Success is getting what you want; happiness is liking what you get

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Mobile Internetness

As many of our readers know we travel around in our caravan a lot and it is important to us to be able to regularly connect to the internet if for nothing else to update this blog and Jenny’s Quilting blog.

Our foray was to purchase a Sierra Wireless 326 “T” Stick from Telecom. This device has worked very well for us. We chose Telecom network mainly as our friends are on the Vodafone network and as coverage is very similar this gave us a point of difference. This T stick worked well with our laptop and as we are contemplating buying a second laptop both may need to on the internet at the same time, so it was time to purchase some type of router.

PA257571 Sierra Wireless 326 “T” Stick

Our friends have a battery 3G travel router they purchased in the UK but sadly this device is not available in NZ. Therefore I have been trolling the internet for a locally sold alternative. I dismissed the offerings from both Telecom and Vodafone as their units were locked to their systems and this limited a possible change of provider later on down the track.

To cut a long story short, I had my eye on one brand but that is not sold anymore, and looking around (Google is a great friend) I located “LevelOne WBR-6803 150Mbps Wireless 3G Travel Router”. This router supported both Vodafone and Telecom “T” Sticks. However it did not support the Sierra Wireless “T” Stick we have. (According to the Supplier) but did support Telecom’s MF190 “T” Stick

PA257563 LevelOne WBR-6803 150Mbps Wireless 3G Travel Router

I have since purchased an MF190 “T” Stick, configured the router, plugged it all up and Hey Presto it works.

PA257549 Telecom MF190 “T” Stick

Now both Sierra and LevelOne informed me that the 326 would not work with the router so the devil in me just had to try. Low and Behold it worked without a hiccup. We have not tried all this in anger yet as no money has been loaded onto either “T” Stick so the proof will be when we next are away in the caravan for an extended period. Will report back later.

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