Our Picks for Best Mobile Travel Router with WiFi Hotspot

By | March 21, 2021

Best Mobile Travel Router with WiFi Hotspot
Portable travel routers were introduced a few years ago and have quickly become very popular.

They can do many things depending on the scenario, from sharing files to sharing an internet connection.

For example, a travel router with built-in storage can stream movies or music to multiple devices in a vehicle while moving.

This helps keep passengers busy even when no cell signal can be received.
Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot 2019
They also can be set up to quickly backup smartphone files and stored away until you get home.

Managing wireless signals for many devices while on-the-go is also a feature most mobile routers have.

Types of WiFi Travel Hotspot Routers and Features

  • 4G LTE cell network routers
  • 2.4GHz / 5GHz internal WiFi routers
  • Manage multiple WiFi connections for multiple users
  • A central hub for media such as movies and TV shows
  • Add a WiFi Hotspot over a cell network

There are many types of travel routers some with more features than others.

Small portable units can give a central location to hold music, videos or other media to share with multiple devices while traveling.
Types of WiFi Travel Hotspot Routers and Features
Many of these units have no internet connection so all media will need to be copied before travailing.

This is a good idea since the cell network coverage can be limited at times depending on the location.

There is also routers that can connect to a cell network giving internet access while traveling.

Having access to the internet is ideal and does work well but often a combination of the two is best.

There are many to choose from with some of our favorite picks below.

As always be sure to read the reviews on Amazon or elsewhere to be sure a unit is a good fit for you.

Our Picks for Best Mobile Travel Router with WiFi Hotspot

  1. NETGEAR Nighthawk M1 Mobile Hotspot 4G LTE Router
  2. The Netgear Nighthawk M1 is a mobile travel router with a lot of nice features.

    It can share a WiFi connection with up to 20 devices along with a USB port that can share data from a flash drive.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot NETGEAR Nighthawk M1 Mobile Hotspot 4G LTE Router

    The best thing about the Nighthawk M1 is it can be setup with a cell phone SIM card and use 4G LTE for internet.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot NETGEAR Nighthawk M1 Sim Card
    The SIM card is inserted under the battery.

    This makes it ideal in many scenarios from traveling, to a location without internet but a good cell signal.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot NETGEAR Nighthawk M1 Mobile
    The unit works with AT&T and T-Mobile which needs a data plan and sim card purchased separately from one of the carriers.

    While It can share data for local devices without a cell data plan there are units that cost less for only sharing local data.

  3. KuWFi 300Mbps 3G 4G LTE WiFi Wireless Router
  4. KuWFi makes several travel routers that can connect to the internet through cell networks.

    They work by using a SIM card from a cell carrier and transmitting data wirelessly.

    The KuWFi WE826-EC25-AF is one such 4G router unit that works with T-Mobile wireless network.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot 2020 KuWFi Sim Location
    The setup is basically the same as setting up a mobile phone which is to buy a data plan from T-Mobile and insert the SIM card.

    A nice thing about T-Mobile is they currently have Binge-On plan which allows for unlimited streaming from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Sling, ESPN and much more.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot 2020 KuWFi
    The plan has a basic 3GB of data for other websites but is currently data free to stream from many top video sites.

    This gives unlimited video streaming in a car while traveling as well as basic internet.

    Of course, be sure to check any cell plan before buying since things can change.

    There are many other 4G routers that can be used for an internet connection using other cell networks.

    Read Here for Our Picks for Best 4G LTE Routers

  5. TP-Link AC750 Wireless Portable Nano (TL-WR902AC)
  6. The TP-Link Nano is a small router that can be set up in a variety of scenarios with many different modes.

    Modes include WiFi bridge, Range Extender, Access Point, Client Modes, and more.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot TP-Link AC750

    The unit has a switch on the side to quickly switch between modes.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot TP-Link Modes
    A nice thing about the Nano is it can share data with multiple users while driving.

    For example, music or videos can be copied to a flash drive and shared to multiple persons each choosing which file to play.

    This makes it easy for anyone in a vehicle to play their own content on their devices.

    Of course, the content will need to be on a flash drive to stream to users.
     

  7. RAVPower FileHub Wireless Travel Router AC750
  8. The RAVPower FileHub AC750 is a nice unit with a lot of nice features.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot 2019 Ravpower 2
    It is a dual band unit and works in both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies.

    Most other units are single band 2.4GHz units.

    It also has many wireless modes including Router, Bridge, and AP.

    Files can be quickly be transferred to and from a laptop or smartphone with up-to 5 devices able to connect.
     

  9. HooToo Wireless Travel Router
  10. HooToo makes several nice travel routers that are very popular.

    Some of the features include backing up data from a phone such as pictures wirelessly, streaming movies or music that has been copied to it, emergency charging for phones or other small electronics.
    Best Travel Router WiFi Hotspot 2016

    HoToo travel routers can also broadcast a WiFi signal once plugged into an Ethernet cable, or be used in router mode and bridge mode.
    HooToo TripMate Sith Portable Router, Charger, Media Streaming Device HT-TM05
    With the many nice features, HooToo offers there is no doubt many who can benefit from their low-cost units.

