Mifi box worth it ? (1 Viewer)

[Earnie 2005]

Hi all
Can anybody tell me if it's worth getting a mifi box for our travels across Europe next month ? I'm confused as I know as of June 15th roaming is now goin to be same in Europe as U.K. But will I still need a mifi box to pick up wifi ? I'm with EE . I've read that you can get data SIM cards for the local area (where ever we might be )and put them in the mifi device . But is it going to be worth doing it /buying a mifi box ?

 

[SuperMike]

Yes. Make sure it is unlocked before you go.

 

[Alistair33]

Also you'll be best served if you get an external antenna, this one is a fixed system, they also do window mounted

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[Just smiffy]

If you ever want internet at some time, then absolutely....

 

[Pausim]

Also you'll be best served if you get an external antenna, this one is a fixed system, they also do window mounted

Interesting but how does the signal get from the aerial to the mifi/phone. My devices don't have aerial sockets.

 

[Alistair33]

Interesting but how does the signal get from the aerial to the mifi/phone. My devices don't have aerial sockets.

That's a problem, some mifi do have sockets which when used makes them a lot more useful, liking in distant signals or improving from 3 to 4 g

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[Pausim]

That's a problem, some mifi do have sockets which when used makes them a lot more useful, liking in distant signals or improving from 3 to 4 g

Thanks for quick response, shame it won't work for me. Obviously an aerial socket is a facility to look for when buying a mifi.

 

[2657]

Also you'll be best served if you get an external antenna, this one is a fixed system, they also do window mounted

And these cost considerably less, and they work, at least mine does and for a fiver worth a punt,i have tried the expensive one and did not get much of an improvement if any but that was only with a 3G mifi device.



I got an unlocked 4G Huawei mifi from 3 as part of a 30 day contract, cancelled the contract before 30 days up and a cheap mifi device, don't know what deals they are doing at the moment and other providers may do similar deals.

As far as I know most 4G mifi have twin aerial ports.

 

[Lenny HB]

Interesting but how does the signal get from the aerial to the mifi/phone. My devices don't have aerial sockets.

Most mifi and dongles have a socket but they don't always put a hole in the case to access it.

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[Minxy]

Hi all
Can anybody tell me if it's worth getting a mifi box for our travels across Europe next month ? I'm confused as I know as of June 15th roaming is now goin to be same in Europe as U.K. But will I still need a mifi box to pick up wifi ? I'm with EE . I've read that you can get data SIM cards for the local area (where ever we might be )and put them in the mifi device . But is it going to be worth doing it /buying a mifi box ?

Your confusing things by talking about MIFI and WIFI as if they are the same thing which they are not, they are both ways to connect to the internet but one is 'private' and the other is 'shared'.

MIFI is the unit that you put a data into and then use that network (eg '3') to get on the internet, you can get PAYG, monthly (30 day) and annual/bi-annual contracts depending on your needs - this is your OWN private connection and not shared (unless you choose to let others use it). The vast majority of the time you won't need an antenna or any sore but occasionally it may help, in which case you need to have a MIFI that has inputs for one as not all have.

WIFI is what you can often access free (eg McDonalds) or for a charge (eg no campsite) direct to your phone, tablet, laptop etc (assuming it is able to receive wifi which most can nowadays), you don't need anything else to get this (although you can buy antennas to increase the chance of you being able to pick-up the signal if, eg, your at the back of the campsite and the WIFI is being transmitted from the front so might not reach you!). This is a shared connection with others who are also able to access it so it may be slow/non-existant at times and IMV is not anything like as secure as a 'personal' one that a MIFI gives.

 

[Dave K]

Also you'll be best served if you get an external antenna, this one is a fixed system, they also do window mounted

I've just taken delivery of the fixed system, very good communication and service so far from the motorhomewifi company, hopefully it'll work as we hope it will.

 

[Earnie 2005]

Thanks for the replys , I'll get an unlocked huawei from eBay then I think .

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[TUCANO]

Personally speaking I have owned a Huawei MiFi for about four years now and take it with me whenever I go anywhere. I then give up after the first day trying to use it !!
It rarely gets a signal, almost always says it needs recharging and the only thing it does consistently is WIND ME UP!!
I have been told that it should work so I lay the blame fully with myself GGRRRR.

 

[Alistair33]

Personally speaking I have owned a Huawei MiFi for about four years now and take it with me whenever I go anywhere. I then give up after the first day trying to use it !!
It rarely gets a signal, almost always says it needs recharging and the only thing it does consistently is WIND ME UP!!
I have been told that it should work so I lay the blame fully with myself GGRRRR.

