Zoom 3G Wireless-N Travel Router

Hugo Minney

at 2:33 pm

I had a number of reasons for getting this little box

1- my office is a steel-framed building so phone signal is very poor (no 3G inside the building)

2- I do a bit of Forex Trading, and can’t get to the web site on the office network (it’s classified as gambling)

3- my laptop is so old its USB ports are getting creaky – they have stopped recognising USB 3G modems

4- when we go caravanning, there are 3 of us on laptops all fighting for the 3G dongle

5- at peak times the home broadband slows to a crawl (3 laptops again), and 3G could help us out

I was truly amazed – it’s absolutely brilliant!

Firstly it installed without any complaint. 60 seconds to mobile broadband is about right (it even arrives with a fully charged battery though i ran it plugged into the mains the first time i used it). You simply set security with the supplied short ethernet cable, connect over wireless, and Bob’s your uncle. It has accepted two random dongles with no complaints (in fact no comment at all – no setup required) and just got on with the job

I can put it on the windowsill outside the office and it picks up a full signal, but i can stay sat at my desk. Job done.

I bought another 3G dongle so I have Voda and T-Mobile. That seems to cover everywhere it’s possible to cover. The router isn’t “chatty” so it doesn’t use up all your PAYG

I can carry on using an ageing laptop because it doesn’t matter that the USB ports don’t work any more

I’ve had it for a couple of weeks now. It’s small – very small – and very neat. I constructed a power cable that plugs into a USB port to charge it at lunchtime, which is about the only thing missing.

Get one – at this price you won’t regret it!

One note though – I think it may be wise to turn the little box off before plugging in and/or unplugging the dongle. My Voda dongle (Huawei K3765) inexplicably stopped working after I tried to hot swap, but the replacement has worked perfectly after I stopped hot-swapping
Rating: 5 / 5

Phish

at 5:00 pm

This device was up and running within 15 minutes. Zoom 3G Wireless-N Travel Router

I had to upgrade the firmware to recognise my old Orange Option ICON 2 dongle. I also entered the Orange APN into the settings screen, changed the admin password and set up a wireless key. Having done that it recognised the dongle and connected straight away.

For the price, functionality and the range of dongles that it recognises I cannot fault this little box – highly recommended!
Rating: 5 / 5

JohnG

at 9:37 pm

This great device gives you wireless internet wherever you can get a mobile phone signal. Simply plug your 3G usb dongle into the side and you have a wireless network in the car, on the train…Multiple devices can share the connection. Set up is easy. It recognised my usb mobile data dongle without any input. The only thing I had to do was give my network a name and turn on the security settings by connecting to a PC with the ethernet cable supplied. The rechargeable battery lasts 3 hours. It reconnects automatically if it loses the mobile phone signal.

You could also use it to share information or play games over the wireless network even if you don’t have a 3G usb dongle. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5