Here are two words no one associated with the travel industry wants to hear right now: travel ban.
A pocket-sized VPN router just shot to the top of your must-have list for when you’re on the road. The Deeper Connect Air, a portable “decentralized” VPN router for road warriors and traveling families, is $50 off (on sale for $169 versus its usual price of $219). For those about to jump on a hotel, airport or café Wi-Fi access point, that discount makes an already compelling proposition better: one gadget that will secure traffic for multiple gizmos and comes without a monthly fee.
What This Little VPN Router Does for Travelers
The Deeper Connect Air is like a personal secure gateway for your phones, laptops, tablets and streaming sticks. Rather than installing a separate VPN app on each of your devices, connect to the Air’s Wi-Fi and the router does encrypted tunneling for you. It is advertised by the company as a decentralized VPN: leveraging a peer-assisted network to route your traffic, with privacy and speed front of mind.
It claims to support up to five devices at once and promises up to 300 Mbps throughput, which should be good enough for HD streaming and big downloads under good conditions.
There are extras, like ad blocking built-in and one-click parental controls. The setup is supposed to be plug-and-play, and the unit is seriously travel-friendly: It’s pocketable and powered via USB-C, so it works off a laptop, wall adapter, or power bank.
Why Travelers Need It on Risky Public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi is notoriously risky. The Federal Trade Commission cautions that open networks can subject you to snooping and man-in-the-middle attacks, particularly when sites or apps do not employ strong encryption end-to-end. The F.B.I.’s Internet Crime Complaint Center has also reported billions of dollars in annual losses attributed to cybercrime more broadly, highlighting the importance of an onion-style approach to security when you’re off trusted networks.
Holiday travel amplifies that risk. TSA screening numbers continue to reveal daily passenger counts in excess of 2 million on busy days, and each one of those travelers is a potential candidate for speedy logins over shared networks. A travel router that encrypts all of your traffic automatically can limit exposure without the need to use individual device settings.
There’s also convenience. Other hotels continue to use captive portal sign-ins. With a travel router, you log in just once and your laptop, phone and streaming stick stay connected to your own secure mini-network through your entire visit.
Price and Value vs. Subscriptions for Multiple Devices
The headline play here is economics: Many of the best VPN services cost between $8 and $13 a month when you can simply pay, say, for an entire year up front. Over two years, that’s $192 to $312. The Deeper Connect Air is far cheaper at $169, and if it lasts a total of seven years that’s actually lower than the lifetime cost for consumers who don’t want to invest in a subscription service, but still would like to protect multiple devices without having to manage logins or share family plans.
It’s not all about cost avoidance. By centralizing encryption at the router, this could ease compliance for work laptops that already block third-party apps and keep my kids’ tablets covered without making them jump through extra hoops.
Performance and Limitations to Note Before You Buy
Like all networking gear, real-world speeds will vary depending on your upstream connection and local interference. The 300 Mbps designation is a best-case protocol, not a promise with overworked hotel Wi-Fi. Keep in mind that this will vary, especially if there are lots of guests streaming during evening hours.
Geo-unblocking can be hit-or-miss, too. Some streaming services actually block VPN traffic altogether, and the service can vary from time to time depending on their current policies and where you are based. It is probably best to treat this as a convenience, not a guarantee, and learn the terms for each service.
Privacy claims deserve scrutiny. Even though the Air is advertised as having no-log messaging and decentralized routing, security pros suggest you look closely at configuration options and published policies. Where independent audits exist, that’s a strong signal; in their absence, treat any device or service as just one layer of your broader security posture—which ought to include strong passwords (or better yet, multi-factor authentication) and regular updating of your software. Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report has long identified credentials as the top contributor to breaches, further proving that MFA becomes necessary even with a VPN.
Quickest Way to Set Up on the Road in Minutes
Getting started is straightforward. Power the router using USB-C, then use your phone or laptop to connect to its Wi-Fi and follow the on-screen instructions to join the venue’s network once (including any captive portal). From there, your devices join the Air private SSID and get its encrypted tunnel, ad blocking and parental control rules. Plug the Air into a sturdy power bank for flights or trains with personal hotspots and have your entire kit plugged behind one connection.
Bottom Line: Is This Tiny Travel VPN Router Worth It?
The $50 off promotion with Deeper Connect Air launches just in time for the gift of safer browsing on-the-go from your hotel, vacation rental or a host of other unsafe Wi-Fi hotspots holiday travelers will encounter when at home and abroad. With multi-device support, fast speeds and built-in privacy tools, not to mention no ongoing fees, it’s an attractive alternative to per-device VPN subscriptions—provided you’re reasonable about what streaming services will work properly with it and how well its hotel Wi-Fi hotspot-circumventing mode performs.
If your carry-on bag already contains a laptop, a tablet and two or three smartphones, this little router can make them all just that much safer with one move—and really, for frequent fliers the convenience is the upgrade here, not any additional speed.