The TechNews Lab recently received one of the most useful and awesome device all road warriors will love. For a road warrior like me, it is important to be always connected to the internet. You may argue that there’s 3G/4G for that and that’s true. Unfortunately, we need our telcos to be honest to its subscribers and tell us exactly what speeds we are to expect from their networks, as well as its coverage of the country.

Going back to the awesome device, well, it is not exactly new. One telco has a similar device already available on the market, but this one is a different. The device is a 3G-WiFi access point - one that is portable and battery-powered, you can carry it in your pocket and be a walking hotspot yourself.

The Huawei E5830 is a dual function device. First, it functions similar to those USB dongles that allow you to connect to the internet via 3G. Insert a SIM, run the software and that’s it - you can connect to the internet wherever there is a decent 3G signal. Not really new considering that this functionality is already available in USB sticks that costs 1/10 of the price of this Huawei.

The E5830’s primary function is as a portable WiFi access point that connects to the internet via the 3G network. Basically shares that 3G connection with your WiFi devices. One telco has a similar device, but you need to connect it to the mains, i.e., not battery powered.

The MiFi, as it is branded, is about 2/3rds the size of the iPhone and is very light. You can easily slip it in your pocket with no problems. I wish, though, that there’s a way to attach it to your keychain. :)

Configuring the MiFi is not that complicated BUT you need a Windows computer to do this. With the device tethered, I changed its SSID and password (comes pre-configured with its own SSID and password) and also configured it to connect to the local telco.

Whilst tethered, you can send/receive SMS and connect to the 3G network from your computer. Works without problems even if your Windows OS is a guestOS running inside VMWare Fusion on a Mac. :)
With the device configured, you simply power up the device, hit a button to connect to the 3G network and another to enable WiFi and you are off to go. Operating this is really simple!

With WiFi broadcasting, I tested it with my iPhone 3GS and Nexus One and both connected to the WiFi access point and started connecting to the internet. Pretty awesome stuff for such a small device.

Now, I can connect my two mobile phones, my Macbook Pro and my soon-to-arrive iPad and still have one WiFi client available (maxes out at 5 simultaneous WiFi clients). And yes, no need to wait for the 3G-enabled iPad! Coolness!

Unfortunately, TechNews Labs got this device from HK, so I don’t know when this will be available locally.

However, as I have mentioned that this is not really new tech, you can get JoikuSpot for your Symbian mobile phone and do the same thing - provided, of course, that your phone has WiFi, too.

Unfortunately, the software-based JoikuSpot is not as reliable, at least when I tested it, as this hardware gizmo.

Now, if only the unlimited surfing packages from our telcos are more affordable, then I’ll have the MiFi run for its full 5-hours of battery life every single day.