Router-level VPN setup for long-term stays in China

For expats, long assignments, and the few boutique hotels that let you bring your own router, router-level VPN is the most convenient setup. One tunnel, every device covered — phones, laptops, smart TVs, guests' devices, everything.

This page covers the supported router firmwares and the practical tradeoffs.

When router-level VPN is the right choice

• Long-term assignment (three months or longer) where you are setting up an apartment
• Working from a fixed Airbnb or serviced apartment for more than two weeks
• Households with multiple people who all need the VPN — family expat postings, co-working setups
• Smart TVs, streaming sticks, and other devices that cannot run a VPN app natively

When it is the wrong choice

• Short business trips — it is faster to just run the app on your laptop and phone
• Banking and work logins that need to come from your home country — a router routes everything one way; you lose the per-app server-switching flexibility
• Anywhere the hotel or building restricts bringing your own router (some corporate apartments)

Supported firmwares

• OpenWrt — community firmware for a wide range of routers with mature OpenVPN support
• Asus Merlin — drop-in replacement for Asus router stock firmware, GUI-based OpenVPN client, very popular choice for expats
• DD-WRT — older but widely compatible; OpenVPN support is mature
• GL.iNet — small travel routers that come with VPN clients preinstalled (our recommendation for anyone not already comfortable flashing firmware)

UnblockMeVPN provides OpenVPN .ovpn config files for every server. Download them from your dashboard and import into any of the above.

Travel router option

If you do not want to touch your primary router, a GL.iNet travel router (GL-MT3000, GL-AXT1800) is a pocket-sized device you plug into the hotel Ethernet port. It can run OpenVPN on the device itself, and every phone/laptop/TV that connects to its Wi-Fi goes through the tunnel. Around $80–$150. We recommend it for anyone doing three-plus trips a year to East Asia.