New Asus 802.11n travel router
Jan 11, 2012, 9:20 am
#32
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Singapore, Warsaw, Surfers Paradise
Programs: KrisFlyer Gold>>>Silver>>>Blue, Finnair Silver, Royal Caribbean Diamond
Posts: 5,174
I bought one in Singapore a bit over a month ago for S$40. It's basically the same as their 703N version, only with a switch to change between modes.
Failed to work with my Virgin Australia 3G card until I re-flashed it with Optus firmware, at which point it worked fine as a 3G gateway. I haven't tried it in any of the other modes yet.
It comes with a USB Y power cable. Connected to my Sony Vaio TZ it works fine with just one of the cables plugged in right up until I plug in the USB 3G card, at which point it needs both to power it.
There's work going on to get OpenWRT/DD-WRT working on it, which could get interesting.
Frys are selling them for $40 - http://www.frys.com/product/6902537
Not available for shipping, but the Sunnyvale store had 3 of them in stock when I was there this afternoon.
Failed to work with my Virgin Australia 3G card until I re-flashed it with Optus firmware, at which point it worked fine as a 3G gateway. I haven't tried it in any of the other modes yet.
It comes with a USB Y power cable. Connected to my Sony Vaio TZ it works fine with just one of the cables plugged in right up until I plug in the USB 3G card, at which point it needs both to power it.
There's work going on to get OpenWRT/DD-WRT working on it, which could get interesting.
Frys are selling them for $40 - http://www.frys.com/product/6902537
Not available for shipping, but the Sunnyvale store had 3 of them in stock when I was there this afternoon.
Jan 13, 2012, 3:46 am
#33
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: YYZ
Posts: 6,138
FYI, there is a $20 MIR for this router through January.
http://www.mirhelp.com/wp-content/up...-Jan-31-12.pdf
Microcenter has it for $59.99, so I've got one on hold and will submit the MIR as well, bringing me just under my $40 threshold.
http://www.mirhelp.com/wp-content/up...-Jan-31-12.pdf
Microcenter has it for $59.99, so I've got one on hold and will submit the MIR as well, bringing me just under my $40 threshold.
Jan 13, 2012, 1:07 pm
#34
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Frisco, Texas
Programs: AA Gold, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 95
FYI, there is a $20 MIR for this router through January.
http://www.mirhelp.com/wp-content/up...-Jan-31-12.pdf
Microcenter has it for $59.99, so I've got one on hold and will submit the MIR as well, bringing me just under my $40 threshold.
http://www.mirhelp.com/wp-content/up...-Jan-31-12.pdf
Microcenter has it for $59.99, so I've got one on hold and will submit the MIR as well, bringing me just under my $40 threshold.
Jan 15, 2012, 2:54 am
#35
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: Aeroplan, AAdvantage
Posts: 2,100
And the answer, finally, took a lot of Googling is yes there is a 5GHz 3G router. http://www.pepwave.com/document/Pepw...he-Go_rev1.pdf powering this from USB is going to be a problem because it's 12V. However, it eats a maximum of 5W which means if one can find an 5V->12V converter (such a step converter is a trivial circuit) with the right endings it might be powered from two USB ports...
It's also not cheap http://3gstore.com/product/3498_surf...4g-router.html: $99. But, but, 5GHz!
Speaking of USB-powered, just for curiosity, there exists a USB powered switch.
It's also not cheap http://3gstore.com/product/3498_surf...4g-router.html: $99. But, but, 5GHz!
Speaking of USB-powered, just for curiosity, there exists a USB powered switch.
Last edited by chx1975; Jan 15, 2012 at 5:12 am
Jan 29, 2012, 2:18 am
#36
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, Star Gold, KLM Gold
Posts: 302
1. Very small and light
2. Appalling - truly appalling user interface. It even changes ip address depending on the mode you have it in. It reboots to do trivial changes. The manual is a joke (reminiscent of early windows help files - press the OK button if it's ok etc).
3. I completely failed to get it to share wifi in the Marriott. Searching the net seems to suggest it can't share if the wifi needs you to sign in on a login page. As the vast majority of hotel wifi requires this, the benefit of the Asus is minimal.
I hope they address some of these issues with a firmware update.
Jan 29, 2012, 3:07 am
#37
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Something, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 8,157
I presume you mean a WL-330N3G ? As far as I can see there's no such thing as a 303NG
I find that hard to believe - simply because the portal should be completely transparent to the router. Hotel portals simply intercept the web request when the user isn't logged in, and redirects them to the login page. The router plays no part in that process, and shouldn't have any awareness that it's even going on.
Hotel/Airport/AT&T/etc portal/login pages work perfectly with my Asus WL-330gE
Hotel/Airport/AT&T/etc portal/login pages work perfectly with my Asus WL-330gE
Jan 29, 2012, 3:21 am
#38
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, Star Gold, KLM Gold
Posts: 302
So you haven't used a 330ng?
