Mifi or USB 3G?

[Emnasut]

Now that I (propably) get my Pandora on Monday I'm looking for a solution for mobile internet access. As I don't really want to tether to my mobile phone (so I don't drain its battery) it's either an USB 3G dongle or a Mifi. Both seem to cost about 100€.


Someone mentioned that using a dongle about halves the battery time. Now a Mifi has got its own battery, but Wifi takes a lot of power I guess, anyone got any experience with that? Are there any other advantages in using a Mifi besides not having something stuck in the USB port (and beeing able to use other devices, which I propably won't do)?

 

[MarioPandio]

I went for mifi and set up was just instant. Had a few speed and connection drops until I messed with AES/TKIP settings and now its far faster than my home network and rock solid outdoors aswell. I haven't seen 3G dongles working on Pandora as easily and some folk are still stumped.

 

[Prometheus]

I would personally recommend a "MiFi" unit for the versatility and "just works" factor alone, all battery concerns aside. As MarioPandio notes, some folks are still stumped with their USB dongles, and dongles not supported by Linux aren't likely to be easy to get working, if they can be gotten working at all. The problem here of course is that mobile telephone providers seem to change what models they're using quite frequently, and without notice, since they simply rebrand them with their own logos, with no acknowledgment of what models they're actually offering.


I find that WiFi on the Pandora doesn't seem to drain as much battery life as using USB doodads that need lots of power, but that might just be me and my usage patterns. (For the record, the "MiFi" units apparently have a five to six hour battery life when in use - I haven't used mine for that long in one go, though! Obviously under normal usage, this is likely to be more than enough.)

 

[tsh]

USB tether to a phone works quite well, takes battery life down to about 6 hours (but doesn't drain the phone). WiFi tether to the phone does reduce the drain on the phone's battery compared to using the phone for browsing (since the screen is off)

 

[mahousaru]

I would recommend mifi because of sharing functionality, but no reason why you couldn't use the pandy as the router.

 

[Emnasut]

Interesting, I didn't think that many people would use Mifi, cool!

I find that WiFi on the Pandora doesn't seem to drain as much battery life as using USB doodads that need lots of power, but that might just be me and my usage patterns. (For the record, the "MiFi" units apparently have a five to six hour battery life when in use - I haven't used mine for that long in one go, though! Obviously under normal usage, this is likely to be more than enough.)

What are your normal usage patterns if I may ask?

USB tether to a phone works quite well, takes battery life down to about 6 hours (but doesn't drain the phone). WiFi tether to the phone does reduce the drain on the phone's battery compared to using the phone for browsing (since the screen is off)

If it lasts about 6 hours using usb, how long do you think it lasts using bluetooth tethered to the phone? Also it's strange that the phone isn't drained using USB, I thought th 3g functionality would be powered by the phone itself; the Pandora isn't charging the phone at the same time it's connected by USB, does it?

I went for mifi and set up was just instant. Had a few speed and connection drops until I messed with AES/TKIP settings (...).

Is that difficult to figure out? I know a bit about Linux but not much...


Also thanks for all the answers so far!

 

[FaeMinx]

I had the same question and was going to go Mifi, but due to availability in my country and not wishing to sign up for an additional contract I bought a:


Vodofone K3765


It's made by Huawei so I didn't think I'd have any problems.


However, the K3765 apparently has special drivers, not the standard Huawei ones.


It is possible to reflash the NAND, or even disable the NAND and use a MicroSD to unlock my USB Modem. And there are reports of getting this Modem working with Linux... So I'm hopeful.


I don't have my Pandora yet, so can do nothing at the moment really.


It would be great if someone else out there had a Pandora, the K3765, AND followed these forums. ... and was technically minded enough to reflash their K3765.


But what are the chances...?

 

[Prometheus]

What are your normal usage patterns if I may ask?

Well, in this case, I don't leave USB stuff plugged in for too long, and I don't use WiFi stuff for periods measured in many many hours.

 

[MarioPandio]

Yeah I hope you get sorted for the stick Faeminx. It a weird world though so you never know if that person writing a guide as we speak will pop up with the answer soon enough.


The AES/TKIP thing needs no linux experience. The mifi has a login dashboard via your browser and its just a choose-able setting for one or the other. You can use PC or Pandora to change stuff. In my case TKIP was default and it caused dropped connections and hard crashes of the mifi. AES hasnt dropped once since. There's other settings which may do other stuff aswell.

