Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2020 15:09:26 +1100
From: Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au>
To: luv-main@luv.asn.au, stripes theotoky
<stripes.theotoky@googlemail.com>
Subject: Re: Telstra 4GX Hotspot vs 4GX Wi-Fi Pro
Message-ID: <29805413.i3JmRAMY3h@xev>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
On Friday, 27 March 2020 11:14:41 AM AEDT stripes theotoky via luv-main wrote:
> I have the following question: I need to get a mobile broadband hotspot.
> Currently the telstra website shows the 4GX hotspot at $149 and the 4GX
> Wi-Fi Pro at $119. However, when clicking on buy online for the 4GX
The cheapest new Android phone that Kogan offers is $159. Second hand phones
are cheaper. Why do you want a dedicated Wifi device when you could get a
phone that does it as well as other things?
I have an ancient Telstra 3G/4G Hotspot device and have found it performs way better than my iPhone as a data hotspot. By performance, I mean the hotspot has better reception in marginal areas and data transfer speeds are higher. It also has much better battery life and is quicker to recharge. Obviously this may be affected somewhat by the number of other applications running on the phone, but that doesn't account for the whole difference.
I suspect that being a dedicated device, it's optimised for data transfer in ways that the phone isn't. It also sounds like the people in question already have phones, so the extra features aren't required.
I'm not familiar with the models being looked at and it may not be relevant, but my device also has the capability to connect an external antenna, which I've used occasionally an makes things even better.
The main downside is it's locked to the Telstra network, but given a lot of the time, I'm using it in remote 4WD touring situtaions, is not an issue because there's often no other network out there.