3UK MiFi (Huawei E5830) Wireless Modem, A Quick Review

Today I picked up one of the new Mobile WiFi units from a 3 store to replace the Huawei E169G which I got last year. The trouble with the mobile broadband dongles are that they are easily knocked and banged when plugged in and sticking out of a laptop or netbook, and thats another thing, they can only be used with a computer as they require a usb port and software. The MiFi changes that. It can be plugged in and used via USB and also charged that way, but the big advantage is that it’s battery powered and WiFi enabled, so once its turned on you can leave it in a bag or pocket and connect multiple devices to it wirelessly.

This wireless capability is a huge advantage over the old style dongles as it allows nearly any wifi device to connect to it, I said nearly any and I’ll come back to that later. So laptops, mobile phones, game systems, internet radios, media players etc can all use its internet connection. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it, well it is, there are a few drawbacks to the device, so here’s a list of a few pro’s and con’s

Pro’s

• It’s small, slightly narrower and slightly taller than a credit card and the same depth as an iPhone.
• Reasonable battery life of up to 5hrs.
• Full access to all settings via PC software where you can change such things as SSID, encryption, firewall settings etc.

Cons

• PC only software, no Mac support. It can be used straight out of the box and comes with WPA encryption enabled but if you want to change any settings it must be done with a Windows PC.
• Only supports WPA encryption which means any devices that only work with WEP can’t be used with it, an example of this is the DS Lite or even the DSi when playing older online games.

These types of devices could become popular with people that use wifi enabled portable media players such as ipod touch, Archos and Sony, allowing the user to have immediate access to the internet wherever they are. They are also handy even if you have a device that already has an always on internet connection, but the manufacturer has decided to limit certain features so that they cant be used with phones own data but require it to be connected via wifi……. yes Apple I’m talking about you. It enables you to get round all the limits imposed by apple as well as allowing BBC iPlayer to stream over 3G using the MiFi.

I’ve only had it for a few hours but so far very impressed with it, it was simple to set up and operate, very pocketable and will get a lot more use than my previous broadband dongle.