Pocket Wi-Fi repeater. I satisfy your interest

29.05.2024 Errors

For work, I need Internet access in the field - in the car, at the address, sitting on the roof... At one time, I bought a laptop with a built-in Intel 5150 card that supports networks using WiFi and WiMax technology and allows you to switch between modes with three clicks. But then changes came and WiMax was replaced with LTE, which in the first days worked simply disgustingly. Therefore, we urgently had to look for a replacement, since the six-month subscription was running out. The dual 3G/LTE modem Huawei E392 was chosen, but the experience of working with a USB-connected modem, waiting for it to be detected by the machine and the speed of raising the link left much to be desired. You could wait a long time for a built-in solution, but you want to work comfortably right now. Therefore, a mobile wifi router with a battery and support for USB modems - TP-Link MR3040 - was purchased on e-bay. Which is what I want to talk about now.
Photos with a littered horizon, taken on the refrigerator - inside. They don't weigh much, but on a mobile phone it's neat.

I’ll say right away that the purchase in Hong Kong and delivery to St. Petersburg cost me the same price as buying a similar device here. It so happened that this lot caught my eye and the idea came to mind that I needed to get such a router.
The parcel arrived in less than three weeks. The box was absolutely intact and not even wrinkled.

On the side of the box, the manufacturer described the purpose of the connectors and buttons, and also tried to boast of battery life - 4-5 hours.

But we are interested in the content. We open the white box and see a white router under the transparent cover.

Under the cardboard with the device lies the rest of the package, which, according to the plan, should be enough to start full-fledged work: a power adapter with a British plug (Hong Kong was a British colony until the end of the 20th century), an adapter for a European plug, a USB -> MicroUSB cable for charging (a convenient solution that allows you to charge both from a power outlet and from any device with a USB output), as well as a short, 30-40 centimeters, network patch cord made of a flat cable. There was also a 2000 mAh battery, but by the time of the photo shoot it had already settled inside the router. Why this kit will not be enough - read on.

On one side of the device there is a power switch and a charging connector; this connector has no other functionality.

At the end there is a USB connector, FastEthernet, a hole with a reset button and a small arrow telling you where to pull the cover to get to the battery compartment. The lid is flimsy, opening is very awkward - you are constantly afraid of breaking the plastic hooks, which do not look very reliable. You won't have to open it often, so it's forgivable.

The router itself has quite pocket-sized dimensions, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but thinner. The body is entirely made of glossy snow-white plastic, with the exception of the end inserts.

On the top side there are 4 LED indicators: Internet connection, WiFi activity, Ethernet and power.
When turned on, they light up green, when charging, the power indicator lights up orange, when the battery is low, it turns red, and when the battery is ready to die right away, all 4 start blinking.

And now about what was missing in the starter kit. The entire complex of a router and a modem connected to it is of a completely indecent length and makes you fear for the mechanical safety of both. In addition, the modem and router status indicators are on opposite sides.

Apparently, the engineers imagined these problems, but they could have installed a short USB cord right away, they wouldn’t have lost much, and it would have been more convenient for the user.

As for the admin panel, it is standard for most routers, with the exception of the Operation Mode item

When you first start, you are offered a choice of mode: the router can use a modem as an Internet source and distribute it via WiFi, share a wired connection, act as a simple access point (radio extender) or receive WiFi from the provider and distribute it also for the internal network - the so-called WISP Client Router

The router can also maintain a connection with the provider via cable, but keep 3G in reserve and vice versa: the mobile Internet will be the main one, and the cable link will be the reserve. No one forbids you to choose the first option, for which the router was bought - to distribute from a modem.

The 3G/4G settings are quite simple: select the region and provider, connection mode - on request, automatically and manually. With Megafon's 4G modem it worked immediately and without dancing with a tambourine.

