Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot

Full specifications | 1 Comment

Review

It’s easy enough for one device to get online via 3G, but about when there are two or three? That’s the problem that gadgets like the Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot are designed to solve.

In short, the Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot is a battery-powered 3G modem that other devices connect to via Wi-Fi — which makes it ideal for areas where there’s no nearby Wi-Fi hotspot. It’s also simpler than trying to share a 3G USB dongle plugged into one laptop and cheaper than paying for two or three mobile data deals at once if you have a few 3G gadgets. The term that’s cropped up to describe such devices is ‘Mi-Fi’ — pretty appalling, but it looks like we’re stuck with it.

The Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot is about as big as two 3G USB dongles placed side by side, which means it’s still extremely portable and light enough to slip into a pocket unnoticed. Unlike similar devices from other manufacturers, there’s only one button to press to get started, but once you’ve waited a few connections for a 3G connection to be established, there’s nothing else to worry about.

Both 3G and Wi-Fi are turned on at the same time and the Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot appears as just another Wi-Fi access point. The default password is printed inside the battery compartment and, with a connection established, your laptop or smartphone then thinks it’s online via Wi-Fi, but it’s actually piggy backed on the Novatel’s 3G connection.

Up to five devices can connect to the Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot at once, but the bandwidth of the 3G connection is obviously shared between them. A full-strength HSPA connection provides a 7.2Mbit/s downstream and a 5.76Mbit/s upstream though, which is more than enough for web browsing and email.

The only hitch here is that the Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot doesn’t provide any indication of how strong the 3G signal is — just whether there is one or not. This information comes from a single LED that lights up in five colours, with two different states for each (solid and flashing) to indicate what the device is up to.

Unless you’ve memorised the appropriate page from the manual, this can make figuring out what the Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot is up to a little tricky. There’s also no indication of how much charge is left in the battery, but the Novatel Wireless 2352 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot isn’t alone in either of these regards and all Mi-Fi devices could do with a simple LCD display to give a clearer idea of what’s going on.

• 1
• 2

We couldn't find any prices for this other-stuff. Click for our full other-stuff price comparison