Do mini wi-fis need a stronger signal than dongles?

[Chris S]

I have a Huawei mini wi-fi. Sometimes it won't work on my 3 network. This happens about once a month and will last a few hours. It doesn't matter if I use it as a wi-fi or connect it directly with a USB cable, I just get a message on my PC saying 'no internet connection'.

However, if I take the sim card out and put it in an old (2008) 3 dongle then I can connect to the internet. If I put it straight back in the wi-fi I can't (I know it's in the right way because it won't fit any other).

Do mini wi-fis need a stronger signal than dongles?

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Total opposite in my experience. I facilitated the Internet connection for an entire company on a single MiFi device for months.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Sounds like an intermittent fault with the MiFi. Have you tried switching off and on?

 

[Chris S]

Yes - I think it's the signal though. The dongle has an LED that changes from green to dark blue to light blue as the signal strength increases. Even on dark blue (medium) I've still got a slow but usable connection. I can't even connect with the wi-fi.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

It does sound potentially faulty. In theory with 4g you have a connection or you don't. Connection speed isn't dependent on signal strength like it is with 3G.

 

[ufkacbln]

I find that each device functions differently, as well as position

I have two phones and two iPads on the same network and can have different signals that change in different parts of the room

 

[Chris S]

It does sound potentially faulty. In theory with 4g you have a connection or you don't. Connection speed isn't dependent on signal strength like it is with 3G.

My Mi-Fi and dongle are both 3G. I've gone back to the dongle for the time-being as I can't risk losing my connection during working hours.

The main downside is that it's put an end to my experimenting with Linux - the dongle needs to install and run Windows executables. It's a pity because Linux has some good diagnostic tools. One of them showed my signal strength dropping to about 50% when I lost the connection and going up to about 70% when it came back again.