Customer Reviews

Aluratek 3G Portable Wireless USB Cellular Router

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Being an "IT" guy I see gadgets and new stuff all the time. Frankly a lot of it is junk or simply an infatuation with the latest thing. This however turns out to be a useful tool if you need portable, high speed connectivity and happen to have a USB 3G card. I needed something for mobile connectivity in to work. Within 15 minutes of getting the Aluratek I had exactly that, and it worked perfectly with my client based VPN. Even when in a moving vehicle!

There aren't a lot of frills, its pretty much a simple firewall with the ability to utilize 3G cards for Internet access. One really nice feature with this cellular router versus another brand I also considered is the addition of a battery, as it opens a lot of possibilities and flexibility.

The price is right and since its a simple device that didn't require hours of tinkering or fussing.

2010-10-05 Follow up: Turns out that after figuring out how to update the device firmware, it also tethers very nicely with my Blackberry Curve 8530 simply by plugging it into the USB slot with the Blackberry cable. In fact the access was consistent faster via my Sprint USB stick (both are via Sprint). The firmware was not hard to find if you Google the Zalip CDM530AM.

There are times when the unit may not be quite as strong on signal strength as I would like, it must default to 25% wifi signal when running off of battery and resetting it higher requires a router reboot. In spite of that I kept the rating at five stars due to ease of use and overall reliability. The unit fits into a small pocket of a computer bag and is easy to carry with you. The battery lasts at least several hours and that's sufficient for most purposes, and not much worse than my Blackberry 8530 when using it via bluetooth tethering.

Works excellent. Just connect and follow instructions. Now I can use my iphone, ipad & my laptop sharing the same 3G internet connection.

I bought one of these and I have used it for about three weeks.

A few observations:

It is pretty easy to configure. One thing - make sure it supports your particular 3g device because it is not upgradable. In that I mean, you can't upgrade the firmware for future sticks.

It is a little flacky. It may go for several minutes, and then you have to press the reset button on the side to make it work again.

I have no idea where central "support" is on this rig. On some websites is is listed as zaplink - and that is what is on my box. On Amazon it is Aluratek. If you go to Aluratek website, and click support - a webpage pops up and says "coming".

If you have the money, save up and get the cradlepoint sh300. It is a much better rig, albeit, more expensive. I bought this one as I was in a hurry, and Tiger Direct, who has the sh300 said there was a 4 week wait. Funny, although Amazon said this was in stock, it was about 2 weeks before they shipped it out.

So in summary, it is good, works ok, has pretty good battery life, but nothing great. The bad is that it is not upgradable, there is no support, is it a zaplink or is it an Aluratek? Who knows.

The Key selling feature of the Aluratek 3G Portable Wireless USB Cellular Router is the fact that it is battery operated and uses USB Modem connectivity to create a personal wireless network.

What the features do not tell you that this surprising little device offers more than just that. It has a LAN port which can be configured to receive or send signals so if you are thinking about converting USB connectivity to LAN, that's possible too! This feature also allows you to use this device as a conventional Wireless router (LAN Cable IN, Wireless Signal OUT)

Living in Pakistan with ISPs offering different USB Connectivity Platforms I was however limited to only a few choices of ISPs to use with this device. If you do not have a good (*reliable) EV-DO 3g/4g provider in your country you might want to think twice about this product.

I hear people complaining about signal strength in other reviews... ARE YOU SERIOUS? have you seen the size of this thing? what more can you ask from it? For Signal Strength i would give it 2 stars. For Signal strength vs Size i would give it 5 Stars. If you want more signal strength go for a non portable solution... I have successfully connected to this device in an adjoining room with a concrete wall in between with 4 bars signal strength with power and 3 bars on battery. So yes its Excellent signal strength for the size.

The one feature that i would have wanted improved was the battery life. I wouldn't have minded a slightly heavier device with a better battery. Taking it out camping or for a cross country drive on battery power? forget about it... Your Ipad or Kindle will outlast this device by a considerable amount. The battery lasts 3-5 hours depending on your usage.

Overall a Fantastic little product that does what it says. I only wish it came with a car lighter adapter for non-stop Internet Radio on the car Stereo :)

I was able to set this up in about five minutes, and it works flawlessly. What I particularly like is that you can set it up once for two scenarios: 3G to wifi and ethernet to wifi. (It auto-selects.) I also like the built-in battery.

Anyway, it's a great deal and just works.

Great product so far! I have my 3G access everywhere now and was setup within 10min. Anyone familiar with the web admin interfaces will feel comfortable with setting this router up.

Just make sure to check the 3G modem compatibility list before you buy!

I purchased this item so that other people can share my internet card. It works great. All I do is turn it on and put in my card and in seconds, any device can connect to the internet. Inital setup was easy, setp by step by step. You can set up a name and security settings for the network. If you want to connect an ethernet cable it has one in the back. I also like that is has a battery. Performance is not hindered when using the battery. This a great product! I have yet to test how it works on a road trip.

Easy setup, recommend doing advanced setup, change password from admin to another password (that way you can make sure noone runs off your internet without the password. Small unit, about the size of a blackberry.

I suspect the device itself is just fine. The problem is that the documentation is horrible. Earth to Aluratek: When you are producing a consumer device, you'll move more product if the consumer can actually figure out how to use it. Not everyone is a techno-whiz... Somebody who's a native English speaker has got to look over these manuals after they are translated. Here's an actual quote: "Press the reset button 8 seconds: the LEDs will flash 3 times, and restore the setting back to original factory defaulted setting as if your convenience of forgetting your applicable setting." Plenty of other examples like it...

I was never able to get the device to work with my 3G modem. Returning it today.

This is a quite neat product that does what it said it would do. The only difficulty was to configure it as the quick set-up instructions simply did not work. Had to download the manual, make a few attempts and eventually got it to work properly with encryption in an hour or so. Frankly, at that price, it is a very good deal.