Comments on: 3′s mobile wifi (“MiFi”) package revealed, take a look!

By: AJ

AJ — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 22:02:24 +0000

Purchased a 3 MiFi Mobile Access Point 4/6/2010. Working absolutely brilliantly. I live in central London where reception is optimal for those who are not challenged by certain environmental factors.
The device worked out of the box, which also contains a card with a WPA encryption key, the name of the SSID etc. These can be changed if you are using a MS Windows OS. Using FreeBSD and a couple of Linux flavours MiFi has been ideal; since USB broadband dongles can sometimes be a challenge to configure in older Linux kernels and may not work at all under some of the Unix-likes.

By: Ewan

Ewan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:48:42 +0000

Ah dear. The network speed is critical to the unit functioning correctly!

By: ryan

ryan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:34:56 +0000

diabolical. I had a 3 dongle which was rubbish reception but at least it worked slowly. with this mi fi gadget I'm lucky if i can even get a signal at all even in the centre of leeds at times. Taking it back tomorrow for a refund.

By: Ewan

Ewan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:48:42 +0000

Ah dear. The network speed is critical to the unit functioning correctly!

By: ryan

ryan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:34:56 +0000

By: Simon Pollock

Simon Pollock — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:27:30 +0000

RT @3mobilebuzz: 3UKâ€™s MiFi is now Â£49.99 on PAYG and 'Broadband 5GB 1 Month' deal. Check out an earlier review http://bit.ly/tvciL

[Original tweet, Topsy page]

By: Simon Pollock

Simon Pollock — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:27:30 +0000

RT @3mobilebuzz: 3UKâ€™s MiFi is now Â£49.99 on PAYG and 'Broadband 5GB 1 Month' deal. Check out an earlier review http://bit.ly/tvciL

By: Sam - 3mobilebuzz

Sam - 3mobilebuzz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:41:59 +0000

3UKâ€™s MiFi is now Â£49.99 on PAYG and 'Broadband 5GB 1 Month' deal. Check out an earlier review http://bit.ly/tvciL courtesy of @MIReview

[Original tweet, Topsy page]

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:41:59 +0000

3UKâ€™s MiFi is now Â£49.99 on PAYG and 'Broadband 5GB 1 Month' deal. Check out an earlier review http://bit.ly/tvciL courtesy of @MIReview

[Original tweet, Topsy page]

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:41:59 +0000

3UKâ€™s MiFi is now Â£49.99 on PAYG and 'Broadband 5GB 1 Month' deal. Check out an earlier review http://bit.ly/tvciL courtesy of @MIReview

By: Ewan

Ewan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:56:41 +0000

Super news!

By: chalkyc

chalkyc — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:52:52 +0000

I have had the 3's MIFI for 2 weeks now and I have to say, it is fantastic. I have cancelled my BT line which did cost me 35/mth with broad band and now pay only 15/mth. I live in the sticks and signal was poor with BT, less than half a meg, I am now more than double that at half the price. I can also take it away with me as it is as small as my mobile. Life is good…………Well done 3.

By: Ewan

Ewan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:56:41 +0000

Super news!

By: chalkyc

chalkyc — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:52:52 +0000

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:33:53 +0000

Think that I 'might' have found the solution to my #iPod Touch getting WiFi anywhere... the #MiFi from 3 http://bit.ly/tvciL

[Original tweet, Topsy page]

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:33:53 +0000

Think that I 'might' have found the solution to my #iPod Touch getting WiFi anywhere... the #MiFi from 3 http://bit.ly/tvciL

By: Mike42

Mike42 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:16:32 +0000

The vid is of the Novatel one, not the 3 one. However, the default for both AFAIK is WEP (SSID/key usually written on the back – it is on my Verizon MiFi unit from the US), and via a web interface you can up it to WPA and choose your own password, or turn it off, or hide the SSID to make sharing more secure/easy (e.g. put a note on the office wall with the SSID).

Both of the software-based WiFi sharing soultions do this too.

By: CaptCarrot

CaptCarrot — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:13:00 +0000

My only concern is with security – and other people stealing your bandwidth.

