I can pop the PHS300 into my bag while in the mall, barbershop, or anywhere where there isn’t free wifi and still have my portable devices have access to the net.

I only have USB dongles so the CTR500 doesn’t have anything more than the PHS300 plus it has no battery.

Since the Kaiser (or FUZE) is tri-band HSDPA-enabled, I can then share whatever available data pipe it has. This means traveling in the Japan, or just using the unlimited AT&T data in the USA.

I only have to worry about powering it since it probably lasts about 2-3 hours on batts alone, or much longer on USB-charging.

They are awesome when it comes to tech support. Now I can connect my motorola Razor and be a walking hotspot.

I’ve got a PHS300 and U720 just like you and have been having the same irritating bug where it looks like its working but actually isn’t. The only way I can fix it is to plug the U720 into my laptop and update the data profile. Then it seems to work, but just like you when I restart the PHS300 with the modem plugged in, it seems to kill the U720 until I do this again. Weird!

Did you find any solution for this problem?

Stephen

The whole point to the PHS300 is to use it with a cellular data connection! Your comparison is like saying “Why would I want to buy a Yacht? I can get a Toyota Corolla for so much cheaper!”

Thus, it may be lame for your purposes – but this is not true for everyone. What would you think of someone with a mobile broadband USB device who bought a router that didn’t work with it? That would be lame!
———————————————————————–
In General:

Personally, I was sold on the PHS300 because it was the only mobile broadband router I could find that had a battery powered option. I often find myself in a aituation where I need to get online for a little while but have no outlets available.

Why don’t I just plug the U727 directly into my laptop?

* Sometimes I get confilcts between my Sprint Connection Manager and my VMWare network adapters – by utilizing a standard wi-fi connection, these vanish.

* It is easier to set up my VPN clients with a standard wi-fi adapter than with the dial-up connection.

* It frees up a USB port on my laptops (not that big of a deal, but some USB hubs are just as big as the PHS300).

* My USB device won’t be drawing power from my laptop – which is a minor enhancement to the very short battery life I get.

* As an added bonus, I can share my connection with others when needed rather than having to swap a device or laptop between users.

Some things to note: it has a signal/no signal light but not a strength indicator, the documentation states that the battery light will start blinking red as it runs down (and turns solid red when almost out of charge), and like any other router you can lock it down – meaning you can block the average joe at the coffee shop from using your service!

If you don’t need a LAN connection or can do without it, but DO need to use a router when no outlets are available, I highly recommend the PHS300. From other review I’ve read, users have seen improved download speeds but decreased upload speeds. It is small, light, and highly portable – being only slightly larger and heavier than a pack of playing cards. However, it was never meant to be a replacement to a home router. It was meant for the “off road” warrior to use!

It has an RJ45 port that will auto-detect incoming WAN for your Cat5 connection when you power it up, or if you power it up without a connection, it wil configure as a LAN.

The USB port supports most ATT, Sprint, Verizon, and works with a lot of Alltel, Bell Canada etc as well.

It is also the least spendy of the bunch, ~$135 at wirelessnwifi.com

Marc