Three WebcubeThis is my review of the Webcube from Three UK. I have been meaning to finish and release this review for the last few weeks, but due to having a baby and then other family members being in and out of hospital, everything had to take a back seat, and I am just beginning to catch up now. You can read my first impressions of the device here.
Basically this device is like a mifi for your home, but this device needs to be plugged in for you to use it, it gets the internet through the mobile network the same as the mifi. This could be good for people who rent, have holiday homes etc as you will not have to be tied to a fixed telephone line. If you do have a second home that you rent or a holiday home, this could be something worth considering, as you could just unplug the device and control it this way, plus there is no real configuration to get the device working.
It's very very simple to set-up, all you need to do is insert the SIM and plug the device in, that's it. The routers SSID and the code to connect to the device is listed on bottom of the cube. Once it is working it has a signal strength indicator on the top of the cube to show your connection strength, just like you have on your mobile phone currently. You can see it better at night, also when the device is not being used then the lights go out, and switch on when you start using the device again. The signal strength indicator is not very will lit and you may have to cover it if its in daylight so you can see the lights. I think this could be improved my adding a small screen where you can see the current status of the device and the signal strength like on the latest mifi, so you can see if you are getting HSPA+ or a standard 3G connection, also you would easily be able to see the amount of data that has been consumed.
With regards to the Webcube it is HSPA+ enabled, so if you are in a good area you may find that this is as fast if not faster than a standard ASDL line. I have a high speed cable line at home, but it was significantly faster than a friends connection, he has a TV/Satellite/Internet/home bundle, and this was a massive improvement over his home line.
Below are just a few of the average speedtests I was taking, as you can see they have always been consistent. I took these are different times one per day
Ping Download Upload
38 5.66 0.91
38 5.43 0.87
48 5.51 0.89
40 5.63 0.90
37 5.50 0.89
One major change I think Three should do regarding the device is introduce a PAYG option, if you did have a second/holiday home, you could have this on a PAYG contract so that you can top it up and control access when people are at the property. Currently there are only two options available to you.
£15.00,10Gb a month, 1 month rolling contract and an initial cost of £59.99 to purchase the device
or
£15.99, 15Gb a month, 24 month contact and no initial setup cost
So depending on your current contract with your Internet provider, this may not be cheaper but it may be more convienient for you if you do move around, or you don't want to commit to a fixed line, as they can be a pain and a delay when moving.
I am always looking at ways to improve, and so I am always interested in feedback so feel free to add any comments to the site, or you can email me here.