I have seen precious little data on Three's offering, but in that MiFi video, not once did he enter any kind of encription passkeys.

If you are worrying about your data allowance, then blocking unwanted users must be the first priority.

By: TimO

TimO — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:11 +0000

Ditto... are they unlocked? I didn't see a response here on that question.

I'd certainly be interested in an unlocked MiFi unit, whether this or another.

I currently have (courtesy of work) and Huawei E870 Express Card (on a Voda data tariff). This is - IMO - somewhat flakey (often requires to be re-inserted to get it to connect) and I would much prefer to have a MiFi unit camped out in my bag.

Any options for me to get a unit into which I can just put my Voda SIM and have it magically work?

(I'm not keen to talk to my Corp IT guys about this; I try and keen my PC away from them;-)

By: tamxs

tamxs — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:17:32 +0000

I'm on the 5GB for Â£15 pm, compared to Vadafones PAYG at Â£15 per GB…
I like having the monthly contract and no 18 or 24 month tie in. My dongle has a max of 3.6Mps but I will be buying the mi fi partly because it's up to 7.2Mps

By: Mike42

Mike42 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:52:55 +0000

Er…is the expression 'Kettle of fish' not commonplace o'er there?

Anyhoo – just about every network has contention issues right now. It is very dependent on your cell's placement in the network and how traffic varies over the day. After hours should be fine. But don't count on streaming anything reliably over any 3G network in a developed market.

The Nextivity repeater is designed to go in attics etc, anywhere it can get the merest sniff of network. The panel antennae built into it (it has 6, from memory) are much, much higher gain than your mobile – 15dB better, again from memory. That would be roughly 5 times the signal your mobile would register. Plus all the filtering and other gubbins inside is a higher spec than a mobile. The key thing with the Nextivity repeater is that the link is a 5GHz wireless one, so your wife can rest assured you won't be knocking holes through walls or dangling RF cable about the place.

I'd investigate that further before paying for a fixed wireless operation. Ask people in Kent what they thought if Telebra wireless networks

Cheers

Mike

By: Darren

Darren — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:22:29 +0000

Yes, it's a different BARREL of fish over here!
Friends of mine are currently using 3 Mobile and are experiencing serious contention ratio issues. Signal in my area is very poor with it. In fact I tested it not so long ago on a trial and the only pace I could get signal with it was in my attic!
Perhaps as the roll out the National Broadband Scheme they may improve signal quality but the data allowances are still somewhat restrictive - 15GB per month - but sill 5GB extra than I currently have for the same price. Maybe I could buy 2 connections?
Currently in talks with a fixed wireless option (albeit a type of DIY, relayed option) but there may be light at the bottom of the tunnel. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks for taking time to reply.

Regards
Darren

By: Mike42

Mike42 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:20:37 +0000

Hi Darren

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idU...

Ah. You should have said you were in Ireland. Different kettle of fish, that place. This is what you need.

Having personally tested these, I can vouch that they do what they say on the tin. No idea what the timeframe is for their launch - maybe hit up your local MP. Your taxes are helping with the rollout after all, AFAIK. no idea on price/speed/data cap (if at all), but you'd think it would be comparable to, say, a 2MB DSL connection.

/m

By: Mike42

Mike42 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:16:39 +0000

So what you want isn't the mobile internet, or the internet mobile, you want a wireless DSL replacement with roaming capability.

Ain't gonna happen for around 5-10 years – until the more advanced LTE releases are widespread.

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:05:37 +0000

Hi Ewan
Yes I have looked at satellite, a number of companies in fact. The prices they charge and the limitations in the service (ie Latency etc) doesn't entice me. Most have small data limits too.
To be honest this would be my last option and I suppose I haven't ruled it out totally yet.

I hope and pray that a fixed wireless solution may come our way in the near future. I live in Ireland, in hilly countryside, in a valley, so line of sight is the major obstacle for us. There are movements in terms of Wimax in Ireland so maybe something promising may come out of this.

Regards
Darren