Of late, I've discovered like others that having gadgets can have benefits as well as downsides. For instance, I have a phone that is just has a prepaid SIM card in it but I would like to upgrade to 3G connectivity but I can't be bothered upgrading my SIM card. As such, I'm reliant on free Internet WiFi hotspots for my connectivity and sometimes even swapping the 3G SIM card from my wireless dongle into my phone when I'm especially desperate. The time was nigh though when a series of devices were produced which had possessed certain things I had in mind though. One of them was the Netcomm 3GT1WN, while another was the Edimax 3G-6200n. Both are similar in that they allow you to insert a wireless USB 3G modem in order to establish a connection, both have a wireless hotspot capability, but most of all they both have the ability to be able to utilise an existing Ethernet based technology in order to use for WAN connectivity or to otherwise use as a LAN port for connection via 3G for when your primary connection goes down (which I have recently been having problems with during the last two weeks. Hence, my interest in these gadgets.). They differ though in the total number of devices they support as well as the battery life. Battery life on the Netcomm device is almost double that of the Edimax (4 vs 1.5) based on reviews on other websites. Moreover, while the Edimax supports about several dozen odd modems the Netcomm seems to support most modems on the market today making it a possible permanent solution for your routing problems. My only real gripes with it may be the occasional stall due to multiple concurrent connections sharing the same bandwidth, the slightly bulkier size, occasional stalls (that may be network related), and a sluggish web interface. I would also like the ability to have both separate WAN/LAN ports. Apart from that it is sensible price effective backup solution for your networking needs.
