Initial impressions on the ZTE MF60 USB Modem Mobile hotspot

I can’t tell you enough how useful a portable modem is when one is travelling outside the country. Data roaming is quite expensive and buying a prepaid SIM is a good option which I did when I vacationed in Australia for three weeks. I have a Huawei e585 portable modem which served me well the past months.

A month ago, @longbeard asked me if I was interested to buy the ZTE MF60 USB Modem . I thought it was not necessary since I can always buy the Samsung S2 to take advantage of HSPA + networks of Globe and Smart.

The state of our telecom industry is such that internet connection is never stable or fast enough. I believe in redundancy of internet connection due to my online work in editing articles, engaging with social media users and writing in my blogs. That is one reason I have most of the telecoms: SUN Broadband, Globe broadband , Globe 3G, and Smart 3G. I recently cut the Smart Bro connection because it was only giving me a speed of 256 Kbps. To think I am paying 999 pesos a month for a dialup speed.

Getting the ZTE MF60 USB Modem seemed a logical choice so I can share my internet connection with family and even blogger friends. I also need it for live streaming. So I bought the ZTE MF60 USB Modem from @longbeard (his website here) just last Monday and got it today.

This nifty pocket wifi works like my Huawei e585 except that this model supports the new HSPA+ network from both Globe and Smart which means that the portable WIFI modem can reach the 10Mbps or 12Mbps downlink speeds of the telco.

I decided to test it with a SMART SIM from one of my household staff since mine is being used by my brother. I also thought that based on the list of HSPA + sites in Manila, my location will be covered.. When I turned it on, the signal was only 3G. Shucks. I don’t know if SMART is just bluffing about their HSPA + capability or it is down right now. I will have to review this again next week.

Using the ZTE MF60 was easy. I just turned it on and waited to get connected. There is a temporary password found in the inner back cover of the modem. I then logged on to the web interface to change the default username and passwords.

Page 1 of 2 | Next page