GL.iNet GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router - Dual Band Gigabit Wireless Internet Router | 5 x 1G Ethernet Ports | Up to 120 Devices | Great OpenVpn&Wireguard Speed | WPA3 Security | MU-MIMO | 802.11ax

Speed: ⭐⭐⭐Privacy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Security: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Availability: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Pros:PrivacySecureReliableAvailabilitySleek DesignFeaturesCons:CostUnder development/Fairly newBugsSpecificationThe GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router has speeds up to 1.8 Gbps and equipped with 600Mbps (2.4GHz), 1200Mbps (5GHz). Also, WiFi 6 (802.11ax) performs much better, in all aspects, than its predecessors. The firmware is based on Qualcomm Software Development Kit (SDK) and has been modified using OpenWrt distribution with Linux Kernal 4.4.60 and uses WPA3 Encryption.The router also supports VPN (Virtual Private Network) and has speeds up to 500Mbps. It also supports AdGaurd Home which is a dedicated Internet filtering software for blocking ads and online trackers that's been integrated within the Web User Interface (UI). In addition, it's decked with 1.2 GHz Quad core CPU processor plus the extra separate 1.5GHz Network process unit (NPU) for network speed acceleration.SpeedIn this section, we've performed a speed test against the GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router. The Flint router claims up to 600Mbps (2.4GHz), 1200Mbps (5GHz). It's worth to mention that there are other aspects throughout the home network which could potentially affect the results.For example, being connected over a wired connection would provide for better speeds compared to a wireless connection. During this test, a wireless connection was used (2.4GHz) and managed to achieve 50.8Mbps download speed -> 17.4 Mbps upload speed.SecurityThe GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router claims WiFi 6 (802.11ax) performs much better, in all aspects, than its predecessor WiFi 5 802.11ac WiFi standard.What's the difference? WiFi 6 expands the WiFi band from 80 MHz to 160 MHz, doubling the channel width and creating a faster connection from the the router all the way down to the end users. Ultimately, it allows the end users to enjoy streaming 8k movies, large file downloads/uploads, and more responsive devices simultaneously without buffering.The GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router also claims WPA3 encryption which builds and improves on its predecessor WPA2.What's the difference? WPA3 provides a more secure connection than WPA2. WPA2 uses AES standard encryption whereas, WPA3 uses 128-bit encryption within WPA3-Personal mode (192-bit in WPA3 Enterprise mode). WPA3 also replaces the Pre-Shared key (PSK) exchange used in WPA2 with Simultaneous Authentication of Equals which is more secure to do the initial key exchange.AvailabilityIn my own experience, The GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router has 24/7 availability. For example, since setting up and configuring the Flint router several months ago, the uptime has been good.Furthermore, I'm using NEMS to further monitor the uptime for the Flint router. Please refer to the image below for our current uptime:AdGaurd HomeAdGaurd home comes preinstalled with the GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router. AdGaurd Home is a network software for blocking ads & tracking which covers all end devices connected to the home network, and no need for client side software.In my own experience, AdGaurd home is essential, as it's protected all home users from unwanted ads/tracking. For example, We've enabled several different DNS blocklists such as AdGuard Simplified Domain Names filter, WindowsSpyBlocker - Hosts spy rules, and much more. The blocklist includes a text file with lots of different websites which have been denoted as malicious or unwanted traffic.Furthermore, I've personally used AdGaurd home for experimental purposes. For example, I've used AdGaurd Home Custom filtering rules to block the website "cheese.com".We're able to view DNS records for monitoring purposes from an InfoSec/Networking perspective. For example, Google Analytics was refusing to connect because of AdGaurd Home DNS prevention. It required manual approval by going into AdGaurd Home and clicking enable on the correct DNS record, which can be useful.VPNThe GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router offers a variety of features, services, and plugins. For example, it implements different VPN's such as WireGaurd, OpenVPN and TOR.The TOR feature turns the Flint router into an "Onion Router". With the TOR feature enabled, it means the end users connecting to the network has full anonymity, since their data network traffic is being guided through different servers, located all over the world.With TOR enabled in my own experience, it has automatically provided all end users connected to the home network with individual ghost IP addresses. For example, when headed to Amazon's website, it redirects us to the USA template and not the UK, since were located in the USA according to the VPN.This provides for further security & anonymity for all end users connecting to the home network. Although, the overall network traffic speed will be decreased when VPN is enabled. However, it could be said that WireGaurd or OpenVPN could provide better speeds.ConclusionOverall, The GL-AX1800(Flint) WiFi 6 Router could be best described as the "all in one" package. It ensures security, privacy, redundancy, and speed throughout the different layers of our home network.Furthermore, we've learned the different features the Flint router is able to implement such as TOR, AdGaurd Home, and more. In addition, there's also plugins available to download and install them onto router for extra capabilities.However, I believe the traffic speed lets the router down. For example, it had claimed to be up to 600Mbps (2.4GHz), 1200Mbps (5GHz), and we're able to achieve merely 50.8Mbps download speed -> 17.4 Mbps upload speed on a 2.4GHz frequency. With that said, it is intended to increase the network traffic speed using different implementations in the future.In my own experience, the router upheld its part of the bargain and ensuring all users is able to connect from our home network, to the internal servers, and Internet whilst being private, secure and high speed.

