Three's new MiFi (E585) First Impressions

[Hands0n]

Firstly a bit of history.

I have recently returned to Three's network by way of their MiFi on an 18 month contract at £15 for 5GB per month. In terms of sheer value it was a 2GB improvement over that which I was getting from Vodafone for the same price.

They say that timing is everything, and it is well known for me to buy in just ahead of a product update. It must be some residual techno-karma from something I did very wrong to an item of technology earlier in my life. There can really be no other explanation. My advice to anyone contemplating buying something that I am after is to wait a few days to see if my own karmic cloud strikes, as it often does.

Anyroadup, it was an E5830 MiFi that I picked up at the Bluewater (Kent) Three store. That is the one with the white casing, silver fascia, three buttons (those being Power, WiFi and 3G) and four coloured lights that tell you various things (Power, WiFi, 3G and Battery).

The E5830 in use
I am predominantly an Apple Mac user these days. I do have a Windows 7 Netbook laying about in my study, but it really is only here for those awkward times where I really cannot get away without use of MS Windows.

This, then, was one of those times.

Out of the box the E5830 requires a Windows computer for it to install Three's 3Connect application. That allows you to configure the E5830 to your requirements, things like SSID and WPA passphrase. After that you can connect to the MiFi using any WiFi compatible device, in my case a MacbBook Pro and an iPad. It all works sweet. But any changes to the MiFi require you to use the 3Connect application in Windows again. Not entirely useful to me or any non-Windows user.

Bring on the E585
And so today I updated myself to the newly available E585 MiFi from Three. I bought one on PAYG and popped my contract SIM into the new device (on the right, below).

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Now, it does say in the instructions that you should charge the E585 up for a minimum of 8 hours. That is not particularly bad advice, but it is a bit excessive for a Li-Ion battery, particularly if you are in a bit of a rush to start making use of the device. Fortunately the battery in both MiFi are the same so I swapped them and put the new battery on the 8 hour charge in the E5830, using the fully charged battery in the new E585.

Powering up
The first power up of the new MiFi seemed to take ages. A long press on the power button is required, which then lights up and the MiFi goes into its first initialisation. I would say that it took a full minute for the OLED display to fire up - it is neatly hidden behind a mirrored lens on the MiFi. Then various symbols told me that the WiFi had started, battery power was on, the data counters appeared but no 3G.

Possibly another minute passed and the 3G symbol lit up, followed by the signal strength bars and shortly after a globe that I suppose represents the Internet. Oh, and of course the network operator's ID, in this case a "3".

Connecting to the MiFi
Out of the box the MiFi has a default set of SSID and WPA passphrase. These are printed on three silver labels - two inside the MiFi itself and one on a "Keepsake" card. Use this information to connect your PC/Mac/iPad/etc as you would connect to any WiFi hotspot/router

At this point, once done, you could just start accessing the Internet without doing anything else. I wouldn't advise it though. I think that it is not particularly safe to use out of the box settings for security and so a little bit more work is required.

Configuring the MiFi
The first thing I needed to do was to customise the MiFi to my own particular standards of SSID and WPA passphrase. This time, however, I was able to use the Mac's Safari web browser to connect to the URL http://3.home/ which then brings up Three's web-based MiFi "dashboard". This is a new innovation that completely removes the need to use Windows or install any 3Connect software. A screen shot of the dashboard viewed on an iPad is below.

From the dashboard you are able to do a number of things, in this case I clicked on "Change your settings" and entered the default password which is 'Admin' (that also gets changed).

The MiFi in use
In a word ... simples. Once you have connected your device to the MiFi's WiFi you are then able to access the Internet in all of its glory. There may be a few exceptions caused by Three's own network restrictions, check with them if you have a specific requirement.

Up to five concurrent WiFi connections are supported by the MiFi. You can have configured very many more, but only five may be connected to it at any one time.

In use, the MiFi can be placed anywhere within reasonable radio reach of your WiFi devices and, of course, sensibly placed to received the 3G mobile network signal. I would avoid the dashboard of a car, that can get very hot in the sunlight. But anywhere shaded and within sight of the windows would do. The same would apply within a building of any kind.

Network Speed
The actual network speed of the new MiFi surprised me. With the E5830 I was usually lucky to get something a bit less than 2Mbps. But with the new E585 I was routinely picking up 3.5Mbps from exactly the same location. This could be a time of day thing, I really cannot tell for sure. But it most definitely has been operating noticeably quicker for web page displays and file downloads.

Conclusion
The Three MiFi is a marvelous little device. Even in this lengthy article I have barely scratched the surface of its capabilities. Inside that tiny casing is a full-fledged WiFi Internet router with all of the capability you may expect of a more regular network device. It has Firewall, DMZ, Port Forwarding, UPnP, MAC access control, the lot.