The router has the latest firmware version 120822, which can be downloaded from the official website. It differs from the previous one, at a minimum, in advanced WiFi encryption settings. Since the device was flashed immediately, there are no screenshots of the old firmware left. No one expected to see a decrease in speed compared to working with a modem directly. here it all depends on the capabilities and tariffs of the provider: while sitting at work, I get 8 megabits of 4G from a tariff limited to 10 megabits.
Now about the sad stuff. Fairy tales about 4-5 hours of battery life in real conditions turned out to be fairy tales. Perhaps such a period can be achieved if you distribute wired Internet via WiFi (why buy a battery-powered router when connected to a cable?), but with USB modems, it seems to me that this is impossible. Even giving a discount on the gluttony of the 4G monster, which heats up no worse than a frying pan and lasted an hour and a half from the built-in battery. With an ordinary “deer”, it seems to me that the battery will not last more than three.
I'll try to summarize.
Pros:

low price (about $50 or 1500 rubles)
fully functional admin panel with all the features of modern routers
intelligent design, both aesthetically and functionally
ease of setup
standard microUSB cable for charging

Minuses:

short battery life
lack of clear indication of battery charge level
the case is easily soiled, the snow-white plastic is not very practical
flimsy battery compartment cover (it is doubtful that people will look into it until the death of the “tenant”)
lack of a USB-male/USB-female adapter for connecting a modem

Don't kick me, I'll try to answer your questions in the comments.
Only specialized hubs are available; can moderators transfer them to “Devices for Geeks”?

UPD I forgot the most important advantage: you can connect a phone, a tablet, a laptop, or even a TV to the router. And it will be one SIM card and one payment for all devices.

This article will help those people who have heard about the existence of portable Wi-Fi routers, but do not fully understand what it is and what this device is intended for. It is also suitable for those who have already decided to purchase a portable Wi-Fi gadget, but do not know how to choose correctly among the many models presented on our market.

Let's start with what kind of device this is and the areas of its application.

A portable Wi-Fi router is a mobile device that receives a signal from the operator’s network and transmits the Internet via a Wi-Fi network. You can connect to it any device that can receive the Internet via Wi-Fi (phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, TVs, IPTV players). Moreover, you can connect several devices at the same time. The portable Wi-Fi router operates in the 802.11 b/g/n standard (up to 150 Mbit/s). The range of the average model is 10-20 meters.

Portable routers can be used in cases where it is impossible to access regular cable Internet and for trips to places with limited access to the Internet (outdoors, fishing, to the country), going to a cafe, library, school. Convenient to take with you on business trips or for presentations. And most importantly, with such a device you can use the Internet even if there is no electricity in the network.

Each device of this type has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

Suitable for connecting via Wi-Fi to almost all devices.
Own battery, does not require connecting additional power cords through other devices.
Typically, the Internet tariff is cheaper than on mobile phones and smartphones.
Stable good Wi-Fi signal.
The ability to use the router both at home and outside the city.

Flaws:

You'll have to carry another gadget in your pocket or purse.
There is no auto-off mode (it’s easy to forget to turn off the device after finishing work).
Short battery life from 2 to 5 hours, even for models with large batteries no more than 12 hours.
Some models may work unstably in rooms and car interiors with high temperatures and high humidity. But this is a problem with many electronic gadgets.

Now you can move on to the purchase itself. How to choose the right device for you, because in our stores and websites there are now a large variety that allow us to receive the Internet we so need without wires. When choosing a portable Wi-Fi router, you need to consider a lot of factors.

Decide on the choice of provider (operator providing services). An important factor is the coverage of a particular mobile operator.
Availability of a connector for connecting an antenna (to increase the signal power of a portable device).
Operating conditions, whether the device will be stationary or constantly move with you. An important factor here is the dimensions, weight and autonomy (battery capacity) of a portable Wi-Fi router.
Read the operating instructions, technical characteristics and operating conditions of the device.

When purchasing in stores or communication stores, the sales manager will certainly help you. And when purchasing in online stores, it is better to use the provided filters that will make your choice easier. Or contact the online manager.

