PSA: TP-Link WR3002X NEEDS more then 10W to be stable

I carry a travel router when I am on trips. Part of my workflow needs high LAN bandwidth between my devices and hotel WiFi just doesn't cut it. I bought one from TP-Link for cheap expecting things to just work. It does.. sometimes. But sometimes the connection just doesn't work even imy laptop happly connectes to the same source WiFi. Weird..

Until lately I finally figured out what going on reading labels and experimenting. The WR3002X needs more then 10W of peak power to operate. Most USB power supplies are rated at 5V 2A over a typical USB type A port. This is enought to power up the router itself but no able to sustain it's operation.

I was confused at first why the official power supply worked flawlessly. even if it comes with a single type A port -- turns out that brick allows pulling 5V 3A without special negotiation. for most USB chargers, use a type C port and PD will be negotiated for more then 10 Watts. Of course, unless your charger doesn't do PD. But then you shouldn't buy that in the first place.

That's it. Use a type C port on the charger end and the connection will be stable.

Such dumb issue. Hours of my time wasted :(

Hope this post saved someone even just 5 minutes.