I can readily recommend the Three MiFi to anyone needing on-the-go Internet. Particularly I can recommend the MiFi for use with an iPad rather than purchasing a dedicated 3G iPad which is precisely my reason for buying one. It saves you £100 on the iPad and the 3G/HSPA mobile data can be shared with friends and family.

Get one now

The MiFi Dashboard
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Dashboard for the older MiFi
Believe it or not, for some inexplicable reason Three had Huawei, the manufacturer of the MiFi, remove the Web Dashboard from the original MiFi which dramatically narrows its usefulness to Windows PCs.

But all is not lost - the braver among you are able to gain a Web Dashboard if you reflash the MiFi with a generic Huawei firmware. The discussion about this is here https://talk3g.co.uk/showthread.p...9288#post39288

All of the usual disclaimers apply. You do this yourself, your warranty with Three is probably gone, read everything three times before attempting the task, download all of the required files and make sure that you have everything to hand. Oh, and you will need a Windows PC to perform the task.

[Ben]

I just know that this little thing is going to be an impulse buy next time I'm wondering aimlessly around Canterbury... eek!

Great writeup and pictures, Hands0n, it really does look like a superb update to the original.

[Ben]

In this new version, can things like WiFi timeout be configured in the web interface? I'd want to set one up so WiFi timeout is disabled (never turns off) and connection is Auto (always connected). I take it that's possible now without generic firmware?

[Hands0n]

Yup - it is in the settings somewhere ... IIRC it is the Connection settings where you set up all that stuff. But I don't think the WiFi ever times out ... that would make the SSID go down, and that would never do

[Ben]

WiFi had a 10 minute timeout on the E5830

Ok, thanks for that. Weighing up my options at the mo.

[3GScottishUser]

The £50 is burning a hole in my pocket but I have yet to figure out what I would do with a MiFi. I am a single user and my new Android handset provides decent browsing so its back to the occasional times when I am outwith Wifi coverage on my laptop or Netbook. I can servce those with a dongle easily and it's smaller and easier to carry than a MiFi, self powered too. So I need some real benefits other than buying a bit of technology for the sake of owning it to part with £50 for a MiFi. If someone can come up with a convincing reason to get one I'll place an order.

PS: I don't browse the net on a laptop and play interactive games on a PSP whilst driving!!

[Ben]

It's definitely a product I *needed* before the iPad. Now I just find it so much simpler, I loath dongle software!

Just FYI, my Nexus One has an option in settings to turn it into a hotspot. It "just works" with my Voda settings, so if your phone has the option then give it a try Then you wouldn't need one anyway if it's just the odd occasion.

[Hands0n]

That WiFi Hotspot feature in Android is only available since Froyo (Android 2.2) and later. Hopefully Samsung will update the Galaxy S to Froyo in due course. But given their previous track record I wouldn't be placing any firm bets on it. That is not to say they won't, I'm just not a betting man

So as soon as Samsung do that then 3GSU has absolutely no excuse whatsoever to purchase a MiFi - perhaps tweak his mobile data allowance a bit, although even that sounds unnecessary given the old fella's use of the Tinterwebs on the go.

[3GScottishUser]

Froyo (Android 2.2) has been scheduled for release in September on the Galaxy S. All of the networks will get it around the same time and thankfully Vodafone have learned the lesson about tinkering with branding on the HTC (they withdrew it after complaints) so I expect their update to be generic apart from preferred roaming networks etc.

[Ben]

Well, now I have the MiFi on the mains providing Vodafone GPRS as my sole means of Internet access It's a fantastic device, unlocked just in time, but a few Kbps is unbearable! Oh, the suffering...

[Ben]

Right, yep, mind made up. Going to pick up an E585 for my Three SIM next time I pass a Three store.

Swapping SIMs is just a pain in these routers, I'd rather carry around two, flick them both on, and use whatever reports the best reception.

Had my MiFi in my pocket at Bluewater today (Voda SIM), iPad in hand. Works so well, no faffing about! Still on it now

[Hands0n]

I absolutely love the concept of WiFi on the move. It just gets rid of so much other clutter that we used to have to put up with USB Dongles. Finally, the physical de-coupling of devices has come about. And it is good.

The E585 is a very polished and accomplished device and a fairly significant update to the E5830. Although I did install the generic Huawei firmware on the E5830 which makes it functionally very similar to the E585 (Web Interface, Always Connected, simpler use of the buttons etc.). If this is the standard of quality and functionality we can expect from Huawei then the rest of the manufacturers had better be on their toes. The Chinese are not coming, they're here, and how!

[Ben]

Very much looking forward to trying the E585, as the E5830 with generic firmware has completely come into its own.

It's so practical being able to just chuck out a hotspot, and the ability to place it anywhere is far more practical when our mobile networks have such poor coverage. USB dongles have been over miniaturised, resulting in poor signal I've found. Add in dire software and they're absolutely no match for a MiFi from Huawei.

[Ben]

Welcome to Talk3G! Oh completely, I can't believe dongles aren't dead already tbh O_o