The thing is that as just the box with no external antenna, then its as useful as a mobile phone, with of course the exception that it can be used to share its signal with other devices ( as can most mobiles, contract allowing ).

So if you have good service with your mobile then you'll have good service with a mifi on the same network. The advantage of a mifi is that with some, you can attach an external antenna in order to pick up more distant signals or to make the near by ones 'better'

 

[TUCANO]

Alistair33,
Many thanks for that, my device is a Huawei E5332, do you know if it can have an external antenna fitted to it ?
Norman.

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[Geo]

See spec below highlighted in red
HUAWEI E5332

USER RATINGS:
Appearance:
No rates
Quality:
No rates
Features:
No rates
Average:
No rates
http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u...nedatabase/10937-huawei-e5332/&t= - IMEI.infohttp://twitter.com/home?status=IMEI.info: - http://imei.info/phonedatabase/10937-huawei-e5332/
BASIC INFORMATION:
Device type:
Modem
GSM:
850 900 1800 1900
UMTS:
1900 2100
HSDPA:

Dimensions (H/L/W):
92.8 x 60 x 13.8 mm, vol. 76.8 cm³
Memory card:

LAN:

Built-in antena:

Antena connector:

Plug & Play:

WiFi router:

Supported OS:
Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows Vista Windows Seven MAC OS X

 

[Alistair33]

Doesn't appear to from the manual

EDIT see above,

 

[2657]

Personally speaking I have owned a Huawei MiFi for about four years now and take it with me whenever I go anywhere. I then give up after the first day trying to use it !!
It rarely gets a signal, almost always says it needs recharging and the only thing it does consistently is WIND ME UP!!
I have been told that it should work so I lay the blame fully with myself GGRRRR.

I have had one of those for a number of years and rarely have connection problems without an external aerial, I do have a window mounted aerial but the 5332 only has one antenna port (3G only) and the antenna does not get very good results compared to when I use it with the Huawei 4G mifi which has 2 antenna ports.

have you tried the mifi where you know that there is a good phone signal?

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[TUCANO]

matamoros,
Thanks for your reply, yes I have tried where there is a good phone signal so I then just use the phone

 

[2657]

matamoros,
Thanks for your reply, yes I have tried where there is a good phone signal so I then just use the phone

Did the mifi work though, ie emit a wifi signal that you could connect a laptop, tablet or smartphone to.

If your smartphone worked via the mobile phone network then it should be possible to connect the mifi to the mobile network.

 

[Pausim]

Although I would prefer to have a mifi that had an aerial socket there are times you can find a signal in odd places. Twice I have found a usable signal by trying different places. First time it was placing it flat under the bedroom rooflight (using the blind to keep it there) and the second time propped upright on the frame of a higher level window above the garage. On both occassions there was no reception anywhere outside but it was reasonably reliable in these odd places. My theory is that the body of the van or the frame of the window are helping to concentrate a very weak signal and you just have to find the sweet spot. Someone with more technical knowledge may be able to explain it, I only know that twice I have been able to get a signal where I didn't expect to get one.

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[TUCANO]

Did the mifi work though, ie emit a wifi signal that you could connect a laptop, tablet or smartphone to.

If your smartphone worked via the mobile phone network then it should be possible to connect the mifi to the mobile network.

Nope, couldn't get a signal from the Mifi.

Although I would prefer to have a mifi that had an aerial socket there are times you can find a signal in odd places. Twice I have found a usable signal by trying different places. First time it was placing it flat under the bedroom rooflight (using the blind to keep it there) and the second time propped upright on the frame of a higher level window above the garage. On both occassions there was no reception anywhere outside but it was reasonably reliable in these odd places. My theory is that the body of the van or the frame of the window are helping to concentrate a very weak signal and you just have to find the sweet spot. Someone with more technical knowledge may be able to explain it, I only know that twice I have been able to get a signal where I didn't expect to get one.

Yeah I have on the very ODD occasion received a signal from above the roof blind.

Thanks gents.

 

[Stevewheel]

Just a word of caution re the OP's point about roaming charges. Yes they do become illegal as of the end of June in line with the EU directive BUT there is a grace period of I think 3 years whereby most providers are just reducing the roaming charges each year and are being allowed this time period to comply. Additionally nobody knows what will happen when U.K. Leaves the EU. At that point the EU directive would not apply to U.K. Telecom providers. Most pundits seem to think that increasing roaming charges again at that time would be a bit of a marketing "faux pas" but so far only Vodafone have commented. They say they cannot guarantee it but they think an increase in roaming charges again at that time is unlikely. You never know!

