Idea Cellular had recently launched a 3G Wingle branded Smart wifi. We at TelecomTALK got an opportunity to review the device at Hyderabad. The Smart wifi Wingle is an Idea branded Huawei E8231s-1 device (white colour). It supports up to 10 simultaneous Wi-Fi connections.
In the Box
The device comes in a neat small box. We particularly liked the string attached to the Wingle which also includes the cap and it can prevent the loss of the cap!
Setup
The setup procedure was fairly simple on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS - just plug and play. In the case of Windows the Idea application needs to be installed.
Speeds
Download and upload speeds were very good and consistent across different times of the day in Hyderabad. We did face interruptions in the form of connection drops and the browsing experience suffered a bit.
Device Management
The device management settings are fairly simple to use and provide advanced capabilities. USSD option is a plus. The device can also be controlled via mobile apps. The package contains a small flyer with appropriate QR codes to download the same on your smartphone. The help provided in the 'Settings' is pretty exhaustive and helpful too.
Verdict
In conclusion, the Idea Smart wifi can be a value for money if you stay in areas where Idea offers good network coverage. Idea also provides some good 3G plans to suit different budgets. Connection drops can be a point of concern like it happened in our case but we believe its only a matter of time before operators iron out such issues.
Disclaimer
Before making a buying decision we urge you to check the internet speeds through your friends or through service providers. It must be remembered that 3G speeds vary widely from location to location.
Thanks to Idea Cellular AP Circle for providing us this opportunity.
