Nomad Home IP™ Setup Guide
Welcome to Nomad Home IP™
This guide provides setup instructions for complete Nomad Home IP™ hardware systems and standalone cloud VPS services.
Every complete Nomad Home IP™ hardware system includes one regional FailSafe gateway. Nomad Home IP™ provisions it as part of your managed connectivity system—no separate FailSafe purchase or server configuration is required.
Select the setup that matches your system below.
Choose your setup
Home Base Setup
Your Nomad Home Base and Travel Router are professionally configured, paired, and tested before shipment.
Step 1
Locate the Home Base Router, power adapter, and Ethernet cable included with your package.
Step 2
Connect the Home Base Router WAN/Internet port to your existing ISP modem or ISP router using the included Ethernet cable.
Examples:
- AT&T Fiber
- Xfinity
- Spectrum
- Frontier
- Starlink
- Other ISP equipment
Step 3
Connect power to the Home Base Router.
Step 4
Allow approximately 2–5 minutes for the router to boot and reconnect to your secure Nomad Home IP™ private network.
Step 5
Verify that Internet access is active on the Home Base Router.
Home Base installation is now complete.
No laptop configuration, manual VPN setup, port forwarding, command-line configuration, or additional technical setup is normally required.
If Your Home Base Was Unplugged or Lost Power
Your Home Base is designed to reconnect automatically after power is restored.
- Reconnect power to the Home Base Router.
- Allow approximately 2–5 minutes for the router and Tailscale connection to restart.
- If your Travel Router does not reconnect through your Home Base, open the GL.iNet administration page on the Home Base.
- Go to Applications → Tailscale.
- Confirm Tailscale is enabled and Run Exit Node is ON.
- Apply the setting if necessary and allow the connection a moment to re-establish.
Once Run Exit Node is active, your Travel Router can again use your Home Base Internet connection.
If the Home Base still does not appear as an available Exit Node, contact Nomad Home IP™ Support. Do not factory-reset or reconfigure the router unless instructed by support.
Zero Trust Deployment Protocol
Before using your work laptop with the Travel Router, follow this sequence. Keep the laptop connected by Ethernet with its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched off.
1. Disable Radios
Before leaving home, switch off your laptop’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in its settings. Confirm that both are off, then fully shut down the laptop.
2. Establish Hardwire
Keep the laptop powered off. Connect it by Ethernet cable to a LAN port on your Nomad Travel Router.
3. Initialize via Mobile
Use a personal smartphone connected to the Travel Router’s Wi-Fi to set up the router’s Internet connection. Join the available airport, hotel, friend or family network through the router, and complete any required captive-portal sign-in for that connection.
4. Verify, Then Boot
On your personal smartphone, confirm that the router’s VPN tunnel is active and your intended Home Base or designated Nomad Home IP™ exit is selected. Check the public IP while the phone is connected through the Travel Router. Only then power on your laptop, keeping the Ethernet cable connected and its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off.
If the tunnel disconnects, pause work and verify the connection again before continuing.
These steps reduce local wireless exposure. They do not prevent all device telemetry or guarantee that your physical location cannot be determined.
Travel Router Setup
Your Travel Router is professionally configured and paired with your Home Base before shipment.
When traveling, the Travel Router can connect to hotel Wi-Fi, Airbnb Wi-Fi, mobile hotspots, Ethernet connections, or other available Internet services.
Step 1
Power on the Travel Router.
Step 2
Connect the Travel Router to the available Internet service.
Examples:
- Hotel Wi-Fi
- Airbnb Wi-Fi
- Friend or Family Wi-Fi
- Mobile Hotspot
- Ethernet Connection
Step 3
For a work or sensitive-use laptop, follow the Zero Trust Deployment Protocol above: keep the laptop powered off and connect it to the Travel Router by Ethernet. Personal phones, tablets, streaming devices, and other equipment can connect to the Travel Router Wi-Fi network.
Step 4
On your personal smartphone connected through the Travel Router, allow approximately 1–2 minutes for the secure connection to establish. Confirm that the VPN tunnel and intended exit connection are active before powering on your laptop.
Step 5
Once you have verified the connection, power on your laptop and begin using the Internet. Keep its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off and leave the Ethernet cable connected.
Once the secure connection is established, devices connected through your Travel Router are configured to route Internet traffic through your Home Base connection.
No manual Tailscale configuration is required on the Travel Router during normal use.
Your Nomad Home IP™ Private Network
In addition to your preconfigured Home Base and Travel Router, you will receive a secure invitation from Tailscale at the email address associated with your Nomad Home IP™ order.
Your routers will operate without accepting this invitation. The invitation provides you with personal access to your private Tailscale network so you can add supported phones, tablets, and computers if desired.
To join your private network:
- Open the invitation email from Tailscale.
- Select the invitation link.
- Sign in using your own supported Tailscale identity.
- Accept the invitation to join your Nomad Home IP™ private network.
- Install or open the Tailscale app on any personal device you want to add.
- Sign in using the same identity that accepted the invitation.
Once joined, your supported personal devices can be added to the same private network as your Nomad Home IP™ equipment.
To route a personal device directly through your Home Base:
- Open the Tailscale app.
- Open Exit Nodes.
- Select your Nomad Home Base Router.
- Confirm that Tailscale shows the connection as active.
Your Internet traffic on that device will then route through your Home Base Internet connection until the exit node is disconnected.
Important: You do not need to provide Nomad Home IP™ with your personal Google, Microsoft, GitHub, Apple, or other account password. Your personal Tailscale access is authenticated separately from the managed provisioning used to configure your routers.
