Which MiFi?

I've been trying to find a MiFi device that will work at 4G speeds in the US (with T-Mobile or AT&T) as well as in other places. I have a '3' mobile broadband that has free roaming in the US. Even one that works at 3G would be an improvement.

The current Huwaei unlocked device only works at a pitiful EDGE speed in the US, although very good in Europe and UK.

Does anyone know of such a device?

Thanks for your help.

In reply to a post by boxst:

Does anyone know of such a device?

It depends where in the USA you are going. AT&T has 2G/GPRS/EDGE and 3G/UMTS at 1900mhz. They also have some limited DC-HSPA deployment which they call 4G. (not to be confused with LTE/4G). T-mobile has 2G/GPRS/EDGE at 1900mhz, but is gradually converting some of this to 3G/UMTS and in some cases DC-HSPA in some cities/markets.

T-mobile also has the 2100/1700 split band, which is much harder to find a MiFi that will suport. This band is where they have 3G/UMTS and DC-HSPA 4G.

Three doesn't have an LTE/4G roaming agreement with anyone in the US yet, but might do eventually, but LTE bands are yet another problem.

Note that USA DC-HSPA speeds are nowhere near as high as in the UK with Three or EE. 10megabit/sec would be 'very fast' for them.

Thank you for that detailed description. I'm going to San Francisco.

Having a look around, the best one appears to be the Huawei E5372 which will at least work at 3G speeds in the US. I have a ZTE MF61 that I used to use with a payg T-Mobile SIM in the US, but it is locked (and impossible to unlock it seems), so buying the E5372 and just using my UK data seems the best option.

In reply to a post by boxst:

Thank you for that detailed description. I'm going to San Francisco.

Having a look around, the best one appears to be the Huawei E5372 which will at least work at 3G speeds in the US. I have a ZTE MF61 that I used to use with a payg T-Mobile SIM in the US, but it is locked (and impossible to unlock it seems), so buying the E5372 and just using my UK data seems the best option.

I've also got a ZTE somewhere, bought on PAYG in the US for T-Mobile. I have in the UK an unlocked E5776 which works great here, but I'm pretty sure isn't enough for the US.

I can't tell if the E5372 will do the split 1700/2100 band, but if you get 1900mhz UMTS on T-Mobile then your 3 roaming should be fine. California was always a good location for the old PacBell, then Cingular networks, so AT&T should be pretty good too.

These links might be useful:
https://support.t-mobile.com/thread/44406?start=0&ts...
http://support.t-mobile.com/community/coverage/blog/...

I will give it a go. Just phoned Three and that was worth doing anyway as their retentions team just gave me an extra 5GB/month I didn't ask for on my 30 day rolling contract as well as a deal for the e5372.

I guess you travel as much as I do, which makes the Three 'feel at home' deals really good as I was in Hong Kong last week and using the roaming data for free.

In reply to a post by boxst:

I will give it a go. Just phoned Three and that was worth doing anyway as their retentions team just gave me an extra 5GB/month I didn't ask for on my 30 day rolling contract as well as a deal for the e5372.

Nice

I guess you travel as much as I do, which makes the Three 'feel at home' deals really good as I was in Hong Kong last week and using the roaming data for free.

Not any longer, but I have family in the US, so keep an eye on what works over there. Sadly the US/Canada is still the biggest area that has incompatible telecoms :-/