My Pocket WiFi

Eversince I had my iTouch last year, I've been eyeing of having a pocket wifi. Although it's not really my priority but it would somehow be an exciting device to have.

About a 3 weeks ago when I started playing Draw Something, an Apple game application, I got so addicted that I wanted to play and compete with my friends from the game. And so, just last week, I decided to get myself a pocket wifi device.

Here, in the Philippines, the 3 large network providers offers pocket wifi for both prepaid and postpaid.

Smart Communications
Postpaid:
Get the Smart Bro pocket WiFi unit on a monthly amortization of Php 150 for 24 months. Postpaid fee of only Php 495 per month, you'll get 50 hours free browsing time per month. In excess of 50 hours, you will be charged 10 pesos for every 30 minutes.

Prepaid:
Get the unit at a one time fee of Php 3,895. It is preloaded with 1 hour free browsing time. Charge for every usage is Php 10 for every 30 minutes. The load can be bought at any loading station.

Sun Cellular
Postpaid:
Sun MyFi can be bundled with your existing postpaid line. For bundled to plan 649 loyalty, the unit is free but with holding period of 24 months. Other plan 649 have one time charge for the unit of Php 2,299 if lock in at 12 months or Php 549 if lock in at 24 months. Browsing time is unlimited.

Prepaid:
The cost of the unit is Php 5,100. There are various load denominations that you can buy to better suit your brwsing needs. There's P10 for 30 minutes valid for 2 hours, P25 for 3 hours valid for 1 day, P50 for unlimited use valid for 1 day, P100 for unlimited use valid for 3 days and P250 for unlimited use valid for 7 days.

Globe Telecom
Postpaid:
Enjoy Globe Tattoo Superstick for just Php 999 per month for unlimited browsing time. Cost of the unit is additional 100 pesos to your monthly bill.  There is also a monthly plan of only Php 499 for 50 hours free browsing time.  Just the same, cost of unit will be an additional P 100 to your monthly bill.

Prepaid:
Cost of the unit is Php 3,995.  Rate of browsing time is Php 2.50 for every 15 minutes.  There are also available promos upon loading which can enable you to surf unlimited.

I'm choosing between Smart and Sun since Globe signal is sometimes weak in our area.  I already have Sun broadband and so I wanted to try Smart's services.  I plan to buy only the prepaid kit because I don't want another monthly billing in my expenses.  I've been to several Smart wireless centers but unfortunately, the unit is out of stock from their warehouse.  That's when I resort to open line units offered at various selling sites such as sulit.com.ph.

It was kinda confusing at first which unit is the best.  There are a lot of brands and models available for pocket WiFi, specifically Huawei and ZTE.  My Sun broadband unit is from Huawei.  One friend also told me that it is a better brand.  The other brand is ZTE.  I learned that Smart Bro pocket WiFi is using the same brand.  Most of the unit costs the same as the 3 networks.  Huawei is a bit expensive at Php 3,880 (cheapest model), while ZTE only costs Php 3,700 (cheapest model).  I opted for ZTE since I thought the signal will depend not on the brand of the unit but will depend from the signal of the network.

And so I bought ZTE MF30 from a reliable seller in sulit.com.ph.  I chose this over Huawei because aside from its cheaper, the pick up location is very convenient for me.  I thought I could test the unit upon pick up but it was sealed.  I just then tested it at home.

I'm not a techie person that's why I wasn't able to configure the unit at an instant.  I had to make a call to the seller the next day just to teach me how to configure it.  Good thing the seller is very accommodating.  He must have taught a lot of buyers in configuring the unit using various network sim.  I placed my Sun Broadband postpaid sim in the unit.  After a few instructions from the seller, VIOLA! I am already connected.  I can already use my pocket WiFi with my iPod touch and Blackberry all at the same time!  I am so enjoying it!

FURTHER REVIEWS:
The unit gets a bit hot after several minutes of us.  From charging time, I was able to use the unit at about 5 hours.  That's quite long hours.  I'm sure I won't be able to consume that long when I'm on the go.  I noticed though that when it's time to charge, it took forever for the unit to stop blinking the battery icon which means that it is charging.  So I'm not sure whether it is already fully charged or not.  I have also experienced an immediate red color battery icon which means that the unit is nearing draining of its battery when in fact it has been just several minutes when I unplugged the unit from its charging mode.  What I do is I just turned off the unit (its always open even when its charging) and open it again after a few minutes.  The coverage of the signal is quite huge.  When I left the unit in my room, I can still catch the signal up to our dirty kitchen.  The connectivity is quite fast, just like my sun broadband (well, after all, I'm still using the same network), even if 3 gadgets were connected in the unit.  The unit is lightweight and very portable.  I think it has the same size as Huawei.  Overall, I'm still liking my ZTE pocket WiFi.  I'm still gonna test it in the coming weeks especially its battery reliability.  After all, it's a pocket WiFi.  Therefore, it should offer great mobility.

Please read my updated review here on this pocket wifi after using it for almost a year.