Travel Router: Beryl vs Convexa

raeyning · 2021-04-26T05:56:26.392Z

Hi,

I was trying to reach out to support to find out the difference in Beryl vs Convexa. I want to use it as a travel router.

Oddly, I was told that Convexa would be much faster which is confusing since they both are rated at 1300 (400/867). Any ideas why that would be?

I’m also curious as to whether they both have the same features for travel router (bridge mode, VPN, Tor, any other features needed for a travel router, etc). I’m also wondering about Luci - what it is. I’ve searched online but didn’t find much info.

I’m also wanting to confirm, can I use an iPad or iPhone to connect wirelessly directly to the router so I can bridge it to the public WiFi? I don’t need a desktop, right? And then any devices previously connected to the router will then automatically connect to the internet via the travel router, just as they do when I arrive home and they connect to my home router? Am I understanding this correctly?

Lastly, can I use my phone to tether the router some and use the LTE connection for times when WiFi isn’t available. Is it a fairly simple process?

Thanks so much! I’m not new to networking or tech but haven’t dealt with a travel router before (I’m not expert but I can do basic settings, etc) and I’m just wanting to get my head around it before I get one.

limbot · 2021-04-26T07:41:46.209Z

@raeyning

Convexa would be considered faster than the Beryl because it has better processor and memory. It’s acutally made as more of a fixed home mesh router than a travel router, while the Beryl is designed as a travel router. The AC1300 you refer to is the WiFi speed. The Convexa is about twice the size of the Beryl and uses a barrel connector while the Beryl uses a standard Type C 5V/3A connector so you don’t have to take a “special” barrel connector power supply with you.

All Gl.inet’s routers cover repeater (bridge), VPN, Tor modes etc.

In terms of Luci it’s just an interface to be able to change settings on your router which is based on OpenWRT operating system. You have 3 levels of interface on the router. In terms of decreasing ease of use:
Gl-Inet interface
LUCI interface
Command Line Interface

Yes you can configure with an ipad or iphone to get it connected to public WiFi while out and about, no need for a desktop or laptop, as long as you have a device with a web browser (or you can use Gl.inets apps as well). ,Your other assumptions re connection of clients is correct.

And lastly, yes you can USB tether your phone to all the routers to give you an LTE connection.

Hope that helps.

Johnex · 2021-04-26T11:07:23.822Z

Just to add, Beryl is USB-C but it requires a lot of current and does not support USB-C PD, so you need to have a slightly custom adapter (the one included or an equivalent 3A usb adapter) with you. In the end it depends on the acceptable size you want to carry with you.

elorimer · 2021-04-26T12:37:42.919Z

Don’t discount the Mango. Negligible size. Single band, and limited to around 12mbps OpenVPN throughput, more with Wireguard. Small Airbnb coverage area.

Think about your use case. In most cases “speed” is going to be limited by the upload/download speed of what you refer to as the “public WiFi”, and VPN. If it is a 25/1 connection, like many, then the router speed doesn’t figure much into it.
The brilliance of a travel router is the ability to plug it in, connect it to that WiFi, and have everyone in your party and every device share that without further configuration, but then also share a more secure VPN connection to the internet.

Starbucks, airport: Skip it unless you have a large party and one VPN connection allowed. Too little time to make it worthwhile.
Overnight hotel, Amtrak: Mango!
A week or two in an Airbnb: Beryl or Mango
Second home: Set it up permanently with anything.

raeyning · 2021-04-27T07:43:18.790Z

That’s really interesting to know. I’ll definitely keep that in mind. Makes me wonder if my USC-C charger will work. I’m glad to know it comes with one but it’s always nice to be able to leave extra charging bricks at home, if they aren’t needed. Sounds like this one might be and certainly is worth trying with different chargers before leaving home!

raeyning · 2021-04-27T07:52:15.606Z

Thanks for the info on Mango. I’ll check it out. Makes sense that the likely bottleneck will be the public WiFi.

One of my big concerns is going to be range. We often stay in a hotel that has us just on the edge of the WiFi range for TV. I think that if I put the travel router near the hallway, it will boost the signal so we get more range. That’s partly why I was wondering about the external antennas of Beryl vs Convexa. But the single setup is so attractive. I hadn’t thought about that part of it till recently. All my devices ready to connect as soon as I connect the router to the bridged WiFi. Would save so much time and aggro - especially for when those “captive portal” logins don’t work right with our devices. Grrrr.

