Anyone Used a Portable Wi-Fi Modem for Home Internet? Any Recommendations?

illumination on 30/03/2022 - 04:30

TLDR: What mobile WiFi device would you recommend that takes a SIM Card? Or should I just keep hotspotting off my old Redmi Note 4? Any reason I should not follow through with this plan? I plan to do this because mobile data is now basically cheaper than home internet; at least for my use case.

Full version:

With mobile data getting cheap, I'm going down the path of not buying any home internet and just purely relying on mobile internet. It's just my wife and I at home, so we just need to have data allowances that are beefy enough for us individually. Neither of us do any gaming or anything that demands low latency.

I've already been doing this for a few days and I've just been hotspotting off an old Redmi Note 4. I've taken some work calls, done some Teams meetings, etc. but I'm getting nervous about relying on this as a permanent solution in the context of the strain it might put on the device/battery.

I've considered getting a router which takes a SIM card, but then I thought - why don't I just get one of those portable WiFi modems - similar to the ones you sometimes rent when you travel?

Relative to a SIM Card Router, here are some pros/cons I've thought of

Pros
  • Portable (i.e. you can bring it out with you, and you can adjust the point from which WiFi is emitted very easily)
  • Cheaper than a router
Cons
  • (Assumption) Limited range, but somewhat offset by the first advantage
  • (Assumption) Slower than a SIM Card Router
  • Given that they run on battery, I would imagine they may not be as durable as a SIM Card router that has no battery and has to rely on being plugged in
  • Limited connections (typically limited to 10 devices, I think)
  • No 5G Support (in the price range I'm looking at) - but I would think most SIM Card Routers don't support 5G either?
Questions
  • Anything else I should consider?
  • Does anyone have any experience with doing this, and have any specific device recommendations?

One other small point to take note of - I'm living in Singapore, so the devices I have available to me might be a tad different to what's available to the Australian market (I'll probably be buying from Shopee/Lazada/Carousell rather than AliExpress/eBay/Gumtree). Nonetheless, I trust the Ozbargain crowd immensely, hence why I'm tapping on the knowledge here rather than trying to get a more "localised" perspective.

Mobile Mobile Broadband Modem

Comments

  • WorldClassMiser on 30/03/2022 - 06:56
    +2

    I use a Huawei E5577 4G modem on Optus network. Works fine for me. Should be available in Singapore. I can't comment on battery life since I always use it plugged in to either computer or mains power.

  • JIMB0 on 30/03/2022 - 07:50
    +2

    Old mobile phone works well.

  • Archi on 30/03/2022 - 08:43
    +1

    if you have good 4G/5G reception then i don't see a problem …

    we recently had trouble with our NBN and got a 4G optus mobile broadband dongle… in our area mobile reception wasn't great so connecting a myriad of devices across a 6 person household was extremely frustrating…

  • FoxJump on 30/03/2022 - 09:16
    +1

    I also recently had trouble with NBN.

    I before and after NBN was fixed I had:
    NBN box -> Deco X60 -> wifi

    While it was failing I had instead
    Moto X Force on 4G vodafone -> GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext -> Deco X60 -> Wifi

    I worked okay.
    Every morning i'd check the signal on the mobile phone and reposition it so it was better.

    it would drop out at times, but normally came back. There were some slow parts of the day ocasionally too.

    It had a SNR of -103 db as it's BEST scenario. Typically was -110db to -115db but sometimes as bad as -120 db (at which point it was useless)

    NBN is way better though, connection is solid, no drop outs, no speed variances. No dropouts is good as I dont have to reconnect to the VPN at work multiple times a day.

  • USER DC on 30/03/2022 - 09:38
    +1

    I am on Vodafone home internet, they gave me Nokia 5G fast mile modem on like a rental (with me paying nothing if i stay with them for 36 months), and if i return it in good working condition when i cancel my plan, i would have paid nothing for the modem

  • Switchblade88 on 30/03/2022 - 12:04
    +1

    Upgrading to a dedicated hotspot won't provide you any advantage. They generally have the same drawbacks as a phone hotspot (only 4G, only 10 devices etc).

    Remember, if your phone is in use while charging/charged you are NOT straining the battery. You're pulling current directly from the charger until/unless you draw more than the charger can provide.

    If you do need more wifi devices, an easy solution is to plug your hotspot phone into a compatible router that can utilise it as a WAN connection (compatibility does vary by router brand though). This means the phone is only acting as a 4G connection and the router takes the brunt of wifi routing, which will reduce most of the load on the phone.

    • illumination on 30/03/2022 - 20:36
      +1

      Ah, thanks, this is really helpful. And to be honest, makes me feel like there is really no reason for me to get a portable WiFi modem

      I was thinking the strain on the battery was more of a heat issue. Isn't there also the issue of a phone being constantly plugged in not being good for the battery?

      If you do need more wifi devices, an easy solution is to plug your hotspot phone into a compatible router that can utilise it as a WAN connection (compatibility does vary by router brand though). This means the phone is only acting as a 4G connection and the router takes the brunt of wifi routing, which will reduce most of the load on the phone.

      How does this work? Is this just as simple as plugging in a phone to a router that is capable of taking USB? This is an interesting idea which never crossed my mind.

      • Switchblade88 on 30/03/2022 - 21:03

        a heat issue

        This is a potential issue, but remember most electronics are actually quite comfortable up to 80 degrees. VRAM in a GPU will even get to 105deg C before being out of spec! If it just feels warm to touch that's perfectly fine, even for extended periods.

        constantly plugged in not being good for the battery?

        Nope, as I noted before. This was true back in the bad old days of NiMH and NiCad, but Lipo's all have the monitored chargers for balancing and bypassing as needed.

        How does [tethering] work?

        Most routers with DDWRT or OpenWRT seem to be compatible - Google 'router USB tethering'. I have used it successfully on an Asus RT-AC68U. Some even have inbuilt SIM card slots like the Telstra Smart Modem 2 (Technicolor DJA0231) which just needs your SIM card (though firmware might need to be 3rd party if not using a Telstra SIM… a bit tricky in Singapore!)

        • illumination on 22/04/2022 - 03:02

          I've looked into this USB tethering via smartphone option a little bit more. It seems like it's a pretty good option and I will probably go down this path.

          As for whether I need to get OpenWRT installed on the router, it seems like no, unless I specifically want the features of OpenWRT. Otherwise, I just need to find a router that supports USB tethering via smartphone, and it seems like the majority of ASUS Routers fulfil this criteria.

          I've also heard that there's some GL.iNet thing which is a fork of OpenWRT with even better support for this but I don't really understand what I've found hahaha

  • shane2770 on 31/03/2022 - 15:36

    I'm using a Felix Sim in a Redmi note 5 Pro mobile phone and it has unlimited device connection to hotspot on a full charge the fone gets 15hrs then I just trickle charge overnight with a 1a charger it's been going strong for 2 year's now

    • alex123711 on 05/06/2022 - 22:06

      Is the trickle charging better for the battery?

  • shane2770 on 05/06/2022 - 22:13

    I find it is. as higher rate chargers can decrease the battery Life quicker

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