Review: Zoom's 3G Wireless-N Travel Router

Out of the box

The name and packaging don't scream 'cool' at you, being workmanlike rather than in any way eye-catching. When you're entering a market replete with cool logos, swish marketing and savvy PR departments, you need more than a good product to get noticed. 'Zoom' is a good name, and it has a good logo, but '3G Wireless-N Travel Router' is a description, not a name. The packaging is a mess of primary colours and font sizes - box design obviously wasn't big in the budget.

Inside is a pleasingly compactly packed selection of bits and bobs: power cable, rechargeable Li-ion battery, Ethernet cable, CD, quick start guide and the router itself (model 4506). The router is a nifty light little plastic number (roughly 10x7x2cm) with four LED's and cooler vents on top and the battery cover on the back. The edges house slots for USB, Ethernet and power inputs, plus on/off, reset and WPS (WiFi Protected Setup) buttons. Everything else is pretty no frills, but solid.

Initial thoughts

As with a laptop, you can charge your battery while the router is plugged into the mains, and a fully charged battery should give you three hours of usage. Handily, the power LED will flash if it's using the battery and change colour if it's running low on charge, from green through amber to red.

The instructions are clear and everything set up for me without a hitch. It's intuitive, which is more than can be said for 3's MiFi, and generally it's a nicer package all round. Of course, you still have to get your own dongle, but the you should be able to use any dongle you like with it - plus it has the Ethernet option, so you can attach a machine via the Ethernet cable for a more secure, stable and quicker connection.

Usage

After this, it's just a case of searching for the wireless network (it will be 'zoom' on the list) with your device and away you go. The connection is unsecured as default, but there are simple instructions on how to create a secure connection in the guide - we did it step by step and it took five minutes. However, a beginner will have to go the included CD for a detailed guide of how to do this.

The Zoom router lets you choose WEP, WPA and WPA2 security (WEP is a bit rubbish and out of date now, but some game consoles, such as the Nintendo DS, only work with WEP). The instructions on the CD are clear and straightforward, although a complete novice may struggle. That said, that's hardly the fault of Zoom - some people just aren't cut out for this kind of thing, and anyone with a bit of technical nouse will be fine: anyone else can contact the supplier on the 0870 number in the instruction book. And that's that; you really are up and running in no time. It is that simple and, again, much more reassuring than the 3 MiFi.

Speed and coverage

At around 25 feet from the laptop, the Zoom 3G Wireless-N Travel Router's signal strength dropped from a full five bars (on XP) to just two bars, but connecting to the internet wasn't a problem. Beyond this distance, the connection dropped out completely. That said, this should be more than enough distance for the average user and compares well with the competition. Also, Zoom's device is wireless-N, meaning it's home to the latest in Wi-Fi technology - another advantage over the MiFi. 

Unfortunately we only had a 3 dongle to hand for speed testing, so were never likely to get whiz-bang pace (that said, it held a very solid connection). We did 15 speed tests within 30 minutes (five through Zoom, five through the 3 dongle direct, then five more via Zoom with the Ethernet cable plugged into the laptop) and saw no noticeable difference in average speeds. Also, we ran three laptops at once over the connection and the speed tests still came out about the same - pretty impressive. Well, as impressive as we were likely to get with a 3 dongle anyway (results ranged from 0.17Mb up to 1.14Mb for download speed, and were static around 0.3Mb for upload)!

Data

One grey area for this type of device is data usage. With the networks generally struggling to cope with data traffic, especially with the rise in popularity of both dongles and internet-heavy mobile deals (such as iPhone packages), usage limits are pretty stingy - so how are you meant to keep a tight reign on your usage when a few machines at once are pummelling your download limits? You'll need to be sure you keep a close eye on your usage via your provider's official site by logging in - don't trust usage calculators, as they're of no use at all in a row with your supplier. And we're not talking just unofficial ones either - even those supplied with the dongles aren't taken as reliable by the people who supply them, and neither should you!

Conclusion

I have to admit to being impressed with this bit of kit and have no hesitation in recommending it. However, you have to ask yourself who exactly is it designed for? I can see some niche uses, such as businesses or homes without a fixed-line, or as back-up for important connections, but beyond that it is a gadget with limited appeal right now due to the poor quality of mobile broadband in the UK. Sure, a group of people travelling together could use it, but how often will that happen? And is it worth shelling out £50-plus for a device that might be used once in a blue moon?

However, if you're looking for a device that will take your dongle collection into the world if Wi-Fi, look no further - even a slow connection can keep a few people online and browsing. And if mobile broadband finally starts to fulfill its promise, dragging itself to some sort of useful speed and with the providers raising the data caps, gadgets such as the Zoom 3G Wireless-N Travel Router will really come into their own. Let's just hope that by then they've thought up a snappier name for it.