Three MiFi gadget Mk II review

Posted: 14 Oct 2010 01:46 AM PDT

Original article: Three MiFi gadget Mk II review
From Machines that go Bing

About a year ago Three launched their MiFi router, a clever little gadget that allowed WiFi-only devices to connect to the mobile internet. Six months later Three unveiled the next version of the router. Since then Three has been upgrading their network so we borrowed the MiFi gadget and tested it on the edge of London to see what improvements have been made in terms of network speed and improvements to the router itself.

The new model is based on the Huawei update to its model, now named the E585.

Fault Fixes

The old model had a number of problems:

Twelve hour charge-up time (for first-time use anyway)
Coloured LED symbols that were difficult to understand
LED status lights go out after a few seconds
Cannot use it while its charging
Faulty documentation regarding passwords
Software was PC-only and awkward to use

The new router comes in a mat black finish and polished tinted screen. A lot cooler that the silver body and black screen of its forebear.

The first notable improvement was that the router only required two hours to charge up and once it was the screen displayed a number of symbols whose meaning was immediately clear. They were:

Mobile signal strength
3G indicator
WiFi indicator
Internet Connection
Battery Charge Status
Data Usage

The router now uses an LCD display and so does not require you to press a button to see the status all the time.

Battery life is much longer and you can now use it while it is charging.

The password supplied with the router is now a random number with no spaces that could be misinterpreted.

The software is now browser-based as you would expect on any router just navigate to the home page from Firefox or Explorer or whatever you’re using.

Speed Tests

Earlier tests give an upload speed of 0.8Mbps and a download speed of 2.5Mbps. Well things have improved since then. Uploads are now at a slightly improved 0.97Mbps but downloads are now at an average of 8.86Mbps — That’s faster that my ’20Mbps’ BT land-line gets!

Conclusion

Three has been listening to their customers. All of the common criticisms of the first version of the MiFi router have been answered and while it was useful before it required an investment of time and learning before you could use it for very short trips. Now its easy to use and has the stamina for a long trip.