Traveling with and without Firewalla

Firewalla VPN Server

As we have shown before, the Firewalla VPN server can be used while you are outside your home. You just VPN back to your own Firewalla at home. The pros and cons of this solution:

Pros

• You get the same protections as you are at home.
• You can easily access your home devices without opening additional ports on your router.

Cons

• When you are outside, each device (phone/laptop/pad) needs to have a VPN app installed and configured.
• The per-device rules you configured on your home Firewalla, only take effect when the device is at home, not when it is on the road. So, your kids can play video games all day long when on travel.

Introducing Firewalla Purple

You can use Purple as your portable router/firewall when you are away from home so that, for example, you can use it to access a captive portal from one or more devices as follows. This is what we call, a Trusted LAN.

Scenario

• I want to connect to the Purple via WiFi.
• I want the purple to connect to the WiFi wherever I happen to be.
• Once the Purple has a WiFi connection, I can get through the captive portal page (e.g. a hotel or Starbucks) and establish an Internet connection for all my devices. 
• Once I have an Internet connection, I want to establish an OpenVPN connection to my FWG at home.
• After that, I can connect to the Purple with my phone (and/.or tablet, laptop) and use the WiFi just like I was home.

Pros

• You get the same protections as you are at home.
• You can easily access your home devices without opening additional ports on your router.
• When you are outside, all devices (phone/laptop/pad) connect to Purple, and there is no need for a VPN app installed.
• You can configure rules so, restrictions on kid's devices are still in place when on holiday.

Steps to Configure Purple for Travel

Before you go:

• Configure Purple (see below) 
• Turn off DoH, this feature may interfere with captive portals that intercept DNS
• Turn off Ad Block— this may interfere in registering with some captive portals

1. You should complete the initial setup of Purple in your home network before setting out to travel so you will be able to manage the box easily when you take Purple traveling. To do the initial setup, you can plugin a WAN connection directly from a modem, or you can temporarily set it behind a Firewalla Gold as a second router.
   
   If you chose the latter option, connect devices as shown below:

Gold → AP

         → Purple(router mode)

Now pair with Purple following the usual process. When you are asked, choose Router mode. If you have any issues with the instructions below, check the install guide.