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2S5HYR...R2S5HYRAO8W550
Appears to have the same problem.
Jan 29, 2012, 6:19 am
#39
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: YYZ
Posts: 6,138
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)
I bought one of these things two weeks ago.
Gotta agree - some major flaws with this thing - its a long way from plug and play.
I too could not get wifi sharing to work, and had frequent dropouts when using an Ethernet connection.
The UI is nothing short of bizarre - the commands are unclear and it switches IPs at will...
I updated to firmware 1.0.2.0 and it's still really flaky.
I'm a big Asus fan but this thing is not ready for prime time...
I bought one of these things two weeks ago.
Gotta agree - some major flaws with this thing - its a long way from plug and play.
I too could not get wifi sharing to work, and had frequent dropouts when using an Ethernet connection.
The UI is nothing short of bizarre - the commands are unclear and it switches IPs at will...
I updated to firmware 1.0.2.0 and it's still really flaky.
I'm a big Asus fan but this thing is not ready for prime time...
Jan 29, 2012, 7:18 am
#40
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: NYC
Programs: SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat, PC Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 612
Mine works great
I saw those Amazon (and NewEgg) reviews before buying mine a few weeks ago, and am glad to report that I've had no problems at all using mine as intended. Logged on at a Hyatt last week, signed up through their portal (had to choose Standard Internet at a price, which wasn't charged as a Platinum) using an iPad connected to my WL-330N3G, after which several iPhones and iPods had no problems using the internet for two days.
I really like this router; it's so small & light, USB powered is a huge bonus and it has worked perfectly as expected.
For those who had issues, what was the problem instructing the router to connect to the hotel Wi-Fi? Were you able to see the hotel portal from the first device that tried to go online after that?
I really like this router; it's so small & light, USB powered is a huge bonus and it has worked perfectly as expected.
For those who had issues, what was the problem instructing the router to connect to the hotel Wi-Fi? Were you able to see the hotel portal from the first device that tried to go online after that?
Jan 29, 2012, 7:44 am
#41
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: YYZ
Posts: 6,138
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)
My biggest beef is that in router mode (ie hotel Ethernet sharing) I keep getting asked to re-authenticate on one or more devices...
My second biggest issue is the repeater mode using the same SSID as the original wireless network, and my iPad sometimes favors the original...
My biggest beef is that in router mode (ie hotel Ethernet sharing) I keep getting asked to re-authenticate on one or more devices...
My second biggest issue is the repeater mode using the same SSID as the original wireless network, and my iPad sometimes favors the original...
Jan 29, 2012, 10:02 am
#42
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, Star Gold, KLM Gold
Posts: 302
I set it to wifi sharing, closed the box that suggests everything would be more reliable if I used the Ethernet cable and selected the hotel wifi in the scan list. On clicking connect the modem reboots. Once it has come back, my iPad picks up its wifi but there is no connection beyond the router. The router reports it's connected towards the top of the page.
Jan 29, 2012, 11:13 am
#43
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: NYC
Programs: SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat, PC Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 612
I set it to wifi sharing, closed the box that suggests everything would be more reliable if I used the Ethernet cable and selected the hotel wifi in the scan list. On clicking connect the modem reboots. Once it has come back, my iPad picks up its wifi but there is no connection beyond the router. The router reports it's connected towards the top of the page.
Jan 29, 2012, 12:55 pm
#44
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Something, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 8,157
Well your veracity has so far had you using 2 different product names/numbers for this device, neither of which are correct. So surely I can cast aspersions on at least that part of your report, no?
Yes, that person does appear to have problems. The 6 people on Amazon that gave it a 4 or 5 (out of 5) review appear not to have the same problem - but you didn't link to them. Even the one other review from someone that had issues includes a comment from someone else saying that it works for them.
The device definitely supports what you're trying to do - in fact, it's covered in their YouTube Intro Video.
What mode are you using the device in? Repeater mode or Hot Spot mode? (it should be the latter). Have you tried it with your primary computer connected via Wifi, or via Ethernet? (The video and the manual both show it connected via Ethernet).
The device definitely supports what you're trying to do - in fact, it's covered in their YouTube Intro Video.
What mode are you using the device in? Repeater mode or Hot Spot mode? (it should be the latter). Have you tried it with your primary computer connected via Wifi, or via Ethernet? (The video and the manual both show it connected via Ethernet).
Jan 29, 2012, 1:39 pm
#45
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, Star Gold, KLM Gold
Posts: 302
The strange part is that your modem reboots after connecting to the hotel Wi-Fi; mine doesn't do that. Have you upgraded to the newer firmware on Asus' site? Mine came with one version older than the latest and I upgraded it; perhaps give that a try if you haven't already.