Customer Reviews

Option iCON 452 USB Modem

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I picked this modem up a few years ago because I was looking for a 3G GSM modem that would work with T-Mobile and AT&T in the US. As you might guess, this can be a pain because T-Mobile has the AWS 3G allocation, whereas AT&T has the frequencies the rest of the world is using for the most part. I've gotten close to the 7.2 MB speeds in Newark, NJ and Bellevue, WA so no complaints as to whether or not the device itself can perform, though your local network will obviously vary.

I've gotten it to work on Windows, Mac OS X and more recently, my Cradlepoint PHS300 (it didn't work until a firmware update sometime this year). If you want just one 3G GSM card to take around when traveling, this is it.

I got this modem mostly to use it abroad (but also with T-mobile), so I didn't use it much yet, besides for checking to see if it works.

I can't comment much about the speed and other factors, because I didn't get to use it for real life situations, but the USB connector is a few millimeters shorter than a normal connector, and because of that it won't go all the way in some USB ports. This causes it to come out at the slightest move, so you better hold your laptop VERY still while using it. I think I will take Dremmel and remove a bit of the plastic near the connector so that it can go in deeper and be more stable.

Other thoughts: I live in an area with very poor signal, EDGE only. My cellphone can connect (barely) if I put it in a window. This modem does not appear to maintain a connection, and haven't been able to transfer data with it.

So, I bought this product, thinking I could use my SIM from my company blackberry to actually work from my laptop while traveling. Needless to say, I have not been able to connect to the internet. The instructions in the PDF must be referencing different software because I don't have a "more settings" option when GlobalConnect is open. And, no my PIN is not enabled. Wast of money thus far.

The product itself is great, I was just unlucky that I received a used product instead of new but needed it and did not have the patience to go back and forth.