 

[Prometheus]

The AES/TKIP thing needs no linux experience. The mifi has a login dashboard via your browser and its just a choose-able setting for one or the other. You can use PC or Pandora to change stuff. In my case TKIP was default and it caused dropped connections and hard crashes of the mifi. AES hasnt dropped once since. There's other settings which may do other stuff aswell.

To add to this a bit more, since I think it's a feature worth mentioning, the "MiFi" units are configured exactly the same as most home routers are. The browser interface is one of the best ones I've encountered, I must admit.

 

[Emnasut]

^ Ok good to know. So which Mifi units would you recommend?

 

[Prometheus]

The one I have is a Huawei model, currently carried by Three. I'm getting on well with it. I don't know if MarioPandio has the same one or not, although I will say that mine defaults to WPA2 AES out of the box, whilst his was TKIP.

 

[mahousaru]

Huawei make shed loads of cheap 3g dongles and mifi. Even if you have a branded one, there is a chance it is a Huawei rebadged!

 

[Emnasut]

Ok I'll look around for one, hopefully I can get Huawei models in germany as they seem to work well.

 

[gadgetoid]

I'd highly recommend a MiFi 2352: http://www.expansys.com/novatel-wireless-mifi-2352-intelligent-mobile-hotspot-for-hspa-networks-black-186908/


Doesn't come cheap though


Absolutely love mine, it's particularly great for road trips, taking over from my horribly restrictive mobile phone 3G data plan and giving me streaming Spotify choons all the way.


As people as mentioned above, its versatility cannot be matched. It only gets about 4 hours battery life, though, and is a bit of a pain to get up and running quickly.


You can also connect 5 clients simultaneously. Something that isn't so straightforward with a 3G USB Dongle.


I carry 3 spare batteries and a 5000mAh emergency charger.

 

[Prometheus]

^ That reminds me. This is the one that Three were supplying back when I signed up for mine in October. It was very quick to get set up - within a few hours it was activated and I was online, and the out-of-the-box WPA2 info is written on the inside of the battery cover (but of course, you can change it with the browser interface).

 

[Emnasut]

I was thinking about the Huawei E585 Wireless UMTS Modem MiFi as it seems to have 7 hours battery time: Huawei E585

I'd highly recommend a MiFi 2352: http://www.expansys.com/novatel-wireless-mifi-2352-intelligent-mobile-hotspot-for-hspa-networks-black-186908/


Doesn't come cheap though


Absolutely love mine, it's particularly great for road trips, taking over from my horribly restrictive mobile phone 3G data plan and giving me streaming Spotify choons all the way.


As people as mentioned above, its versatility cannot be matched. It only gets about 4 hours battery life, though, and is a bit of a pain to get up and running quickly.


You can also connect 5 clients simultaneously. Something that isn't so straightforward with a 3G USB Dongle.


I carry 3 spare batteries and a 5000mAh emergency charger.

Besides the 4 hours battery life it looks good, especially as it seems to have A-GPS? That would be cool as then I wouldn't have to use an extra GPS mouse. ^^

^ That reminds me. This is the one that Three were supplying back when I signed up for mine in October. It was very quick to get set up - within a few hours it was activated and I was online, and the out-of-the-box WPA2 info is written on the inside of the battery cover (but of course, you can change it with the browser interface).

Thanks for the picture, I think I saw that one on amazon.

 

[Prometheus]

Thanks for the picture, I think I saw that one on amazon.

It's the E585 you linked to at the start of your post.

 

[MattF]

With a Mifi-type unit, you also have the advantage of not having to plug a dongle in to the back of the Pandora and then unplug it again every time you need to put the Pandy back in your pocket or bag.


You can extend a Mifi's run-time by hooking it up to a portable USB gadget-charger (which is basically another lithium-ion battery, in an enclosure, with a USB power-only output on). As you can leave the Mifi-and-charger combo in a bag or convenient large pocket, that is probably the neatest solution to maximise all the battery-lifes.

 

[Emnasut]

Thanks for the picture, I think I saw that one on amazon.

It's the E585 you linked to at the start of your post.

Oh heh, well I did think they looked familiar. ^^

With a Mifi-type unit, you also have the advantage of not having to plug a dongle in to the back of the Pandora and then unplug it again every time you need to put the Pandy back in your pocket or bag.


You can extend a Mifi's run-time by hooking it up to a portable USB gadget-charger (which is basically another lithium-ion battery, in an enclosure, with a USB power-only output on). As you can leave the Mifi-and-charger combo in a bag or convenient large pocket, that is probably the neatest solution to maximise all the battery-lifes.

That's a good idea with the portable charger. I also read somehwere that there are 3r party batteries with double the power (I think for the Novatel), that would be useful too.