Srinagar, June 23 -- There's a particular kind of quiet that settles over Dal Lake just after sunset, when the shikaras slow down, and the houseboats light up one by one along the water. It's the sort of scene visitors photograph and post within minutes of seeing it, which, if you sit with that thought for a second longer than usual, is really the point of this piece. Somewhere between the photo and the post sits a Wi-Fi router nobody asked very much about.

A growing number of travelers have started treating that router the way they'd treat travel insurance - something you sort out before the trip rather than something you scramble for once you're already on the boat. More are setting up a VPN ahead of time for exactly that reason, and f...