 

[Doobray]

I use my "feel at home" phone and tether my tablet ID give you 600mins unlimited text and 6GB of data for £10 per month so I think my MIFI will be gathering dust

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[Rollin]

a grace period of I think 3 years whereby most providers are just reducing the roaming charges each year

We've already had this, you may have noticed roaming charges have steadily been dropping year by year.

Providers are no longer permitted to charge anything for roaming within the EU. However they may still place restrictions on how much data you use while roaming and for how long.

For instance, Three Mobile will cap your usage at 12 Gb per month, and require you to return to the UK after 60 days.

Vodafone seem to be the only ones who do not cap your data usage, nor do they require you to return to the UK. You can also freely tether your phone to laptops etc

I know this because I looked into it recently as I'll be in Europe for at least three months.

 

[Minxy]

We've already had this, you may have noticed roaming charges have steadily been dropping year by year.

Providers are no longer permitted to charge anything for roaming within the EU. However they may still place restrictions on how much data you use while roaming and for how long.

For instance, Three Mobile will cap your usage at 12 Gb per month, and require you to return to the UK after 60 days.

Vodafone seem to be the only ones who do not cap your data usage, nor do they require you to return to the UK. You can also freely tether your phone to laptops etc

I know this because I looked into it recently as I'll be in Europe for at least three months.

Interesting BUT the cost of Vodafone is a lot more than other networks for similar allowances, for example the lowest cost for a 12 month contract including a phone is £17 a month for 250mb data and 250 mins, that IS expensive IMV. We pay £7.50 a month with Tesco for 500mb 400 mins (250 plus 150 extra for having 2 contracts) and we can use it abroad. The limits are similar to '3' but paying £9.50 a month LESS than the cheapest Vodafone monthly contract isn't to be ignored.

As with all things people have to make sure that they pick the provider/contract etc that suits ALL their needs, not just when abroad.

 

[Rollin]

As with all things people have to make sure that they pick the provider/contract etc that suits ALL their needs, not just when abroad.

Well said Minxy Girl, I absolutely agree. In my case, I plan to be abroad for at least three consecutive months, and additionally I need a high data allowance as I will be working from the van.

The Vodafone contract I've gone for is 12 months SIM only - 20 Gb a month for £20. For most people that would be way more than they would use!

Another consideration, one which is much harder to determine in advance, is coverage and quality of service. Before the voda i had a £10 a month SIM with iD mobile. Similar to the tesco cards, iD rent their network capacity off a third party (in their case EE). I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect EE de-prioritise these third party users, because even though EE is supposedly the largest network in the UK, the coverage I experienced with my iD card was really poor. Similar with the Virgin card I had before that (Virgin also rent network capacity off EE).

So far, the coverage I've been getting on voda has been far superior.

Just another thing to add to the confusion of choosing a SIM!

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[Pia]

I have had one of those for a number of years and rarely have connection problems without an external aerial, I do have a window mounted aerial but the 5332 only has one antenna port (3G only) and the antenna does not get very good results compared to when I use it with the Huawei 4G mifi which has 2 antenna ports.

have you tried the mifi where you know that there is a good phone signal?

Same for us we never had any problems on the continent for the 2 months we were there April and May this year...we did have a phone signal though...the continent seems well served for mobile phone masts.

 

[SMB]

I recently bought a 4G Hauwei e5577 mifi as the satellite internet service I used previously via my internet satellite dish has become too expensive (£38 for 10gb a month). So far it has worked everywhere I have been (Italy, France, Spain etc) though sometimes I have to position it next to windows or roof vents to get a decent signal. I have four 12gb datasims from Three which I intend to swap around every couple of months, they last 12 months. An added bonus is I can take it with me wherever I go unlike the satellite dish, also there's no messing about at campsites trying to find a pitch without trees for line of sight! I'm taking a Plusnet payg sim for my phone (3gb data, unlimited texts, 200 minutes) £8 a month which is on a 30-day contract so if I get cut off after 60 days abroad I can just cancel it

 

[Minxy]

I recently bought a 4G Hauwei e5577 mifi as the satellite internet service I used previously via my internet satellite dish has become too expensive (£38 for 10gb a month). So far it has worked everywhere I have been (Italy, France, Spain etc) though sometimes I have to position it next to windows or roof vents to get a decent signal. I have four 12gb datasims from Three which I intend to swap around every couple of months, they last 12 months. An added bonus is I can take it with me wherever I go unlike the satellite dish, also there's no messing about at campsites trying to find a pitch without trees for line of sight! I'm taking a Plusnet payg sim for my phone (3gb data, unlimited texts, 200 minutes) £8 a month which is on a 30-day contract so if I get cut off after 60 days abroad I can just cancel it

You could have got one of these satellite hats ....

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