Bring your own network

Bring your own network Most of us have heard of bring your own device. We expect our laptops, phones and tablets to work wherever we are. But what if, instead of trusting somebody else’s network, you could simply take your own with you? That was the idea behind one of my more recent impulse purchases: the UniFi Travel Router (UTR). It doesn’t look particularly special. It’s a small white box that slips easily into a laptop bag. It isn’t even self-powered, so you’ll need a USB-C cable and a power source. That feels like an odd omission for something designed for travel. After using it on a few trips, though, I realised it wasn’t really a travel router. It was a way to carry my home network with me—making public Wi-Fi safer, simpler and, in some cases, almost invisible. It’s now one of the gadgets that lives permanently in my laptop bag. The problem with public Wi-Fi Whether you’re in a hotel, airport lounge, coffee shop, conference venue or on a train, public Wi-Fi is often the easiest…