --keysize is DEPRECATED and will be removed in OpenVPN 2.6

OpenVPN 2.4.5 mips-openwrt-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [EPOLL] [MH/PKTINFO] [AEAD]

library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.2o 27 Mar 2018, LZO 2.10

Restart pause, 5 second(s)
"

alzhao · 2019-08-19T06:56:16.221Z

Thanks for sharing.

The SIM card slot still fail off. This is bad. We optimized once and it should be OK.

It is using a microSD card so pls use the correct SIM size.

Its power consumption is big so 12V make it stable. As it is not designed for travel so we didn’t use 5V.

If you travel to China this may be a problem. Most of the time openvpn does not work because of the firewall. You may bring a roaming SIM card which by pass the firewall automatically in case your vpn does not work.

davidmaxwaterman · 2019-08-19T07:58:48.398Z

The SIM card slot still fail off. This is bad. We optimized once and it should be OK.

Yes, but it’s not a huge problem, I think…I imagine most people will simply do what I did and clip it back on.

It is using a microSD card so pls use the correct SIM size.

I don’t know what you mean by ‘microSD card’, since that is the other slot. I’m talking about the SIM slot. I have all the adaptors and none of them seemed to fit properly…note that I’m just talking about it fitting in the metal clip part, not the plastic part with the contacts (it fits the plastic part just fine). I’m of Nokia vintage, so I’m reasonably used to how these trays usually work - ie you put the sim in the clip and then fold it down into the plastic part. Perhaps this one doesn’t work the same way and you’re supposed to put the SIM into the plastic part, and the put the clip down on top of it?

Its power consumption is big so 12V make it stable. As it is not designed for travel so we didn’t use 5V.

Yes, except I have lots of high capacity USB sockets, and only few ‘mains’ sockets. If it was 5V USB, like my phone(s), I could choose which I want to use.

If you travel to China this may be a problem. Most of the time openvpn does not work because of the firewall. You may bring a roaming SIM card which by pass the firewall automatically in case your vpn does not work.

I’m not a stranger to China so I have my solutions. I do wonder what you mean by a ‘roaming SIM card’, though. How would that by-pass the firewall? Surely it will simply get me onto the Chinese side of the wall, and I’ll still face the same problems. Actually, I’ve used an unlimited data SIM in my phone (2nd SIM) and I know I still need to use VPN to make things work.

alzhao · 2019-08-19T08:06:56.108Z

davidmaxwaterman:

I don’t know what you mean by ‘microSD card’, since that is the other slot. I’m talking about the SIM slot. I have all the adaptors and none of them seemed to fit properly…note that I’m just talking about it fitting in the metal clip part, not the plastic part with the contacts (it fits the plastic part just fine). I’m of Nokia vintage, so I’m reasonably used to how these trays usually work - ie you put the sim in the clip and then fold it down into the plastic part. Perhaps this one doesn’t work the same way and you’re supposed to put the SIM into the plastic part, and the put the clip down on top of it?

Sorry my mistake. It is Micro-SIM

When you using Roaming SIM, it connect you to other countries directly even you are in China. Like this one https://www.knowroaming.co/

limbot · 2019-08-19T09:32:51.207Z

@davidmaxwaterman

Sorry for rubbish photos (taken while eating dinner ) but hopefully clarifies for you

IMG_20190819_192100-012404×1700 484 KB

There are three main sizes of SIMS these days. Normal (green), micro (yellow), nano (white) . Most cards come in a 3 way SIM where you popout the correct size.

IMG_20190819_1921334000×2250 300 KB

This is how it looks closed and locked.

IMG_20190819_1948494000×2250 936 KB

Slide the top cover to the right (see how you can see more of the plastic holder) and then lift up

IMG_20190819_1922284000×2250 290 KB

Place the micro SIM with contacts down into the slot. Notice the bottom left where the notch in the sim matches the slot in the plastic holder.

IMG_20190819_1922354000×2250 268 KB

Swing the lid down and then slide to the left.

Suspect you’re missing the “slide” part of the procedure and just lifting. I swap sims in mine all the time and never had an issue or the cover pop off

Hopefully all good and it works like a charm

For your other questions that Alfie didn’t answer but I can answer:

Yes OpenWRT is underneath with a GL.Inet presentation over the top. The Gl.iNet front end makes things easier to do common functions and is much easier than “native” OpenWRT. Can get the “native” OpenWRT from the Gl.iNet menus More Settings->Advanced

Mobile broadband uses what they call bands, different frequencies. Some carriers use aggregating of different bands to give you more throughput. The X750 is a either Cat 4 or Cat 6 device depending on what LTE card you ordered it with. Typically modern mobile phones are something like Cat 16 which means it can aggregate more bands at the same time. So you can expect higher speeds from your phone compared with your X750 sometimes. It can also depend on your provider as well. There’s so many variables when it comes to mobile LTE. As long as you’ve got enough bandwidth to do what you want …

davidmaxwaterman · 2019-08-19T10:49:32.619Z

Ah, thanks for the photos. That is indeed what I ended up doing. It’s not what I’ve been used to with Nokia phones, so I was trying to fit the SIM into the clip - see here a typical one on a Nokia N900:

You see that the SIM (a larger ‘mini’ in this case) fits into the metal clip and then the clip is closed with the SIM in the clip…and the clip pushed forward, similarly to how you describe.

So, that is where I went wrong. I had been trying to fit the SIM into the clip, when I should have just done what I ended up doing (which, tbh, didn’t seem especially secure), which is as in your photos. I imagine the fiddling I did to try to get the SIM into the clip quite possibly caused the clip to come off at the hinge.

Perhaps I should have read the user manual (I didn’t), though I see that it doesn’t help on this issue either.

davidmaxwaterman · 2019-08-19T11:04:02.068Z

Yes OpenWRT is underneath with a GL.Inet presentation over the top. The Gl.iNet front end makes things easier to do common functions and is much easier than “native” OpenWRT. Can get the “native” OpenWRT from the Gl.iNet menus More Settings->Advanced

Mobile broadband uses what they call bands, different frequencies. Some carriers use aggregating of different bands to give you more throughput. The X750 is a either Cat 4 or Cat 6 device depending on what LTE card you ordered it with. Typically modern mobile phones are something like Cat 16 which means it can aggregate more bands at the same time. So you can expect higher speeds from your phone compared with your X750 sometimes. It can also depend on your provider as well. There’s so many variables when it comes to mobile LTE. As long as you’ve got enough bandwidth to do what you want …

This is useful, thanks.

I now get to OpenWRT, which is reassuring, and has interesting details. I’m a bit put off at the mention of qualcomm…I’ve been trying to choose non-US companies due to their supply unreliability. Perhaps ‘architecture’ doesn’t mean an actual chip…not sure…but I suspect it does, and I wonder why a Chinese chip couldn’t have been chosen instead. Perhaps I’ve misunderstood.