Comments on: The 3 Best Unlocked Mobile Hotspots for Travelers in 2024

By: Louis

Louis

In reply to John. I had a G3 and took it to Brazil and Thailand never a problem. Upgraded to the G4 and took it to Brazil and Thailand and never a problem. No over heating. No other portable Wi-Fi comes close. I use sim cards all the time. $20 US for unlimited data for 2 weeks to a month. Can't beat that. I say give it another try

By: John

John

posted comment about glocalme g3 at https://toomanyadapters.com/best-unlocked-mifi-devices/
Don’t know if this is a one-off, but I had a very disappointing experience with the Glocalme G3. When I bought it 3 months ago in August, it worked exactly as advertised and I was initially very impressed. I got 12 hours of use on a full charge although I did notice that it got very warm and took nearly all night to charge fully from my iPhone USB adapter but that was not a showstopper. Then last month, I noticed it was getting very warm indeed (which made me wonder about the fire risk) and that it took only 48 hours to self-discharge even though it was powered off completely (which made me wonder about data harvesting). When I contacted Glocalme support about this they were singularly unhelpful, insisting that self-discharge in 48 hours was perfectly normal and demanding a video (!) to prove that it did so. Amazon have agreed to refund my money but I don’t see any alternatives with specs that look as good on paper. Glocalme seem to have replaced G3 with G4 which has similar specs, but a smaller battery. I also read that Skyroam recently sued Glocalme for patent infringement and won. It looks like Huawei 5885 may be the best alternative but it costs about $30 more than G4 …

By: Dave Dean

Dave Dean

In reply to rick v. For their CDMA networks at least, yes. As they migrate to LTE and 5G, I'd expect this to become less of an issue.

By: rick v

rick v

So for Sprint and Verizon, I need to purchase their locked mifi device/hotspot?

By: Dave Dean

Dave Dean

In reply to rick v. Not that I'm aware of, sorry. CDMA is so rare these days that there's no real incentive for manufacturers to produce MiFi devices that work with it, especially dual CDMA/GSM variants.

By: rick v

rick v

Is there any unlocked mifi that works with Sprint (CDMA 3G) and GSM (tmobile) carriers? I live in a place where only satellite or cellular wifi is available, so want to use mifi as a hotspot for multiple devices. However, I want to switch carriers if not satisfied with Sprint. Also, Sprint will deprioritize to 3G when congested

By: Dave Dean

Dave Dean

In reply to Luke. See my reply to the previous comment for my thoughts on the Huawei/spying thing as it relates to consumer devices. Regarding other options -- unfortunately no, I haven't found anything else worth recommending from other manufacturers.

By: Luke

Luke

Are there any more non-Huawei options? Unless you don’t mind China spying on you…

By: Dave Dean

Dave Dean

In reply to Mitch.

There’s been no hard evidence emerge regarding that, particularly in Huawei’s consumer devices, which is why I’m happy to recommend the company’s wireless hotspots. If that changes, I’ll be sure to make mention of it, and potentially change the recommendations.

There’s also no “federal” (ie, national government) employee ban on using Huawei devices outside the US that I’ve seen, only on installing the company’s infrastructure gear to power upcoming 5G networks. The UK seems to have backed away from even doing that in recent weeks.

By: Mitch

Mitch

Good article, one point I feel needs mentioning, Huawei has been implicated in data harvesting through its devices via specifically inserted chip. This news broke back in December last year, and has resurfaced with Australia, Great Britain and the US banning use of the devices for federal employees. Good advice for business users too IMHO.