I've been interested in playing with Wi-Fi signal amplifiers for a long time, but I never got around to it. And then the opportunity came up, I had time and I satisfied my curiosity. In the review you will find several tests and an opening of the Wi-Fi repeater itself.

The parcel arrived for about two weeks. The repeater (or, as it is also called, extender) arrived in a thick cardboard box, on which there is a brief description of its capabilities. Inside the box is the device itself and instructions. Nothing else is required to work.

First, let's look at the device itself. This is a very light, but unexpectedly large device (115 x 45 mm). The antennas extend 180 degrees and stay in this position, so you can hang the repeater on a hook if you really want to. The only controls are a hidden reset button on the side. The activity indicator flashes red when searching for a network, or blue when connected. The USB port is only needed to power the device. By the way, the consumption itself is small, 0.7W in standby mode and up to 1.55W during intensive work.

Let's open it.

No screws, but there are latches. A couple of swipes with a screwdriver and the device is disassembled. Inside there is a board that occupies two-thirds of the case. There may be modifications with built-in antennas or a small battery. The heart of the device is the Mediatek MT7628KN chip. This is a SoC with MIPS architecture, one core with a frequency of 580 MHz, 8 MB of RAM, and supports B\G\N networks with MIMO 2x2:2 antennas. Only the 2.4 GHz band is supported.

While the device is opened, let's measure the heating. To do this, files were transferred through the device for about five minutes. The case warmed up by 20 degrees, and the chip by 38 degrees.

Let's move on to the setup.

After power is applied to the network, you can see an open network called “WiFi+”. Having connected and gone to the browser at usbwifi.cn, you can continue setting up by indicating which network the repeater should connect to.

By entering the password of the selected network (if any), and clicking “OK”, a network called “selected_network_plus” will appear on the network. The password will match the one entered earlier. You can reconfigure the device by resetting the settings by pressing the reset button.

I tried to connect to points with a non-standard name, password and with a forced channel width of 40 MHz. But nothing bothered the repeater. Well, except that the repeater refused to see my access point, operating in the 5 GHz band, which is logical.

I conducted the tests as follows.

Packets were generated between the laptop and the router using the Btest utility from Mikrotik. This method gives good repeatability, allows you to fine-tune parameters and displays the result in the form of a graph.

The first test was to amplify a low level signal due to terrain folds. The three walls of the load-bearing block of the apartment acted in folds. In the picture I have highlighted this block with a gray rectangle. The router itself is located in the hallway and covers the entire apartment in a wonderful way. Unless the connection between the router and the computer (in the figure) is very unstable. The connection speed is greatly affected by the movement of people around the apartment. I'll try to solve this problem.

I measure the connection speed to the access point (about four meters in a straight line). We get:

Rx = 40-50 Mbit\s
Tx = 5-17 Mbit/s
The speeds are not bad, except that “sagging” in the graphs results in packet losses and, for example, automatic switching of videos on Youtube from a 1080p stream to 360p.

Now turn on the repeater (green in the picture). Result:

Rx = 23-26 Mbit/s
Tx = 10-11 Mbit/s
Speeds have dropped, but now there are no problems with losing packages, opening doors and moving households around the apartment. On air this tandem looks like this.

Repeater -41 dBm, original access point -54 dBm, the rest are barely noticeable -75 ... -80 dBm.

The second test added a slightly greater distance to the “terrain folds” and a slightly more clogged airwaves from neighboring routers.

I measure the connection speed to the access point (about nine meters in a straight line).

Rx = 1-18 Mbit/s
Tx = 1-5 Mbit\s
As the graphs show, it is impossible to use such a connection.

Now we connect through the repeater (green in the picture):

Rx = 8-25 Mbit\s
Tx = 10-12 Mbit\s
It's a completely different matter! True, it is still difficult to use - packages disappear, but now much less often. On air it looks like this.

