June 12th 2010 - I headed over to Three's London offices to take a peak at the next generation MiFi unit on Wednesday, and here's the scoop on the next generation MiFi unit, the E585,
http://geekswithblogs.net/twickers/archive/2010/06/12/sneak-peek-at-next-generation-three-mifi-unit--huawei.aspx
I have been using a 3G Mobile Broadband dongle from Three [http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband/MiFi ] for just over a year and have been very happy with the service. It helps that I am on a half price deal and only pay £7.50 per month for 5Gb of data. I normally don’t use the dongle that was provided, as I have internal 3G cards in both my HP 6910p laptop and my Acer Aspire One netbook.
I have found it a bit of a hassle to have to move the SIM card between the laptop and the netbook, and my poor Benq E72 Windows Mobile phone has been left in the slow lane. It only has GPRS/EDGE when out and about, although it does have fast WiFi when at home or in the office.
When I heard about the new ‘MiFi’ unit from Huawei that combines a 3G dongle and WiFi access point all in one package I was intrigued. Capable of connecting multiple WiFi devices to a shared 3G connection, for up to 4 hours on the internal battery, this tiny device sounded like a great solution to my problem. I can connect my laptop, netbook and Benq E72 phone all via WiFi to a fast 3G mobile broadband connection using the same 3G SIM card.
The device is really simple, five lights give just enough information and the three buttons make life very easy,
It’s hard to understand from that photograph just how small this device is, but if I put it next to a credit card you can see just how small it is. It is not much bigger or heavier than my Benq E72 candy bar phone, which is incredible for a 3G dongle and WiFi router combined,
The device comes with a charger, but also charges via mini USB, so will be a doddle to top up. Using the supplied USB to mini USB lead it can be connected to a Windows PC not only to charge, but to install the 3 WiFi manager. Similar to previous Huawei dongles, once connected a drive letter appears as if you have inserted a CD, and this contains all the drivers and software required. This installed first time on both my laptop and netbook, Windows 7 (both x64 and x86).
You can use the WiFi manager to configure the unit, and can also treat the MiFi as a standard 3G USB dongle where you manually dial the connection so you can use it without the WiFi turned on. As well as providing options to turn WiFi on and off, the utility provided all standard WiFi options such as changing the SSID (and hiding it) and setting a different password. Interestingly the utility also provides access to the range of Firewall options, including a DMZ - wow!
The final feature is a microSDHC slot, which unfortunately isn’t shared between connected devices as part of the WiFi connection, but appears as a drive letter when the dongle is connected to a system with the USB lead.
I could describe how the device actually switches on and how the buttons work, but there’s a much better video review of the device from one of my friends, Ewan McLeod on Mobile Developer TV, which saves me the effort.
http://www.mobiledeveloper.tv/?p=209
So, what are my first impressions? This is a fantastic device; it’s incredibly simple, easy to use and just ... well, works.
It’s available for £99 on pay as you go, and £69.99 for a 5Gb per month £15 rolling 1 month contract. There is no upgrade for existing customers, so I just bought the 1 month rolling contract, which I’m cancelling so the total cost for me is £85. Bargain!
Print | posted on Thursday, October 08, 2009 3:08 PM