If the invitation opens under the wrong Tailscale account, open the invitation in an Incognito or Private browser window and sign in using the identity you want associated with your Nomad Home IP™ private network.
Optional Verification
If desired, visit MyIP.com.
The Internet provider displayed should match the Internet Service Provider used by your Home Base.
For example, if your Home Base is connected to Spectrum in the United States while you are traveling internationally, the displayed public Internet connection should correspond to the Home Base connection rather than the local hotel, airport, or travel network.
🛡️ Your Included Regional FailSafe Gateway
Every complete Nomad Home IP™ hardware system includes one regional FailSafe gateway. It is provisioned, maintained, and supported by Nomad Home IP™ as part of your managed connectivity system. No separate FailSafe purchase is required.
Your Home Base remains your normal residential Internet exit point. The included FailSafe gateway provides an alternative connection if your Home Base becomes unavailable.
For systems configured with automatic FailSafe protection, your Travel Router automatically switches to your assigned FailSafe gateway when it can no longer reach your Home Base. When the Home Base connection is restored and available again, the Travel Router automatically returns to the Home Base connection.
Devices connected through your Travel Router follow this automatic failover and return process without requiring you to change their individual network settings.
Your FailSafe gateway is already provisioned for your system. To view it directly on a supported personal device:
- Accept the secure Tailscale invitation sent to the email address associated with your Nomad Home IP™ order.
- Install or open the Tailscale app.
- Sign in using the same identity that accepted the invitation.
- Open Exit Nodes.
- Confirm that your assigned Nomad Home IP™ FailSafe gateway appears in the list.
If you want to use the FailSafe gateway directly from a personal device, select it under Exit Nodes. Direct exit-node selection on personal devices is manual unless Nomad Home IP™ has specifically configured that device otherwise.
Your FailSafe gateway remains owned, provisioned, maintained, and supported by Nomad Home IP™. You receive access only to the gateway assigned to your account.
If the invitation opens under the wrong Tailscale account, open it in an Incognito or Private browser window and sign in using the identity associated with your Nomad Home IP™ order.
🖥️ Standalone Cloud VPS Subscribers
If you purchased a standalone Nomad Home IP™ cloud gateway without a physical router system, you can skip the Home Base and Travel Router instructions.
Your assigned gateway is accessed through the Tailscale app on your phone, tablet, or computer.
Step 1 — Find Your Tailscale Invitation
When your gateway is ready, Nomad Home IP™ sends a service email with a link to this guide. You will also receive a separate device-sharing invitation from Tailscale at the email address used for your order. Check your spam or junk folder if you cannot find it.
Step 2 — Create or Sign In to Your Tailscale Account
Create or sign in to Tailscale with the same email address used to place your Nomad Home IP™ order. The email addresses must match for NHIP to verify your access. If you are new, create your Tailscale account using your order email address.
Before accepting the invitation, make sure you are signed in to that Tailscale account. If another account is signed in, sign out first. Use the same Tailscale account to accept the invitation and sign in on your devices. Remember which sign-in option you used. Never send us your account password.
Step 3 — Accept Your Assigned Gateway
- Return to the invitation email from Tailscale and open the device invitation link.
- If prompted, sign in with the Tailscale account you chose in Step 2.
- Review the NHIP device invitation and confirm acceptance.
You accept in your web browser. The Tailscale app does not need to be open. Once accepted, your assigned gateway appears in that Tailscale account.
If the browser opens the wrong account, stop before accepting. Open the invitation in an Incognito or Private browser window and sign in with your intended account. If a company account prevents you from accepting a device share, ask its Tailscale administrator for help.
Step 4 — Install Tailscale and Sign In on Your Device
Download and install the official Tailscale app on your iPhone, iPad, Android device, Windows computer, or Mac. Open it and sign in with the same account that accepted the invitation.
Step 5 — Select Your Nomad Home IP™ Gateway
Turn on the Tailscale connection. Open Exit Node or Exit Nodes and select your assigned NHIP gateway. Accepting the invitation adds access; selecting the exit node activates Internet routing through the gateway on that device.
A gateway name may look like NHIP-LAX-NODE-001-1779-001. This is an example only. Your actual name identifies the NHIP region, service tier, and server reference. Select the gateway from your own invitation. If your order has multiple assigned gateways, accept each invitation and select the one you want to use.
Your gateway remains owned, managed, and supported by Nomad Home IP™. Tailscale provides access to the shared gateway; it does not provide access to our Vultr management account. Refer to your NHIP order for your purchased plan details.
Step 6 — Verify Your Connection
With the NHIP exit node selected, visit MyIP.com to check your public IP and approximate location. Cloud gateways use a data-center Internet connection; location databases may differ. If the gateway is missing or your connection does not work, contact Nomad Home IP™ Support with your order number and gateway name.
Repeat Steps 4–6 for each personal device you want to connect. To stop routing through the gateway, choose None in the Exit Node menu.
Important Application Note
Tailscale is required when using a standalone Nomad Home IP™ cloud gateway.
Most applications will work normally while connected. However, some applications may behave differently when using a VPN connection, including:
- Banking and financial applications
- Streaming services
- Corporate VPN software
- Location-based applications
This behavior is controlled by the application provider and not by Nomad Home IP™.
If an application does not work as expected:
- Open Tailscale.
- Temporarily disconnect from the exit node.
- Reopen the application.
- Reconnect to your Nomad Home IP™ gateway when finished.
Support
If you experience any issues during setup or travel, visit Nomad Home IP™ Support & Contact.
Please include:
- Device or Router Model
- Purchased Service and Region
- Brief Description of the Issue
- Screenshots, if available
- Order Number, if applicable
We typically respond within 1 business day.
Thank you for choosing Nomad Home IP™.