I’ve tried several routers, Asus and netgear and both are not very user friendly, the glnet is user friendly I just drop and drag the vpn scripts and I can choose which location to connect to and it has a kill switch, dns management and it’s such a breeze to setupI just plugged it in via the Ethernet, I then connected to the hotspot, added the VPNs, renamed the network and WiFi password and it connected straight away to the vpn and the kill switch works (it’s renamed in the latest version) I’m getting good speeds and there is an adblocker and you can even encrypt the dns traffic.As someone who games and gets attacked in online gaming on console, it’s a must for Xbox or PlayStation to keep your safe in online lobbies as by default consoles don’t have settings for VPNsAll in all this is easy to set up and use but for the advance user you got the advance tab where you can manage everything in Openwrt and install applications.The router is a nice size if you don’t have a lot of room to put up the router and the WiFi covers my whole home.With the nethear I had it was a difficult set up 1 vpn location let alone add more and it had no kill switch you had to configure the firewall to act as one which is okay but far from idea.Glnet has the best applications and vpn clients for both wireguars and open vpnit will work with PIA for PIA users but you’ll need to use the app to set it up. The Glnet app is pretty good for managing the router.Good quality, a bit pricey but I was willing to pay a little bit more to get the ease of use and familiarity as I’ve used Glnet in the past I had the travel router but it wasn’t as fast as this one is because this one had more processing power and WiFi power and better antennas

I’d been eyeing up the GL.iNet GL-AX1800 (Flint) for a few weeks and when it became available on a Prime Day deal for £73 I went for it.Firstly the build quality is great, this is a small but solid little router, feels quite heavy and substantial compared to other routers. In terms of footprint it doesn’t take up much room at all, smaller than a BT SH2.The user interface is comprehensive but simple to use allowing lots of configuration and setting up VPNs both OpenVPN and WireGuard are easy and I’m using SurfShark.Lots of added functionality with the ability to add apps. You can disappear into the advanced OpenWRT configuration if you want to use a nonstandard DDNS provider.I’ve about 40 devices on my network including cameras, computers, smart devices, streaming devices and it copes easily with them all. No performance issues and I’ve been using it for about 3 weeks and it has been rock solid in terms of reliability with no drop outs or reboots.The Wifi range is really good and I’ve removed two repeaters as the Flint covers the whole house.I’ve used Gl.iNet routers for about 5 years now and they always provide great value and terrific performance/reliability.Highly recommended and a bit step up over ISP routers.