Gadgets review

Gadgets review - The Etisalat 3.5G Wireless Router for Technology Product Review.

Ryan Carter / The National

Etisalat 3.5G Wireless Router, Dh1000, plus mobile data plan

As a concept, the 3.5G wireless router is brilliant: a little white box with a SIM card that beams wireless internet throughout the home or office, with no phone line or DSL connection required.

You can take it anywhere in the UAE and, as long as there is a power supply, you have a wireless high-speed internet connection for up to 32 computers. Even if you do not have a power supply, you can plug it straight into your computer through the USB port and get a single connection.

As an extra feature you can plug a regular landline telephone into the box and the phone will work as normal, on the mobile plan and phone number of the SIM card being used by the router. This is an interesting feature — not hugely useful, but a welcome add-on.

In our experience, Etisalat’s product, manufactured by Huawei of China, comes close to living up to its potential. It is easy to use, well designed and worked well both as a network hub for computer-to-computer sharing as well as a wireless internet router.

But we would still not trust this thing to be the primary source of internet for a small office or a household that takes its net connection seriously.

Reliability was an issue. We found the internet connection dropping out on more than one occasion and, because the minimal design of the box features only one button — the on/off button — you need to physically restart the device to force a reconnection. We have heard the same problem from people using 3.5G USB modems, which apparently are also prone to dropping out and needing resetting.

Regardless, there is no doubt that this is a promising product. If you have the money to spare — Dh1000 for the router and Dh450 per month for a 10 gigabyte data connection — it is a useful, fun device to have.

If you regularly use the internet in public places that price becomes a lot less intimidating. Hotels and their price-gouging business centres often charge Dh20 per hour (and up to ten times that at some places) and Etisalat’s public Wi-Fi service charges Dh10.

We wouldn’t trust this as our primary connection. But if you can afford it, long for freedom from overpriced public Wi-Fi or regularly spend time in a place far from a regular connection, this product will make a welcome addition to your gadget bag.