[Matt Bauer]

Get the Huawei E353 instead. It's a great modem, inexpensive, has an external antenna connector (rare for USB 3G modems) and best of all supports 21Mbps. I can confirm it works great with the TP-Link routers.

[bijou]

Hi

My trusty old E270 is starting to throw out a good bit of heat now so I think it's time to change.

Has anybody tried or has any thoughts on the Huawei E355 currently on o2's website??

Cheers

[lighthouse]

I have read through all the posts in this thread. Just wondering what people think of the TP-Link TL-MR3420. It's in DID for €46. I have the E122 on Three.

[NATLOR]

I use the 3220 model with vodafone, works a treat in my apartment.Got it on Amazon for around 30 euro [they have the 3420 for 40].you can check the TP link website for dongle compatibility,the set up is very easy, would recommend their products.much better then the vodafone router, had constant trouble with that.

[eirator]

Originally Posted by lighthouse

I have read through all the posts in this thread. Just wondering what people think of the TP-Link TL-MR3420. It's in DID for €46. I have the E122 on Three.

Set up a few of them and they are a decent modem. Just be aware that the E353 HiLink version (that 3 supply) doesn't work with this or any other 3G router for that matter. I guess Matt Bauer in the post above is refering to one of the other E353 variations. Can't remember all the dongles that I've set up on that series of 3G router but all the others have worked straight off.

[Apogee]

Anyone have experience of the Dovado Doma?
http://www.dovado.com/index.php?opti...d=95&Itemid=39

'Smart USB port' feature looks interesting as I'm getting tired of power cycling a Vodafone Echolife router.

[lighthouse]

Got the TP link 3420 router in D.I.D this morning. I bought the 32" Samsung smart TV for €560. Router was €46 and he threw in an extra CAT cable valued at €6; €580 in total. Router is up and running. So far so good.

[eirator]

Originally Posted by lighthouse

Got the TP link 3420 router in D.I.D this morning. I bought the 32" Samsung smart TV for €560. Router was €46 and he threw in an extra CAT cable valued at €6; €580 in total. Router is up and running. So far so good.

Just a quick point not to get hung up about but what did you set the APN as on the router?

You can check by going to whatismyip.com and checking what your internet IP address is, if its a 92.251.255.xxx address then you might want to change the APN anything else and its on the right APN.

Edit> Question was because some of the 3G routers set up the wrong APN by default, the WRONG APN is 3ireland.ie because its the APN for 3s phones the CORRECT APN for broadband is 3internet the difference to the user is the phone APN goes through a proxy server which has a limited range of IP address in the range I posted above.

[lighthouse]

Hi my IP addresse starts with 178.xxx.xxx.xxx
I entered isp.3ireland.ie as the APN which I had seen in another post.
The phone number is *99#
I presume from your post my IP is OK?

[eirator]

Originally Posted by lighthouse

Hi my IP addresse starts with 178.xxx.xxx.xxx
I entered isp.3ireland.ie as the APN which I had seen in another post.
The phone number is *99#
I presume from your post my IP is OK?

Strange as the APN should be 3internet and your IP address is one you'd get from using that APN.

afaik isp.3ireland.ie is not a valid APN but I think APN's are read from right to left so the isp bit is irrelevant and even if you get the APN wrong 3 still normally works.

Thats why I said don't get hung up on it its working and thats the main thing - don't let me confuse things

[cuculainn]

sorry for jumping on thread, but just wanted to get peoples opinion (eirator) on this piece of kit.

Wouldn't be paying that price but it seems to tick all the boxes for what I need. I also never heard of the company before


Thanks for your help

[lighthouse]

Originally Posted by cuculainn

sorry for jumping on thread, but just wanted to get peoples opinion (eirator) on this piece of kit.

Wouldn't be paying that price but it seems to tick all the boxes for what I need. I also never heard of the company before


Thanks for your help

Don't know anything about the aerial but I just started using that router with the E122 modem. No problems so far anyway.

[cuculainn]

Originally Posted by lighthouse

Don't know anything about the aerial but I just started using that router with the E122 modem. No problems so far anyway.

Notice you are round Galway. What provider do you use and what sort of speed you getting?

[lighthouse]

I'm with Three. My speeds are faster than with the modem on it's own plugged into the laptop. I'm experiminting at the moment using the 2 APNs to see which is fastest.

[eirator]

@ cuculainn I use something very similar but in a different way

I have the router externally located in a waterproof case and the USB dongle on a 4m USB extension cable all located for the best (12% ) signal I can get from 3. I then use a similar looking WiFi antenna on the WiFi side of the 3G router to get a signal back up at the house some 300m from were the router is currently located.

I've looked at a few similar 3G antennas and price has put me off everytime. The main thing to think about for these installations with a 3G antenna is to use high quality cable kept as short as possible and good quality connectors. The shoe lace thick cables that you get on many 3G antenna an as extension cables loose more signal than you gain from a good antenna.

Edit> to keep the antenna cable short it can be worth mounting the router in a waterproof box next to the antenna and if you can't get mains power to the antenna location then PoE is one way of doing it.

Keep looking around and you'll find a lot more similar bits of kit at similar prices. Some good info and ideas in this recent thread Remote 3G Installation

@lighthouse as the limiting factor is normally the speed between you and the local mast so there shouldn't be much differnce in the APNs. The difference is in the NAT they offer for gaming, 3internet should give you an internet routable IP address with the least NAT limitations and is the one that is set up by default on 3 dongles, MiFi and Routers.