Turn Your Raspberry Pi Into a Travel Router (RaspAP) (2025 Edition!) with Captive Portal workarounds

Welcome to Everyday Tech—everyday tech for everyday people! In this video, we’re diving into the 2025 edition of turning a Raspberry Pi into a travel router. Over the years, updates to RaspAP have changed how this setup works, and this version still requires an external USB network adapter. But this time, we’re tackling two key questions: Can a faster USB adapter improve performance? And how do we bypass captive portals at hotels and coffee shops? Whether you’re here for a full step-by-step guide or just need answers to specific questions, everything is covered—check the timestamps below to jump ahead. Let’s get started! 🚀

Product Links (Affiliate Links):

Panda Wireless 802.11ac USB Adapter

Ralink Wirelsss 802.11n USB Adapter:

Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB):

Gear I use:

0:00 Intro
1:18 Why Use a Travel Router?
2:27 Why Use a Raspberry Pi
3:10 Overview of Project
4:10 Using a faster USB Network Adapter
5:32 Installation Walkthrough
14:46 Captive Portal / VNC Viewer
18:15 Conclusion / Ending

[paulstephenson]

Thanks for the update.
I'm going to turn one of my Pi4s into a Camping router for my van, Then I'll just to login to the campsite wifi on the RaspAp.
I'm going to leave the Pi as the hotspot, I'm hoping that my Wifi adaptor will give better reception (I can place on the roof of my camper).

I still am a bit confused with the VNC setup (why do we need it, what is it). So I'll have to do a bit more research.

[KennethIsrael_aiikendoit]

do you have tutorial about radius captive portal in raspberry

[NavyaMorampudi-jq]

I was able to do exactly what you did on the video using my work wifi, but am unable to see hotspot on my phone or other laptops. I am using Pi5 and a 64 bit lite version. Any inputs please?

[Ed-G]

Thank you for the latest installation. I currently use the canakit USB Wi-Fi. I removed the wan0 from the .conf file, but it will not become an AP. Any ideas? I'm flying to Mexico in 5 days and I would love to get going on the RPi 4. My other options are really slow mini-pc.

[alonzosmith]

Nice, I have PIs and C2 ready to test

[lovedfriend]

I would love to make a travel router WITH a cell modem and I use a Pi with a software called PiStar because I am an Amateur Radio Operator so I would love it all in one system.

[katsurokurosaki]

If you want to showcase a hotspot captive portal for a future video, you can add a mikrotik CHR free vm on the network as an example :P

[dux]

I've tested Rasp AP with my RPI5 and GL MT-3000. The latter is faster and cheaper. It also works with open source software.

[MinhPhamGators]

I added a "feature" to my RaspAP setup, not knowing if there's another way to do it. At boot time, I have a script that configures eth0 to have a static IP of 192.168.1.1. Then for 3 minutes, I try to ping 192.168.1.2. If the IP 192.168.1.2 is pingable within 3 minutes then the eth0 static IP connection is kept, otherwise, it is released. What this gives me is another means to reach the raspberry pi in case both of my wireless networks are whacked. And the Ethernet connection is still available as a WAN connection if needed, without having to "reconfigure". I just need to carry an Ethernet cable when travel. When I need to connect to the raspberry pi via Ethernet, I'll have to configure my laptop for 192.168.1.2, connect the Ethernet cable then reboot/power up the pi.

[ChadKirchner]

For hotels I’ve logged in on my phone then have my router clone my MAC address and I’m usually golden.

[WhaleOWorld]

If I install Jellyfin or a web server, will it work while the Pi serves as the router as well?

[SantiagoMartinez-muem]

On the raspberry pi4 I didn’t need an external network adapter. Somehow the raspy set up an internal virtual network adapter. But I am trying w the raspi5, it is not doing that. Do you know anything about this?

[MichaelSaamone]

ALFA makes very good WiFi adapters but they are expensive