Along that line, is there any issue connecting the travel router (Beryl, Mango, or whatever) to a captive portal WiFi connection? Does the router interface handle the captive portal part of it and give me the login option? Do you just renew the lease as needed (for those systems that kick you off every 24 hours till you log back in to the captive portal again)?

I really appreciate all the info and help. I was getting discouraged because I reached out to support to ask some of these questions and they sent me the product link. I had been there and carefully searched and compared both pages side by side before ever bothering to reach out to support. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time with something I could have answered myself. This forum has been amazing and I really appreciate the help and info. You really helped me to better understand that all the routers have many of the same basic features such as VPN support, Tor, bridge mode, DNS encryption, IPV6, etc. This isn’t clear on their individual webpages. So that helped a lot. Thanks again!

Johnex · 2021-04-27T11:09:02.363Z

I think Beryl will have better range, cos of the external antennas and also evolved antenna design. There are many years between the 2 products.

The 2.4ghz radio is better at penetrating walls, so you can use that one to connect to the hotel wifi, then have the 5.8ghz radio to share the connection with your devices.

Yeah to access the captive portal you connect and then in your browser open any page. You might have to disable “DNS rebind protection” in some cases to get the captive portal to show up. It is in DNS settings:

docs.gl-inet.com

More Settings - GL.iNet Docs

Documentation for GL.iNet Productions

You can read about all the features here as well:

docs.gl-inet.com

First Time Setup - GL.iNet Docs

Documentation for GL.iNet Productions

limbot · 2021-04-27T11:58:29.167Z

Also be aware on a single band router (2.4Ghz) like the Mango if you use in WISP repeater mode (connecting to a source via WiFi) then you’ll lose 1/2 your bandwidth speed because you’re splitting it between source repeating and WLAN. With a dual band router (Creta and up including Beryl and Convexa) you can WISP repeat on one band (e.g. 2.4Ghz) and WLAN on the other (5.0Ghz), therefore 'preserving" your bandwidth speed.

Hope that makes sense

elorimer · 2021-04-27T14:18:28.556Z

More often than not with Airbnbs I’ve plugged the Mango into the apartment’s wifi router for both ethernet and power.

Most important design feature: bright color! Less likely to leave it behind.

And while prices have gone up it was less than a third what I paid for my Beryl.

raeyning · 2021-04-28T03:19:19.942Z

limbot:

Also be aware on a single band router (2.4Ghz) like the Mango if you use in WISP repeater mode (connecting to a source via WiFi) then you’ll lose 1/2 your bandwidth speed because you’re splitting it between source repeating and WLAN. With a dual band router (Creta and up including Beryl and Convexa) you can WISP repeat on one band (e.g. 2.4Ghz) and WLAN on the other (5.0Ghz), therefore 'preserving" your bandwidth speed.

Hope that makes sense

Oh! That’s a really good point and makes a lot of sense! I wouldn’t have thought of that. Using the 2.4ghz band to connect so that it can go through walls better and then using the 5ghz range primarily for my devices is a great strategy. Thanks so much for sharing and for letting me know about the issue of halving speed when using a single band router to connect as a bridge to both WiFi and our devices.

raeyning · 2021-05-21T00:17:31.002Z

Hi @Johnex, I got my Beryl and had no difficulty it connecting it to my home WiFi. I got it setup with all my devices and was generally thrilled, to begin with.

However, we’re at a hotel now and I cannot, for the life of me, get Beryl to pass me along to the captive portal page. I’ve connected my iphone or iPad to Beryl’s WiFi, I’ve disabled the DNS rebind protection (as you suggested, after reading through the FAQ and such), I’ve disconnected and reconnected to WiFi but I still cannot get to the captive portal page. I’ve been trying for two+ days now and nothing. I’ve tried multiple browsers and still no. If you have any other thoughts, I’d love to hear them. I’m at a loss as to what to try or why I can’t get this to work.

Thanks again, so much for your help. I just thought I’d ask if you happen to have any other ideas. Take care!

elorimer · 2021-05-21T01:10:09.927Z

go to cnn.com.

I don’t know why, but that often triggers the captive portal.

limbot · 2021-05-21T07:28:27.085Z

Try neverssl.com as your first page.

Otherwise try connecting and registering via your device (phone/tablet/notebook), connect to your Beryl with that device and then mac clone your Beryl to match your device (More settings->MAC Clone)