3's Mobile Broadband Router

These devices are ideal for businesses that need to give a small team internet access on the road, or for use as a safety net for small offices if the regular ADSL connection fails.

We've previously tested Telstra's Turbo 7 Series Wireless Gateway, as well as the Linksys WRT54G3G, D-link DIR-451 3G Mobile and Billion BiPAC 7402NX but now 3 also has a modem.

The mobile routers we've tested all showed solid speed and a range of features you'd expect on a wireless router during our testing - how does 3's offering compare?

The 3 Wi-Fi Router uses a Huawei D100 modem. The compact (112 x 91 x 27mm), box-shaped 3 Wi-Fi Router slips easily into a laptop bag. The hinged modem slot allows you to raise the dongle like an aerial for maximum reception, and then neatly stows within the modem during transit.

These 802.11bg devices don't take advantage of the latest draft-n standard, but at the speeds the mobile broadband connection is going to deliver that's hardly necessary. In fact, the router was marginally faster over Wi-Fi than plugging an internet stick modem straight into a PC (2.1Mbits/sec compared to 2Mbits/sec).

Used in conjunction with 3's E160G modem we achieved an average actual throughput of 1.7Mbits/sec using its router's Wi-Fi connection, compared with the 2.3Mbits/sec we achieved with the modem plugged straight into the laptop. However, we had severe problems with the supposedly superior E180 dongle, which dawdled along at near dial-up speeds when plugged into the router.

Despite the diminutive size and lack of external aerials, the 3 Wi-Fi router delivers decent wireless range - we maintained a strong connection from 75ft away across an office, and even from adjacent rooms. But both struggled when moving between floors and, despite offering UPnP support, both had difficulty delivering a decent stream to an internet radio.

Yet this router is capable of bringing basic broadband to areas of the home and office that can't get a signal from an ADSL/cable router.