Personal WiFi HotSpot

Over the years I have tried a number of cellular wireless modems. I remember my first one - the PCMCIA form factor Nokia so called "high speed" data card. It was before mobile networks started offering packet data. Sounds strange today... No packet data? Yes that is true... I made my first GPRS connection probably in 2001. I remember I used the Ericsson T39 to route packets from my laptop over Bluetooth and then over GPRS data connection, using the famous *99# dial string. But before the Ericsson and GPRS there was the Nokia HSCSD card, able to utilize up to four GSM time slots to make it 4*9600=38400 bits per second on a dedicated point - to - point connection. And then GPRS arrived, upgraded later on to EDGE and now to UMTS and its evolution standards. With UMTS I have used a USB - type modem most often. Purists often opt for integrated 3G module in their laptops, but somehow I have always felt USB gives me more freedom. I remember two years ago spending holidays in a very remote place. So remote there was no coverage. But in a strong need for connectivity I fixed the USB modem to a long pole I then sticked out of a roof window using an extension cord and I could connect. With a built-in modem module I would have had to do this with the entire laptop...

USB modem has also been giving me freedom to share the connection among the family members and friends - passing the modem around, everybody with own laptop could use it for a while. Last year I even bought a small WiFi router - one looking almost identical to the Apple Airport Express. It had an interesting feature - was able to use a USB cellular modem as a WAN port. I was using it successfully during holidays, with two or three laptops sharing the same 3G connection, by means of a local WiFi hot spot. But it required mains power supply and was difficult to put in a pocket (together with a USB modem sticking out).

Recently a new class of devices has arrived, pioneered by Novatel and Verizon under the MiFi name. The MiFi actually is a WiFi router, using 3G mobile network as a WAN interface. And it has its own battery. All that plus the fact it is the size of a credit card makes it a truly personal mobile hotspot. The first MiFi was made for Verizon, so was using CDMA EvDO, a standard not available in Europe. Later on Novatel introduced a GSM/UMTS variant. The UMTS version is a little thicker compared to the EvDO, but still has the width and height of a credit card. Perfect to slip in a pocket. Honestly I was about to get one for myself, but found a similar alternative. The Huawei E5830. Fractionally bigger, but the price I could get it for was half of the Novatel, so I decided to get it. You know all those gadgets have really limited lifespan, so it is good not to pay the absolute premium up front... I could get one with a contract too, but the point was to have a SIM-free version and to be able to use local prepaid SIM data cards when traveling abroad. Like the BOB in Austria. Immediately after the Huawei arrived I had an opportunity to test it both in Poland and in Austria.

It has three buttons to turn on and off power, wifi and mobile data connection. It also has a mini-USB port (a micro USB would be more welcome here as it becomed bot mandatory and de facto standard). The USB can be used for charging and for configuration. The unit I have does not support web - based configuration, relying on a Windows - based application instead. Shame, as it cannot be reconfigured from an iPhone or iPad. Fortunately there seems to be an alternative firmware that supports web - based configuration (I have not tested this yet...). The unit has to be reconfigured when you change SIM cards, as each local MNO uses different APN and network settings (stupid but true!). The famous *99# dial string remains the same, but APNs, users, password are different.

Entering Austria I set it up for the BOB breitband SIM card I had with me. It connected promptly and we were able to connect to the Internet using the three laptops we had in the car (the driver was only using his iPhone). First things first I went over to the speedtest.net to see how fast the connection was. The feeling was it was fast, but I wanted the numbers. And the numbers just blew me. Over 5Mbps downlink and over 1Mbps uplink. All that from a device the size of a box of matches with a SIM card offering 1GB worth of data for just 4 Euros. Wow... Actually this was the fastest personal Internet connection I have ever had. Suffice to say we were able to watch the olympics live via EuroSport streaming to our laptops, traveling at 100 miles per hour down the freeway. I also succeeded connecting my Blackberry via the same connection using the UMA feature. It was working flawlessly. The battery lasted some four hours, but in a car this was not a problem as we connected the thing to a charger. The next day when we went skiing I dropped the Huawei in my pocket and this way I was carrying a personal WiFi cloud spread around me. My friends with their iPhones could enjoy their WiFi connections (avoiding data roaming charges) as we were riding the chairlifts together.

After two weeks of testing I am very happy with this Huawei personal 3G-to-WiFi router. It works flawlessly, never hanged or freezed. The startup time is about 15 seconds (including logging on to the mobile network and setting up the 3G connection). The only complaint I have is it does not charge from the USB port on my Kensigton universal laptop power supply. And we tried three car chargers until it started charging, ultimately the Blackberry branded one proved to be successful. May be they fixed this already in the new release (there is a new model coming out with an LCD display instead of the five LEDs in the current one).

My last wish would be the unit supported USSD messaging, as this is the default way prepaid SIM cards are topped up. Today it does not, so I have to plug the SIM in my phone just to issue the *101*chargingcode# command... But life is never perfect... is it?

Comments

  1. FYI - I have successfully upgraded the E5 firmware with the one referenced here.

    The upgrade process hanged two times but third time lucky it went through. Now I have admin web access via http://192.168.1.1 (so can reconfigure the router directly from an iPad).

    Additionally various advanced options are available (I like the automatic connection - just power on and it connects to 3G and turns WiFi on automatically).

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  2. Is it possible to easily replace a battery, while on the go? What kind of battery is it, I mean, is it easy to buy separately?

    I'm asking because its a geat device, but I would love to have whole day of working while on typical one day trip.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is exactly what I did - purchased a second battery. The symbol is HB4F1 and there are plenty of them on ebay (link). Depending on the load, it can last a whole day...

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