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Resolved Question

wireless router that will accept a usb dongle modem?

Oct 24, 2011 7:29PM PDT

I have a three mobile wireless dongle/modem
i want to be able to share it, i have found you can buy wireless routers to do this, but they seem to be £60+ because they also contain a mobile receiver transmitter
my question is, is there a wireless router, that accepts a usb dongle for the modem connection rather than containing the mobile equipment? which makes it so much more expensive, as the dongle already contains the mobile part anyway

Discussion is locked

tonyuk123 has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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Nod to cradlepoint
Oct 25, 2011 2:01AM PDT

Your complaint on price seems to show you are unaware of a manufacturing idiom called "economies of scale."
Bob

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not the most helpful forum !
Oct 25, 2011 5:39PM PDT

well i have an understanding that building in a high frequency i.e. mobile phone transceiver into a product with significantly increase the price of a product, especially as the dongle you are plugging in contains that part anyway!
shame your moderators don't answer the question just feel they need to show how much better they are than 'us'
your answer could have been, no, unfortunately nobody builds such a unit
at least the one 'real person' answer was actually a bit more helpful

of course this comment may get moderated !!!!

anyway for people who are interested (and in the UK) there is a unit that cost around £60 retail which still contains the mobile phone bit, that is available at present on ebay for £30 (reconditioned)
under the name of Zoom, allows 253 connections! a bit extreme for a 7.2Mbps connection i feel
i will only be using 3 at most on mine

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You can imagine
Oct 26, 2011 3:20AM PDT

And the members will agree that some folk will be upset if a member wants this for that price and the forum can't deliver. The requester may be upset and complain folk are not helpful.

As to refurb's many members will not consider such.
Bob

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Thanks
Oct 26, 2011 5:37PM PDT

well, was a question, not a request for the forum to deliver
answering the question is better than putting someone down
often things exist that you don't know about

as for reconditioned, often it means tested and not brand new, so personal choice

as for the unit i requested, i have also found this, brand new version (on ebay) contains the mobile bit. ok, maybe unknown chinese make but probably a copy of something 4 times the price and at £20 can't be bad - Tenda 3G611R+ 3G 150Mbps Wireless Lite N DSL Router
seems to do a lot and compatible with most USB sticks
so it is actually possible

Thanks for the 'help' i think i will try a forum with more friendly moderators in future

Tony

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I can't find where you were put down.
Oct 27, 2011 7:00AM PDT

I am ready to discuss economies of scale and why it affects the price.

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Answer
Re: router
Oct 24, 2011 8:01PM PDT

I'm afraid that connecting to the outside world via a USB-stick is more expensive to make than connecting via Ethernet. And the market for such a device currently is smaller, so it's quite understandable they are more expensive.

Kees

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Answer
usb router
Oct 24, 2011 10:20PM PDT

This is fast moving technology and is very non standard. Like PC used to be the routers need custom drivers written for each model of dongle. The key reason for the costs is you are paying for this development. In many cases the router manufacture has to license parts of the software so you pay those costs too.

Your best bet is cradlepoint. They make many routers that take the USB sticks. They also make routers that can take USB modems from multiple vendors at the same time. Still these are not what you would call cheap but they are a little less than some of the ones that actually contain the wireless radios. Be very careful to research their compatibility they support most models but some of the real new ones are not there yet.