Home Reviews ,,,,, We are in a phase of change in the mobile phone industry. Competition has arrived and the first effect is the lowering of prices or, if you prefer, the multiplication of gigabytes available, for companies, professionals and individuals.
There are two possible solutions : supercharge your smartphone with data (better if equipped with a double sim card: one for voice and the other only for data, too bad the iPhone do not do it even if there are rumors that some devices that will be presented in September perhaps only for the Asian market could have this feature) or have a small pocket hotspot.
There are different reasons for choosing between tethering from your phone and wireless router. For an on-the-fly connection of the computer, the phone is all it takes. But when things get systematically more complex, with all the gadgets to keep online, the phone is no longer enough.
The purpose of those who take the hotspot is to manage the devices we carry with us in a more fluid way: telephone, tablet, laptop, any smartwatch and other connected devices. Ten devices in the same cloud, perhaps for a family holiday or for a meeting without connectivity with five or six colleagues, or for an inspection in an area with no traditional connection.
The Tp -Link M7200
Telephone companies rent hotspots but it is not convenient with the competition: you can find excellent products at very low prices. Together with the Nokia 8110 4G 2018 I tried the M7200 model of Tp-Link for the summer: 59.99 euros on Amazon – in discount at 42.99 euros these days , up to to 10 connected devices, 2,000 mAh battery that lasted 8-9 hours in a row in the field, very simple management with the tpMiFi app (iOS in my case but also Android or by connecting via local web).
Connectivity is from 3G up to 4G: FDD / TDD-LTE from 150Mbps download and 50Mbps upload (i.e. not compatible with 4G + 300/600 Mbps), and is instead compatible with all the devices around that can connect to an old or new WiFi network. As for the ability to travel, the wifi router connects to Umts and 4G networks around the world , so it is perfect both as a tool for the city and for travel abroad ( outside Europe or Switzerland, if you do not use Fastweb as an operator) where you need a connection perhaps with a local sim.
It recharges with the micro-Usb cable, its wi-fi holds up to 300 Mbps on 2.4 GHz (therefore also old mobile devices) with 802.11b / g / n standard , with various possible levels of Wpa2 encryption and connection filtering. Minimum dimensions: 9.4 cm by 5.7 cm by 2 cm thick. The model under test does not have a mini SD card slot to make shared storage in the local network.
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How it is made and how the Tp is going -Link M7200
I found it pleasant to the touch, light, sturdy, logical and simple with a single on-off button, three indicators (field, battery, transmission), a sim card slot and no additional slot for SD memory card (reserved for high-end and higher cost products). The configuration, through the app, in my opinion is so trivial that it is almost not needed since most of the APNs are preloaded. In case (as happened using Iliad's sim card) the Apn is not already provided, the setting is very simple and fast.
I found the ability to monitor and manage data traffic very useful, marking thresholds, limiting speed and range. Defects of the app: the inability to reset the administration password if not physically on the device (preferably a recovery by email) and to update the firmware if not via the browser . Instead, that is possible by accessing the local administration web page at the usual address 192.168.0.1.
I used the M7200 router in the countryside with my family, traveling with colleagues, abroad just before leaving for the holidays (Taiwan, Hong Kong and USA with disposable sims from Taiwan, Hong Kong and T-Mobile), to have a few days of connectivity. I can't find serious faults with a sturdy and light device , except that the battery could last a little longer (maybe exceed 10 hours) since the dimensions are not a limit, the three LEDs could be brighter (during the day you can see badly especially during the ignition phase, but I am a fan of solutions without an LCD panel because it consumes and makes the use of the device more laborious) and that perhaps in perspective a plug Usb-C for charging would have been more useful than the old micro-Usb.
Reliability, simplicity and very low cost in my opinion are the strength of Tp-Link's M7200. The device has no problems working even with old sim data , however, you must be careful because the sim slot, which is under the battery, requires “full” sims , the mini sim (the largest cut, immediately after the credit card size one), and it is necessary to have micro and nano adapters with you in case our data card has already been cut and reduced to the minimum terms. I solved it without problems because, in a small, old metal box for licorice candies , I have a complete set of sim adapters, liquid metal sticks to open iPhones and Android phones, and a couple of sims always ready for when I'm traveling abroad.
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In conclusion
Moreover, today's working mode very often requires connecting with corporate devices from public networks, for example at the airport or on the train, and being able to count on a preferential connection channel, more secure because it passes directly from the computer to the hotspot and from this to the telephone provider without anyone else being connected to the same network, sometimes it is essential for the security and in general for the reliability of the connection. But also for the holiday home , for a weekend out of town in an AirBnB, to maybe use a sim local data that is not limited to the few European roaming data, this solution is so cheap that it is almost a shame not to use it. The speed that stops at 150 Mbps that is 4g without the “+” is absolutely not a problem, given the real conditions of use of our local networks and the practical speeds that can actually be achieved.
Tp-Link M7200 technical characteristics:
Retail price
M720i Tp-Link: 59.99 euros on Amazon – discounted at 42.99 euros these days.
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