The concept of a pocket WiFi router is one that has always appealed to me. This sort of device reduces your reliance upon over-priced internet services that you may need to acquire when traveling, such as in a hotel room, or perhaps at a coffee shop or an airport.
Vodafone Pocket WiFi Router
I’ve been using an earlier version of this pocket router for most of this year, and have been very happy with it. When Vodafone asked me to try the newest version of this, I was interested to see if and how Huawei might have improved upon the original concept. I’m pleased to report that as good as the earlier device is, the newer iteration is even better, and markedly so.
First of all, start-up is easier, and it’s now just a single button operation. Previously, you needed to tell the device that, having started, it now needs to connect to the internet. This of course is logical functionality, and upon booting, the router automatically starts up its internal WiFi LAN, and then automatically connects itself to the internet. All you need to do is just wait … for about a minute … and away you go.
The display is significantly improved; despite its apparent simplicity. On the previous version, there were five icons on the display, each one showing you one element of the device’s status. The status was indicated through the colour of the icon. but there was no real indicator as to, for instance, the amount of battery power left. The new display rectifies this issue, and it also, to me, seems to be able to provide better information.
Start-up speed is faster, and the number of WiFi connections supported is increased from three concurrent connections to five. And the newer model supports faster 3G broadband speeds, so it’s all good.
In use, this device couldn’t be more straight forward. Turn it on, wait a minute, locate the SSID in your network connections dialog and enter the password if it’s the first time you’re connecting to the device, and you’re done.
And when you’ve finished, just turn it off.
Depending upon your host network availability, you may find yourself using this while traveling on a bus, train or ferry, in a coffee shop or airport departure lounge, lounging by the pool or maybe in a coffee palace by the beach, or simply to avoid the exorbitant charges that our pre-historically structured hotels which to inflict upon us for internet services. If you have a few children and you’re maybe traveling with the family, this would be ideal in the car, providing the kids with an internet connection while heading up to your favourite holiday spot.
No, we’re not there yet.
Battery life provides several hours of connectivity, and recharging is performed using the included mini-USB cable, and as a bonus, it can also house a micro-SD card so that you can use it for storage of music or images, or whatever else you wish.