Guest Paul (MVP) Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Here's an interesting snippet from a PC World mailout I just received, showing that 3 are to release a Mobile Broadband WiFi router. This looks set to be a hot new market segment, with T-Mobile showing a very similar device at their recent Winter Showcase. There really are no other details other than what you see here at the moment, but it DOES at least look pretty slick i'm sure you'll agree! ;) I'm assuming the target market is those using Mobile Broadband instead of a home internet connection, but i'm sure you - the talented readership - can come up with some cool use cases! I quite fancy one of these plumbed into the car somewhere... hehehe... :wacko: P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest awarner (MVP) Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Wonder what the cost will be of the unit, and what sort of tariff deal they will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest huwwatkins Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Wonder what the cost will be of the unit, and what sort of tariff deal they will do. Hopefully they will have the network capacity to back this sort of thing up when their newly signed contracts with BT kick in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mysterious Stranger Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Here's an interesting snippet from a PC World mailout I just received, showing that 3 are to release a Mobile Broadband WiFi router. This looks set to be a hot new market segment, with T-Mobile showing a very similar device at their recent Winter Showcase. There really are no other details other than what you see here at the moment, but it DOES at least look pretty slick i'm sure you'll agree! ;) I'm assuming the target market is those using Mobile Broadband instead of a home internet connection, but i'm sure you - the talented readership - can come up with some cool use cases! I quite fancy one of these plumbed into the car somewhere... hehehe... :wacko: P It's just a wifi router with a USB socket. Hot new market segment?...had this type of thing for years......'Just insert your mobile broadband modem into the top of the router' so nothing special as many routers now have USB support - and it's not an all in one like the linksys / vodafone device from last year. All very so-so... M.S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 It's just a wifi router with a USB socket. Hot new market segment?...had this type of thing for years......'Just insert your mobile broadband modem into the top of the router' so nothing special as many routers now have USB support - and it's not an all in one like the linksys / vodafone device from last year. All very so-so... M.S Sure, but T-Mo and 3 are looking to do a real consumer push, not something that's been done to date...? P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tsutton Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Looks good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mysterious Stranger Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Sure, but T-Mo and 3 are looking to do a real consumer push, not something that's been done to date...? P Unless it's free ( unlikely) then they'll ask for what, an extra £50 - £100 or so for it? And you still need a USB 3G modem under contract or PAYG so in reality they're just selling an accessory that's available elsewhere, most likely cheaper and not locked to use only a Three modem. Vodacom / Linksys routers were locked and T-mobile's Wifi only 'broadband share 100' is locked to their own dongles - it looks pretty but how would you ever unlock without f/w updates etc?..and although free on £20 pm 18 month contracts with a dongle it's allegedly £99 'offline'. I'll be giving it a miss unless it's cheap. There's better stuff out there with built in firewalls and more functionality etc and I have too many different dongles / PCMCIA cards to tie myself in with just one type / network with an overpriced network supplied router. Some routers allow you to use mobiles over the USB connection too. Hardly a new market segment just diversification of the current one - they still need a USB broadband dongle to use it and that segment is key. If you already have a router and windoze computers it's fairly simple to share a USB dongle anyway.... M.S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest psionandy Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Wonder what the cost will be of the unit, and what sort of tariff deal they will do. I suspect it will be incredibly similar to the price of their current data tarrifs... From the networks point of view, low users will stay within the monthly limits, and people using it heavily will generate lots of extra income per extra MB over their monthly allowance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest itsnotmeeee Posted October 10, 2008 Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) I suspect it will be incredibly similar to the price of their current data tarrifs... From the networks point of view, low users will stay within the monthly limits, and people using it heavily will generate lots of extra income per extra MB over their monthly allowance It's a standalone unit priced at £69.99. £34.99 if you purchase it with a phone, and mobile broadband deal (yes both together, not one or the other). Should be in stores by the end of Oct. Edited October 10, 2008 by itsnotmeeee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted October 10, 2008 Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 Decent price IMHO...? P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted October 10, 2008 Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 Would be cool if you could somehow put chilispot on these and charge people for access... :lol: P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest itsnotmeeee Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 Would be cool if you could somehow put chilispot on these and charge people for access... :lol: P Well from the image I've seen it has an ethernet port on, so there may be possibilitys for hooking it to another wifi router. Also many wifi routers these days have USB ports on, so it *may* be possible to plug a 3G USB Broadband dongle into one, but who knows.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mysterious Stranger Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 Well from the image I've seen it has an ethernet port on, so there may be possibilitys for hooking it to another wifi router. Also many wifi routers these days have USB ports on, so it *may* be possible to plug a 3G USB Broadband dongle into one, but who knows.... Pic in the top post of 3's unit clearly shows an ethernet port. Haven't yet seen the 3 unit in the wild. Sadly t-mob's £99 one is wifi only. Many routers already have 3G dongle compatability ( and some also connect to symbian handsets with a USB cable but I've never tried one ;-) so this isn't exactly groundbreaking stuff. http://www.mobiholics.com/content/the-loun...1256/3g-router/ M.S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mysterious Stranger Posted October 13, 2008 Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 Should be in stores by the end of Oct. It's out now. http://threestore.three.co.uk/PAYG/default.aspx?id=1201 Made by Huawai and only works with Huawai '3' modems. Battery powered as well as mains seems a useful feature. M.S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chrisbpr Posted October 30, 2008 Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 a company worth checking out is billion, i have been using one of their routers with a 3g dongle and this works superb. so much so that i have ditched my BB fixed line and am just running on the dongle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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