3 MiFi Huawei E5830 Comments

A very good review.
I purchases the monthly contract on the morning it was on sale. Excellent unit. Works well, stays connected and reconnects in and out of bad areas, with in the time before standby kicks in.
Two points. The reviewer was lucky in getting those download speeds. In Devon I have not seen greater than 1mb/s down and up is around 30/40 Kb/s Average down is around 300Kb/s to 500kb/s.
the other point is that whilst it will stay connected and receive power via the USB lead, it will not stay connected, as suggested in the review, when connected to the charger.

On the whole a great unit at a reasonable cost.

Mm - MeWant! A very elegant solution that would save me from having a broomstick hanging out the side of my laptop. I just know 5GB isn't enough. I'd happily consider a higher tariff for more though.

Further to my comment about the Three Mi Fi Unit:

After further tests I find that the unit will in fact connect while being charged. However if it is running and you connect to the charger it will disconnect, turn off, except for the charge flashing light.

Don't Huawei network products route all your data through the State Security Bureau of the People's Republic of China?

I've got a 3 mobile dongle and i'm pretty sure my monthly 1 gig allowance is combined downloads & uploads, probably worth stating this - ie you can't actually download a gigabyte, so presumably the 5 gigabyte allowance with this device is on the same basis.

Are any tools provided to monitor the used proportion of your monthly traffic allowance?

@Gordon - I was only joking, but have you read this?: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5993156.ece

Yet a ---Further to my comment about the Three Mi Fi Unit:---

After reading the review and posting my first comment with regard to charging. It appeared to be charging so I added a comment to say the review was correct is saying you can charge and be connected.
Tested it again and confirm that it is not possible to charge from the mains and be connected at the same time.

@Ian Forsey - that's a bit rubbish, surely? :S

More of a question than a comment. Given the small memory of the cheapest iTouch and the relatively low cost of micro SD cards, could you use the T3 device's memory slot as a backdoor way of extending the iTouch memory? Would you be able store iTunes playlists, photos and video on it and use Skype, giving yourself a cheap alternative to an iPhone, without the Satnav?

Ben & Niall
I agree that the Mi Fi unit will work when connected to the mains. But and a big but - it does not charge! Well mine will not charge. So absolutely no point in connecting to the mains!
Perhaps you would be good enough to test yours. 'Three' support confirmed to me that it will not charge when connected. Not good.
I have asked Three if I can purchase a spare battery and told not possible yet as it is to new! Jeeze!

My download/upload speeds have been terrible. This evening when it's surely not busy my download speed was 97kb/s. speeds of yesteryear! And at 1.0am it is still unusable.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/585936056.png

It doesn't charge while connected to the mains and is online, but does it draw power from the mains charger? I mean, can it run indefinitely on the mains when it's online, so long as you don't mind having to charge the battery after?

Quick question: Does anyone know whether this creates an Infrastructure or Ad-hoc WiFi access point? I have a device that I would be very interested in using with one of these but it can only connect to Infrastructure points. Cheers!

Just released in Aust. w/out mains charger. Customer support are morons. Can someone tell me the current and voltage rating of the mains charger please.

I got a O2 dongle and the coverage was pathetic. 3 coverage appears to be much better or may be this modem is better at picking up signals. (I think it is the former because 3G coverage using my O2 iPhone is not great).

Pros:

1. It doesn't stick out of the back/side so doesn't get in the way
2. I can put it near a window to get better reception
3. It's about the size of a mobile phone so you can put it in your pocket
4. Feels like a fixed broadband connection although not quite as quick (but certainly quicker than my iPhone 3GS on 3G).

Cons:
1. I am on Pay as You Go and the 3 website isn't 100% clear on what it is going to cost longer term.

On my charger it says output 5.3V 650mA (which is the standard USB rating I believe)

Does anyone know if this device and its software is compatible with Windows 7 Professional. I have been using a USB dongle (e160g) on 3 but since moving from Vista to 7 it no longer works and I cannot find any updated software or drivers - suport at 3 uk are useless! I do not want tobuy the MiFi if it will not work on Windows 7

Three mobile broadband costs: http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband/What_it_costs - seriously considering pairing with an iPod touch...

I currently use a dongle and plan to buy this on PAYG and use my SIM - 3 say it will work. But I currently use a SIM password. Can this device suppoer a SIM password? I cannot see where you would enter it when you connect.