The repeater signal is at a level of -45 dBm, the remaining points are -65 ... -80 dBm. Initial access point in the wilds -70 dBm

What I noticed:

In fact, many more tests were carried out with the repeater, but I only achieved more consistent results when the repeater “saw” the endpoints through doorways. In other cases the connection was very unstable. I also noticed that it would be nice to have a heavy stand with a USB port, or to work in a horizontal position. I did not observe any signs of overheating during operation, but the chip itself heats up quite well. The device could have been made a little more compact, since in a vertical position it was sometimes knocked over by the wind.

Conclusions:

The specific nature of the repeater's operation implies that you already have problems with Wi-Fi. This is either a long distance to the access point, or a very noisy airwave. In the first case, the repeater will help if it is positioned correctly. In the second case, you need an individual approach and understanding of what is happening. Ideally, you need to ensure that there are no other devices on the air and that the repeater has direct visibility of the endpoints. In such a case, the idea may be to gain access to your home network from a nearby (brick) garage by placing a repeater near the window of your (country) house. Well, its portability will help you “deploy an amplification system” in a few minutes.

The product was provided for writing a review by the store. The review was published in accordance with clause 18 of the Site Rules.

I'm planning to buy +16 Add to favorites I liked the review +24 +50

Lexand LPB-52W is a multifunctional device that combines the properties of a router and a high-capacity backup battery that will last for the whole day. Although these are only two strengths of our today's experimental subject, upon closer examination there are many more of them. Such a router can distribute the Internet to many devices from any local network or via a 3G modem, be a wireless USB host and be used as a full-fledged power bank.

In general, the Lexand company is well known in our market, which is largely determined by the presence of many interesting automotive products. For example, DVRs and navigators of this brand have long been popular with advanced car enthusiasts. But today we will not talk about them, but will test a somewhat non-standard and unusual device that will come in handy in the car, help on the road, and will not even be superfluous at home.

Contents of delivery

Lexand LPB-52W is sold in a small cardboard box, inside of which, in addition to the router itself, you can find a couple of necessary accessories.

The standard delivery package includes a USB cable for charging the battery, a convenient C-shaped USB adapter, a fabric case and papers (user instructions, warranty card).

In general, the necessary set of little things is present, but if the manufacturer pays such considerable attention to automotive topics, then it wouldn’t hurt to put an auto-charger in the box.

Housing design and features

The device is made in a fairly convenient form factor of a flat mobile device, so this has the best effect on ease of use. LPB-52W does not take up much space, and carrying it with you is not at all difficult.

The case has a decent number of connectors, switches and indicators, so this point is worth dwelling on in more detail.

Let's start with the fact that the battery in this case is removable. This is convenient, because in a few years, when it starts to “age”, it will be easy to make a replacement. To access the battery, simply slide the back panel. In our case, a lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 5200 mAh is used. For example, this is enough to recharge a standard smartphone battery twice. By the way, Lexand also has an even more capacious model LPB-78W with 7800 mAh.

If you remove the battery, then under it you will find a slot for a microSD card and a sticker with the main factory parameters. Here is a secure IP address, login and password for logging into the administration panel and MAC address. In general, once you insert your card, you won’t have to come back here again.

At one end of the device there is a switching slide, which is quite difficult to move accidentally, which is also very good.

After its activation, Lexand LPB-52W begins to boot, and a number of LEDs light up on top. With their help, you can judge the status of the device, for example, Wi-Fi activity, Ethernet status and battery charge level. The latter is indicated quite approximately, but it is still much more convenient to know whether the charge is close to 80% or 20% than to know nothing.

An Ethernet connector for connecting to a local network and two USB ports are mounted on the front end of the device. One port is used for using 3G modems and storage devices with the appropriate interface, the second is for charging mobile devices.

By the way, here you can very successfully use the C-shaped adapter from the delivery kit, which allows you to make the combination of Lexand LPB-52W and modem, for example, more compact.

The second slide-type mechanical switch is used to quickly change the operating mode between 3G and DHCP. To do this, you do not have to go to the administration panel, since one click is enough.

