PacketMole
Your home IP, anywhere. A subscription-free two-device kit — a dedicated home VPN box plus a travel router, both preconfigured and running a custom firmware overlay that routes your traffic back through your own home internet from any hotel, cafe, or apartment in the world.
Overview
PacketMole is a sealed two-device kit running our custom firmware overlay. The Home unit is a dedicated VPN box that lives at your house and advertises itself on your own Tailscale account as an exit node. The Away unit is a travel router that goes with you, hosts a private SSID, and tunnels every packet from that SSID back through the Home unit.
The result: streaming services, banks, and corporate VPNs see you connecting from your home IP, exactly as if you were on your couch. No commercial VPN exit-IP reputation problem, no geo-blocks, no fraud flags. And — because the control plane is Tailscale with DERP-relay fallback — the kit works behind CGNAT (T-Mobile Home Internet, Starlink, cellular hotspots, apartment ISPs), where raw-WireGuard competitors silently fail.
Features
- § 01Your Home IP, Anywhere
Traffic originating from the travel unit egresses through your home internet — preserving the residential IP that Netflix, your bank, your employer's VPN, and every other geo- or trust-bound service already recognizes as yours.
- § 02No Subscription, No Account
$349 one-time. No payment to us after purchase, no account with us required. The kit binds to your own free Tailscale account, so it survives anything that happens to PacketMole-the-business.
- § 03Works Behind CGNAT
T-Mobile Home Internet, Starlink, cellular hotspots, apartment-building ISPs — all carrier-grade-NATed by default, where raw-WireGuard competitors silently fail. PacketMole uses Tailscale DERP relays as a fallback, so the tunnel forms regardless.
- § 04Pocket-Sized Travel Unit
The Away unit is a pocket-sized, USB-C-powered WiFi 6 travel router. Pair your phone and laptop to its private SSID once; the SSID never changes for the life of the kit. New hotel WiFi takes one minute to point at.
- § 05Genuinely Better Hardware
Modern dual-core ARM, 512 MB DDR4, 2.5 GbE on both ends, WiFi 6 on the travel unit. 5–10× the specs of the dominant competitor's single-core 128 MB / 100 Mbps / 2.4 GHz hardware — at lower cost to you.
- § 06Layered Recovery, Remote Support
If something breaks while you're abroad, packetmole.com/recover walks you through a layered decision tree, and a single shell command can re-ground a bricked unit from any internet connection. SSH-over-Tailscale lets us help in seconds, with your one-click consent.
Hardware
Fanless aluminum brick, no WiFi by design. Lives at your house indefinitely on a free Ethernet port of your existing router.
- · Modern dual-core ARM · 512 MB DDR4
- · 2× 2.5 GbE (WAN + LAN) · USB 3.0
- · USB-C, 5 V / 3 A
- · Silent, fanless, closet-friendly
Pocket-sized, USB-C powered. Goes with you. WiFi 6 hosts your private SSID; upstream from venue WiFi, USB tethering, or wired Ethernet — whichever the place offers.
- · Modern dual-core ARM · 512 MB DDR4
- · WiFi 6 · 2× 2.5 GbE · USB 3.0
- · USB-C, 5 V / 3 A — any phone charger works
- · WiFi-as-WAN repeater mode for hotels and cafes
How it works
- Step 01Plug in the Home unit
Plug the Home unit into an Ethernet port on your home router. Run the 4-minute setup page — accept the Terms, sign in to Tailscale, click Approve. The unit advertises itself on your tailnet as an exit node and stays running 24/7.
- Step 02Pair the Away unit (also at home)
Power on the Away unit. Join its private SSID using the password printed on the setup card. Run the setup page — accept the Terms, sign in to the same Tailscale account. The Away unit detects the Home peer and binds to it as its exit node.
- Step 03Verify
From your phone on the Away SSID, visit whatismyip.com. You see your home IP. Confirmed. Total unboxing-to-verified: under 10 minutes.
- Step 04Take it on the road
At each new venue, the only change is the Away unit's upstream — pick the hotel WiFi from a list, enter the password, accept the captive portal once. Your phones and laptops never reconfigure. Your home IP is back in ~15 seconds.
Frequently Asked
PacketMole is a sealed kit of two preconfigured devices running our custom firmware overlay. The Home unit stays at your house and acts as a dedicated VPN exit-node box; the Away unit goes with you and is the travel router that hosts your private WiFi. All traffic from devices joined to the Away unit's WiFi egresses through your home internet, preserving your residential IP from anywhere in the world.
Commercial VPN exit IPs are widely catalogued and routinely blocked by streaming services, banks, and corporate SSO. They also don't actually appear at your home — they appear at a data center. PacketMole uses your own residential IP, which is unique, low-reputation-risk, and indistinguishable from being on your couch.
The hardware does the work; there's no centralized service to pay for. The two units connect through your own free Tailscale account (the 100-device free tier is more than enough). We ship zero infrastructure dependency. If PacketMole-the-business ever goes away, your kit keeps working.
These are exactly the cases that break raw-WireGuard-based competitors. PacketMole uses Tailscale, which falls back to globally-distributed DERP relays (TLS over port 443) when direct peer-to-peer can't form. Both your Home unit and your Away unit only need outbound 443 — the tunnel forms regardless of what NAT you're behind.
One Home unit (fanless VPN exit-node box), one Away unit (pocket-sized WiFi 6 travel router), two USB-C power supplies, one Cat-6 Ethernet cable, and a printed setup card per unit carrying its WiFi password, admin password, and a QR code to its setup page.
$349 one-time. Year-1 vs. the dominant European competitor (KeepYourHomeIP at €298 + €96/yr ≈ $425): ~18% cheaper. Year-3 vs. the same (~$632): roughly 1.8× cheaper. After purchase you owe us nothing. Tailscale's free tier covers the connectivity.
Yes. The kit pairs by Tailscale hostname (homeport-home-XXXX → homeport-travel-XXXX), so you can change ISPs, move houses, or swap your home router and the binding survives. No reconfiguration on the road.
Visit packetmole.com/recover from any device. It's a layered decision tree — most issues resolve at Layer 1 (unplug 10 seconds, plug back in). A single curl command can re-ground a unit from any state. SSH-over-Tailscale also lets us help in seconds with your one-click consent.
Shipping now in limited release. First customer kit deployed 2026-05; broader availability rolling out through 2026. Use the Contact link below to reserve a kit.
Pricing
One-time. No subscription. No account with us required.
- Both devices, preconfigured + sealed firmware overlay
- Two USB-C power supplies + Cat-6 Ethernet cable
- Per-unit printed setup card with QR code
- OTA firmware updates for the life of the kit
- 1-year hardware warranty · RMA pipeline
Tailscale's free tier (100 devices, more than enough) provides the control plane. You create the account during setup; the two units register against it. We touch nothing, hold no credential, and have no recurring cost to pass back to you.
Want a kit?
We're shipping in limited release through 2026. Use the contact form below and we'll reserve a kit and send you ordering instructions.