MiFi not that easy for some (1 Viewer)

[rosalan]

Last year we bought a TP-Link MiFi in Spain. The supplier was MediaMart who also sold us a Vodaphone data Sim card that never worked in spite of two returns to MediaMart. Back in the UK we bought a 3 data Sim which worked perfectly. Once we were back in France, Spain and Portugal no amount of trying would allow the MiFi to link to our phones or tablets.
After a lot of searching we found a 3 contact number. They spent a long time trying to make my wife's Ipad work but we then had to contact TP-Link for additional help including re-booting the Mi-Fi. This still left us having to phone 3 again for a final password.
I did get advice from Fun but it did not apply to our Ipad. I know some tablets and phones should work straight away but our Iphone, IPad, Surface and Lenova phone, did not.

 

[PaulyP]

Don't bother with the lottery, your lucky streak will let you down.

 

[mikebeaches]

Hi Alan!

Trust you are well. Sorry to hear about your mi-fi woes. I followed Minxy's advice on here and purchased a Huawei mi-fi unit and a 2-year, 24GB pre-paid '3' data sim, which was excellent value at the time (about £27). It's been a life saver for us this year and - though no help or comfort to you - it did indeed work straight out of the box. Have been able to connect a mini-Ipad, 2 android phones, a blackberry and a laptop, all without any problems.

Have used it in the UK, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal and France. We've been to quite a few remote spots where our mobiles on the Virgin (EE) network were hopeless for data roaming, but the '3' sim worked a treat, always finding a network that was usable.

The only thing I observed was how slow the mi-fi was to fully boot up and lock on to a network - sometimes had to wait 3 or 4 minutes, but always got there in the end.

Hope you eventually manage to get yours working.

Cheers, Mike

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[PeteH]

I bought a cheap unlocked Alcatel Pixi "Smartphone" (about£30) off E-Bay, originally for my two American Grand-kids to use whilst over here with a PAY-Go sim. It is now repurposed as a MiFi, with a 12gb 3 sim. It serves 2 Android phones, two I-Pads, and my laptop, so long as It can get a signal. I had a Alleged Huwai MiFi from Amazon which would not lock on or work at all. Went back for a Full Refund!.

 

[SMB]

If you decide to dump yours and go for a different mifi, another vote for Huawei mifi, been using the e5577 model with a 3 datasim home and abroad, no problems and it is compatible with a twin-cable ts-9 external aerial. Easy to set up, its 4g and connects to all my wifi gadgets .

 

[Minxy]

I'm currently using a Huawei MIFI in Italy with my '3' home broadband sim but have used it with preloaded '3' sims too - no problems at all, it's one I've had for a few years now and never had an issue with it, nor the other Huawei ones' I've had previously with the only exception being one where the pins/contacts got damaged where the sim goes in (common issue with MIFIs).

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[Northernraider]

New deal from 3 looks good
https://store.three.co.uk/view/content/mbasket?ID=1666

 

[138go]

Using a 3 Sim and MIFI box. Lying in bed by the sea just south of Peniscola. I put the 3 Sim in before we left as they said so it can log onto their network. You can go into the MIFI program using Link Removed others are different but you can see in the info section what IP address is being used by the router you can then change a lot of the settings. Ours keeps hoping onto Yoigo which is useless so have set it to Movistar which is far better. These units are certainly not just plug & go although some people do not have any problems at all. Do some research online about programming. Check all the settings or do a factory reset and start from scratch. The Spanish sim you have will log onto a different network with different password. Just changing the sim will probably leave the old settings.

 

[Shrimp]

We have a MiFi and have used one for about 6 years, the only problems are when we are in an area with no signal.
Both iPads, iPhones & Macbook have never given us any trouble with connecting!
Hope you're finally sorted now.

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[SuperMike]

The TP-LINK is a superb bit kit, got one, love it, huge battery. Methinks your problems are not the equipment more perhaps what you are doing. It worked in the U.K. but not in Europe, which to me means roaming is not turned on. Easy to do using the TP-LINK app.

 

[Anne Marie O Hagan]

Have the same problem with my tp link. Used a three SIM card. Works perfectly here in Northern Ireland and also in Southern Ireland but not in France or Spain. Data roaming in enabled but to no avail. Maplins actually changed the device for me but same problem again in Spain during the summer. Is it possible to buy a SIM card for the device in France or Spain that will work

 

[Minxy]

Not sure if there are new settings/drivers for the TP link mifi but worth looking, the reason for this suggestion is that our Alcatel Pixi 4 phones (on contract with Tesco) wouldn't work once over the English Channel, not once, so after much messing around setting this, that and the other, both on the '3' site and on the mifi itself, in desperation I had a live chat with '3' and the lady was able to send me a 'flash' file which, once I'd accepted it, reconfigured my phone and it has worked perfectly ever since, same with hubby's. Although there's not supposed to be a need to do this obviously there was something 'amiss' and the new flash files sorted it out so I suspect the original set-ups of the phones weren't correct and updated versions of the software was needed.

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