To charge the device, a microUSB connector is used, and next to it there is a reset button to factory settings. To do this, it must be held for more than 8 seconds. Pressing it for 2-4 seconds will disable the Ethernet port. For example, in a car this function is not needed, and you can save 20% of the battery charge.

Setup and use

We can say that the Lexand LPB-52W is replete with numerous settings, many of which will be completely incomprehensible to most users, however, to use the basic functions normally, you just need to make a couple of clicks. To do this, you need to log into the administrator interface at the local address 192.168.100.1 through a browser. Unfortunately, the Russian language is not provided here, only English. Which is somewhat strange - Lexand is a Russian company, although this can be fixed in more recent firmware.

Initially, we select the operating mode of the device and make basic settings. The most relevant, of course, is the use of a 3G modem. By the way, Lexand claims to support many of our popular ZTE and Huawei modems. For example, LPB-52W is compatible with Huawei E303, sold by all three operators: velcom, MTS and life:). Huawei E353, available from velcom and MTS, is also supported. There will probably be no problems with Huawei E355, which is sold by life:). Yes, and ZTE MF668 from life:), apparently, will be able to work with the router.

To connect to the Internet, you will need to set an access point (APN), login and password. All this data is provided by the cellular operator. After this, the router automatically connects and begins distributing the Internet via Wi-Fi. There are no restrictions on work, and the speed of operations will depend on the capabilities of the selected tariff plan.

In default mode, the connection is completely open and anyone can access it. If this seems unnecessary to you, you can set any popular encryption method and password. By the way, you can also set the speed of Wi-Fi itself, since the fast 802.11n standard is supported. And in advanced settings, even the transmitter power is set. If large coverage is not required, then another loophole appears to save battery energy.

The rest of the router settings are quite typical for this type of device. For example, you can enable a MAC address filter, configure DHCP to distribute IP addresses, install the NAS protocol, etc. But again, for most users this is unnecessary. The router works quite normally in the default mode, for example, to distribute the Internet from a local point using Ethernet, it is enough to make a wired connection. The function is certainly interesting, but in light of current realities it looks secondary.

Statistics for monitoring 3G connections allows you to track the amount of traffic consumed, which can also be useful.

Separately, it is worth considering working with drives, since the Lexand LPB-52W provides the ability to wirelessly access data recorded on them. In 3G mode, a microSD card installed inside works. If you move the mechanical slider to the DHCP position, the device connected to the USB port starts working. There is no difference in their functioning, since the data will be available at 192.168.100.1:6060. There are no particular complaints here, but we still encountered one unpleasant moment when the router did not recognize one ordinary 2 GB Kingston flash drive. There were no problems with other media.

If we talk about the autonomy of the device, the situation is as follows. When distributing the Internet from a local ADSL modem, one charge was enough for about 7 hours of operation with moderate surfing. Taking into account the fact that in this mode the greatest amount of energy is expended, this time can be considered the minimum possible. In general, battery life is good, since even with continuous use it will last for a whole working day.

Conclusion

In general, Lexand LPB-52W seems to us to be quite an interesting device with its own scope of application. Of course, such a device will be most relevant on the road. Firstly, you can organize fast Internet distribution via Wi-Fi from one 3G modem. It turns out to be very convenient for a group of users. Secondly, the same thing can be done with Ethernet. Thirdly, a wireless NAS will work literally on your knees. Finally, fourthly, you can simply recharge your smartphone.

Price

Lexand LPB-52W can be purchased for $90, which is quite a considerable amount. It is clear that the router itself is much cheaper, and the final price is determined by the functions in the form of a battery and advanced capabilities.

TP-Link TL-MR3040

However, competitors are not asleep, and for $40 you can buy a TP-Link TL-MR3040 mobile router. It does not have a USB host, the battery has a capacity of 2000 mAh versus 5200 mAh, but the difference in price is noticeable, plus there is support for current 4G modems.

Pros:

compact body;
capacious and removable battery;
work in NAS mode (distributing data via Wi-Fi and Ethernet from a microSD card);
Internet distribution from a 3G modem and ADSL modem.