Background

A travel router has been part of my kitbag for many years, starting with a D-Link DWL-G730AP back in 2007. More recently I’ve been using a few GL.iNet GL-MT300N (v2), as they’re small and cheap enough to have in my work bag and my travel bag. I wasn’t particularly worried about speed, as I generally thought that at 300MBps the WiFi would be much faster than whatever I was connecting it to. But… for a recent trip I thought I might want to use Virtual Desktop on my Oculus Quest, and that needs fast (5GHz) WiFi.

It’s BIGGER

The MT1300 ‘Beryl’ is a LOT bigger than the MT300N – more like the size of a pack of cigarettes than a box of matches. I wouldn’t want it in my daily bag, particularly as it also needs a USB-C supply at 3A, which is more size and weight.

More capable

The MT1300 has 256MB RAM, 32MB Flash, and a dual core SOC, which is twice the MT300N in every dimension.

The 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi subsystems run pretty much standalone, each with their own SSID and accompanying pre shared keys. With the flip up antennae signal was nice and strong (even in a big old stone cottage), though I never got around to testing whether it had the throughput to support VR virtual desktop (as the sun was shining and there were better things to do outside).

OpenWRT

GL.iNet firmware is a customised version of OpenWRT. With the MT300Ns I’ve always re-flashed them to upstream OpenWRT, but that’s not (yet) possible with the MT1300. At least the custom UI is pretty nice, and it’s easy to get to regular OpenWRT stuff via the web interface and SSH.

Conclusion

The MT1300 is a great router, I’m just not quite sure that it’s a great travel router. For my usual pattern of travelling hand luggage only it’s just a little on the hefty side, so I don’t see it displacing its smaller older siblings. But for trips when you’re driving, or even packing hold luggage, for that it’s just fine.