Alcatel's OneTouch Wi-Fi Link features superfast LTE-Advanced hotspots (hands-on)
With support for 3G, 4G and 4G+ networks, these affordable mobile hotspots let up to 32 devices connect at the same time.
BARCELONA -- While hotspot dongles aren't really the sexiest of devices, Alcatel's latest OneTouch Wi-Fi Link does offer superfast speeds of up to 300Mbps. These dongles come in three types, 3G, 4G and 4G+, with the 4G+ sporting 300Mbps and LTE-Advanced support. We took a look here at Mobile World Congress 2015.
The 3G model goes up to 21Mbps, while the 4G is capable of 150Mbps speeds. It's likely you won't be able to enjoy the faster 300Mbps speeds of the 4G+ dongle unless you're in countries like South Korea or Singapore, which has LTE-A networks in place.
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Besides support for 3G and 4G bands, Alcatel has made each dongle support two different battery profiles. You can choose between the 1,800mAh and the 3,600mAh battery, and these are removable, so you can hotswap them out for more uptime.
The Links come in black or white. For the Link 4G+, the dongle supports up to 32 connected devices simultaneously, while the Link 4G is capable of up to 16. The 3G version can only link up 10, but that makes sense since it's likely you'll quickly max out the 21Mbps speeds of the dongle with so many devices.
The Alcatel OneTouch Wi-Fi Link 4G is already available in the market for 89 euros ($99, £64 and AU$127). As for the other models, the 3G version will go for an affordable 59 euros ($66, £42 and AU$84) while the higher-end 4G+ will cost a bit more at 119 euros ($133, £86 and AU$170). These two dongles are expected to launch in April in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.