When Orange Pi 3G-IoT SBC was launched, I looked at 3G USB dongles to make a comparison with a similar setup based on a Raspberry Pi Zero W board and an inexpensive 3G USB stick, and the cheapest I could find was a refurbished HUAWEI E3533 model now selling for around $16 shipped.
But I’ve just found one fairly cheaper with LEORY 3G USB dongle offered for only $9.99 including shipping on Banggood.
Specifications listed on Banggood:
- Cellular Connectivity
- 3G UMTS/ HSDPA + 2G GSM/EDGE
- Frequency bands
- 2G – 850/900/1800/1900MHz
- 3G – 2100 MHz (Band 1)
- Transfer rate -7.2Mbps downlink
- SIM card slot
- Storage – micro SD card storage up to 16GB
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 port
- Dimensions – 9 x 3 x 1 cm
- Temperature Range – Operating: -20°C ~ +55°C; storage: -30°C ~ +65°C
- Relative Humidity – Up to 93%
The dongle is said to be supported in Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10, as well as Linux and Android operating systems, and no extra drivers are required, they’ll just be installed automatically by the OS.
The 3G USB dongle supports data & SMS functions, and can be used with laptops, computers, tablets, development boards, etc… The micro SD card slot inside the device means it can also be used as a USB thumb drive up to 16GB.
Based on the specs, only 2100 MHz (Band 1) networks are supported, which means 3G UMTS should be supported in most countries, but not in the US or Canada, nor Latin America.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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If there’s one gadget I don’t need more its UMTS dongles, there was a time you could get them here from the network operators for 10 bucks with 20 bucks of prepay credit. Unlocking was done in a breeze. I wish I would know a similarly cheap source for 4G dongles. Currently seems the 4G iot orange pi or a prepay phone are the better options. Regarding CE/FCC the phone os the winner though. Wondering if a long term thetered phone wont get too hot…
Several US carriers have announced 3G shutdown in 2020. Verizon has already started shutting it down.
I wish they’d drop 5G craziness for a while and just make 4G work everywhere. For example I can get a reasonable 3G signal in my house and I have to move a mile before I can get a 4G signal.
is there a 4G hotspot device u recommend ?
Im having a huawei with included powerbank, model is neither printed on it nor visible in display…
It works ok, not as a powerbank for newer phones though. Wifi is 2.4G SISO, nothing great but does it’s job and price was also ok.
Here is a $99 4G hotspot with battery and international bands.
http://www.dx.com/p/umidigi-a1-pro-18-9-5-5-inches-mtk6739-1-5ghz-4g-smartphone-with-3gb-ram-16gb-rom-moonlight-silver-528643#.W0eJ13ZKiV4
And it plays games too.
haha 😛 generally im looking for a hotspot only device because of the stronger wifi chip and or 4G signal strength
One comment from Twitter:
Does this dongle emulate an ethernet device, or a modem and require ppp?
3G lol. Get with the times, seriously
Well, at an era where people upgrade their devices each and every year for various made up reasons, it’s precisely within the times. If it lives only one year, it’s only $10 per year, not that bad.
I have one of these, in my case it didn’t work on 3 here in the UK. I must’ve gotten a faulty one & the replacement never arrived /shrug
I think this dongle supports voice extraction to be piped to freeswitch or asterisk:
https://freeswitch.org/confluence/display/FREESWITCH/mod_gsmopen
Never tried it, but I have one Huawei lying around.
I got a couple of voice capable huaweis. Always wanted to try with asterisk chan_dongle but so far only could use them with a version of mobile partner, oh and fritzbox can also handle some of them. Always had great ideas, but never got many of them into reality 😛
I also hacked this 4G dongle:
http://filez.zoobab.com/tmp/mptcp/P60804-183806.jpg
And found out it was a stripped down Android Linux inside, and got the GPL tarball mirrored here:
http://filez.zoobab.com/huawei/3372h-153/src/
More hacking/time required to try to load an alternative firmware on there, on find a serial console.
Any idea what OS the dongle itself is running? Would love to find one running Linux under the hood, like the Quectel devices (https://osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki).
> Any idea what OS the dongle itself is running?
My guess it’s Qualcomm’s proprietary REX OS on OKL4 microkernel.
The Huawei E3533 you linked is in HiLink mode, so you probably wouldn’t want to use it for anything else than casual web browsing, as it basically works as a USB connected router with it’s own NAT.
I’m not aware of a procedure to switch it to stick mode, so it could be connected as a serial modem, which gives you a possibility to send text messages, for example, which is useful in automation.
That Leory modem is interesting, though.