  11. TP-Link N300 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router
  12. TP-LINK also makes travel routers with the TL-WR802N being one of them.

    The TL-WR810N is built mainly to connect to WiFi signals.

    It has many modes it can operate in depending on the situation.

    For example, pictures can be shared or movies and music streamed from the device while moving in a car.

    It is a good unit setup to manage WiFi connections including WiFi Bridge, Range Extender, Access Point, and Client Modes,
     

  13. GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext Gigabit Travel AC Router
  14. This small unit is from GL.iNET and is built to manage many different WiFi scenarios while travailing.

    For example, one feature is to use a single hotel/motel internet connection and allow many devices to share it at the same time.

    It can also be a WiFi bridge, extender, access point, hotspot, or basically any WiFi configuration you can think of.

    There is no built-in storage but does have USB and SD-Card slot to add storage if needed.

    A very nice feature is the built-in OpenVPN Client which is compatible with most VPN providers.

    This means it can quickly be setup as a VPN router any device can connect to for all the security and privacy a VPN gives.

Summary
There is many good small portable routers that can make life easier while traveling.

Picking a good travel router, like any device, comes down to what is the best fit for you.

If your main goal is to stream videos to the kids while traveling getting a unit with built in storage and expandable external storage is a good idea.

If you want to manage your WiFi signals a unit with more wireless features the better.

There are also units that can connect to a cell network and have devices on the internet.

How easy the device is to setup and use should also be taken into consideration.

3 thoughts on “Our Picks for Best Mobile Travel Router with WiFi Hotspot

  1. sputs40

    I use a file hub plus it sits on my network and I stream films from external hard drives to my Roku stick plus

    Reply
  2. Wonder

    I have a few questions about doing this because I’ve been doing for a long while with using the hotspot from my T-Mobile plan through my iPhone 8+. Do you know which dream and I really do mean extreme financial issues I have had to win along for a very long time using nothing but my team mobile hotspot on my iPhone. It works great for Mike to Samsung smart TVs and pretty good if not awesome on my 8 to 9-year-old HP laptop. No judgment here I am actually a helpdesk tech and my laptop even though it is 8 to 9 years old runs probably faster than a brand new laptop after a teenager is gotten done with it. Sorry to digress there. I have an iPhone A+ which provides me as I said with the hotspot through T-Mobile and I do have the unlimited data plan which I got from a promotion from them because of some billing difficulties were they screwed up and they apologized. I also have an iPad and as I stated using the hotspot has worked wonderfully for Mike to use more TVs as well as my laptop but not so well for my iPad and my iPad is probably about the same age as my iPhone 8+, that being maybe a smidge over a year old. I get very low bars most of the time for my iPad which is a six generation iPad with both cellular and Wi-Fi capabilities. I do have a Sim card in my iPad which I have had disabled for the data plan because I discovered I didn’t need a separate data plan for my iPad because I could use the hotspot on my iPhone so I decided to not waste the money on a separate data plan for the iPad. As I stated previously I am a helpdesk tech so there are some tech things that I like to do such is from time to time downloading certain things off the Internet which using my hotspot is usually slow because I almost instantly go into the extreme lower end of hotspot speed because of the Rado laying down concept or policy I should say. I think I also have been running into the throttling policy causing the slowness on my iPad but that is a maybe because sadly enough my three cats a couple of times I’ve knocked my iPad out of my hand causing it to go smashing into the corner of a glass top table damaging not only the gorilla glass but the actual display glass on the iPad and I can’t squeeze out the $49 to use one of my AppleCare incidents to replace the iPad under warranty.

    Now that I have explained all of that, here are my questions. If I already have an unlimited data plan for my phone plan for my hotspot do I need to get a second Sim card as well as the router that you show in your videos? I am also wondering with this type of set up technologically does it have the same throttling policy where after a certain amount of data usage you start dropping down in speed level one stage or one speed level at a time? The throttling policy I am referring to is also referred to as prioritization to share the bandwidth that is in a given area. The problem I have been running into with this type of policy is that on my current hotspot unlimited feature or plan my data usage is usually used up by the end of the first or second day of my billing cycle which is totally a pain in the neck, which is why I am asking these questions. My last question is while watching your videos I started doing my research for T-Mobile and I came across two different programs related to what you are showing in your videos. One program is called simple choice and the other is called binge on which is the one that you showed in your videos; what are the differences? My last question is with this type of technological set up should it increase The speed when I upload and download files or programs off of the Internet?

    Reply
  3. Adam Phillip

    We are wanting to try using the 4GLTE router with our visible sim card. Will this router work with any acitvated SIM card? Or does the SIM card have to be compatible with a modem?

    Reply

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