TP-Link BE3600 Wi-Fi 7 Portable Travel Router Software
You have multiple options when setting the router up. We are standardizing on the web flow instead of the app flow because everyone has different apps and we cannot test them with enough mobile devices to be an expert on the mobile side. When logging into the device, the first thing you are prompted for is to set a local password.
Then you are asked for other basic information, including a WiFi SSD. We could do this for 2.4GHz and 5GHz, at this point, but since there is no 6GHz band on here, we did not get an option for that, nor to set up MLO.
You are then asked to turn on the Auto Update feature. The reason this has a time is because a router reset would reset the Internet connection. Generally, we like auto-upgrades, but some do not for security purposes (since it goes back to remote servers and gives direct low-level access), and also because they want to let others try new firmware before committing to an upgrade.
Once you are done, you get the connection information. This is simple to use.
You might think you are done; however, you are then asked to connect to a TP-Link ID.
After that, you are asked to accept and join a user experience program.
After setup was complete, we got asked to sign-up or sign into the Tether app or our TP-Link ID, and then upgrade the firmware.
Once we were in, we got asked to share information with third-party services (multiple?) to help identify clients.
At this point, let us just take stock. During setup, we got asked:
- In-box literature asked us to use a Tether App, as well as in-screen prompts.
- Login with a TP-Link ID twice
- Send data for a usage program to TP-Link
- Share information with 3rd party services to identify which clients are on our network
- Connect and update the firmware to an unattended update program
Once you are in, then you get asked to sign up for the HomeShield security service.
You can scan your network.
There is already a very basic firewall, but this is very barebones.
You can change the network settings, and that includes setting up an MLO network to use multiple link frequencies.
It was a bit odd that the MLO option was here, but not in the initial setup since that took an extra step.
There were VPN options for OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, WireGuard, and the ability to manage 3rd party solutions (look up VPN Manage for that.)
Something fun was that our TP-Link had a red glowing front LED when we switched it from a network with connectivity to configuring the WAN side to talk to our high-end load generation box.
That USB port can be used for basic file sharing. That is a neat use case for this device, but it still left us wanting a 2.5GbE LAN port.
There is an option to change this to an AP or range extender mode.
Next, let us get to the performance.
 and see some good features and some that we would skip in our review){kind=link}
Does it ask a permission for proctology exam, or does it do it anyway?
Also does my data go to NSA, the Chinese Communist party, or straight for sale to Data-Pirates(aka Data “Brokers”)?
It’s just called the Slate 7, not Slate 7 Mini.
Also the $30 more you pay is not just for the ethernet port, you get a much better firmware UI that makes VPN use a breeze.
Why no sim card slot again ?
If I travel around with a portable router like this, the last thing I wanna do is start tethering to get a connection.
Please, give us a sim card slot on one of these devices.
This actually runs standard Open WRT under the hood. It’s not in the official support list as yet, as theres not enough market presence but for someone who knows how to do it, it’s an easy add. The RAM and CPU are likely why it falls over on anything more than a few user flows.
I believe this is the same as the TL-WR3002X which doesn’t have the external aerials:
* MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core 1.3 GHz CPU
* 512MB RAM
* 256MiB NAND (32MB) XM25QH256C with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 4 KiB, total 32 MiB
* 2.5Gbit WAN and 1Gbit LAN
* MT7976C Wi-Fi 6 support chip
* 1x 2.5G WAN, 1x1GB LAN
U-Boot 2022.07-rc3 (Jan 23 2025 – 14:48:37 +0800)
CPU: MediaTek MT7981
Model: mt7981-rfb
DRAM: 512 MiB
Core: 32 devices, 13 uclasses, devicetree: embed
MMC:
Loading Environment from SPIFlash… SF: Detected XM25QH256C with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 4 KiB, total 32 MiB
*** Warning – bad CRC, using default environment
In: serial@11002000
Out: serial@11002000
Err: serial@11002000
Net:
Warning: ethernet@15100000 (eth0) using random MAC address – 5a:c9:b6:aa:e4:41
eth0: ethernet@15100000
press ctrl-c or t to go to uboot cmdline
0 SF: Detected XM25QH256C with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 4 KiB, total 32 MiB
SF: Detected XM25QH256C with page size 256 Bytes, erase size 4 KiB, total 32 MiB
Reading from 0x100000 to 0x46000000, size 0x100 … OK
Reading from 0x100000 to 0x46000000, size 0x358248 … OK
## Loading kernel from FIT Image at 46000000 …
Using ‘config-1’ configuration
Trying ‘kernel-1’ kernel subimage
Description: ARM64 OpenWrt Linux-5.4.124
Type: Kernel Image
Compression: lzma compressed
Data Start: 0x460000e8
Data Size: 3486983 Bytes = 3.3 MiB
Architecture: AArch64
OS: Linux
Load Address: 0x48080000
Entry Point: 0x48080000
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 7a5d3336
Hash algo: sha1
Hash value: 7b7670301ec0f143bbf189505810956c90156241
Verifying Hash Integrity … crc32+ sha1+ OK
## Loading fdt from FIT Image at 46000000 …
Using ‘config-1’ configuration
Trying ‘fdt-1’ fdt subimage
Description: ARM64 OpenWrt mt7981-spim-nor-rfb device tree blob
Type: Flat Device Tree
Compression: uncompressed
Data Start: 0x46353734
Data Size: 17888 Bytes = 17.5 KiB
Architecture: AArch64
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: cb1ac0fa
Hash algo: sha1
Hash value: dd976b5ff4124f6b0548818c37c669ce00f873a9
Verifying Hash Integrity … crc32+ sha1+ OK
Booting using the fdt blob at 0x46353734
Uncompressing Kernel Image
Loading Device Tree to 000000005f7f3000, end 000000005f7fa5df … OK
Starting kernel …
Next time, can you also test the speed of the usb port when using external drive? USB 3.0 doesn’t really mean anything, when there are plenty of devices with that marking and still only doing 10 to 50 MB/s.
Can it do the captured portal log in the GLi Net travel routers can? If not, kind of pointless for ‘travel’ if you can’t use it in a Starbucks or a hotel.
Worthwhile to flag the likely ban of TP Link products in the US – I would not trust this device on my network, let alone for corporate use by employees.
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/11/drilling-down-on-uncle-sams-proposed-tp-link-ban/
The Amazon pricing is currently showing $139 for this unit. That said it seems like the GL.iNet is the obvious choice for only a $10 difference.
No simagai
0 interest from me. I don’t need an app, I don’t need a user experience program…. But I DO need a sim slot.
This looks like a rebranded Huasifei WH3000 Pro.
We recently bought 5 of these via Alibaba, you can choose which 5G modem it comes with, or order without 5G. Price (without 5G) is $61USD. Huasifei were fantastic to deal with. Flashing OpenWrt is trivial via sysupgrade, and it works perfectly.
Well worth a look.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/High-Quality-3000Mbps-Portable-5g-Lte_1601444090654.html