I have been using a Novatel MiFi 2352 for months now (bought it from Expansys but it’s also available from Amazon). In case you don’t know what’s a MiFi it’s a portable 3G modem (think Mobily connect, STC Jawalnet) that’s also a wireless access point, basically you can share a 3G Internet connection between up to 5 Wi-Fi devices. STC, Mobily and Zain all brought the Huawei counterpart instead of the Novatel so I had to buy it online.
Do I need to say how annoyed I am with STC calling their device “myfi” instead of using an original name? All of these models are locked to their carrier.
Novatel doesn’t post the firmware on their website so I had to dig around and finally found MiFi 2352 Firmware version 5.26.2. I put a copy of the file right here: 20418796 MUU MIFI2352 NVTL GENERIC_Pkg. Just download the zip file, extract the executable, connect the MiFi to your computer via USB and run the exe file. Yes it’s Windows only but that’s why we have VMWare and Parallels Desktop.
I noticed an overall performance improvement, I didn’t need to restart the MiFi was often as I did with the old firmware.
All of your settings should be safe while upgrading but just in case: Default WEP key is Set To AB1CDEFG2HIJ3.
Big thanks to R.ALBADER from Kuwait for posting the update.
Are you interested in buying a Novatel instead of a Huawei portable hotspot? You got two options Novatel Wireless MiFi 2352 and Novatel Wireless MiFi 2372 both support 2100MHz so they should work in Saudi Arabia. The battery is made by Sony so just to be safe buy another battery.
Another even cheaper method of buying a Novatel MiFi is this website in the UAE, they are selling the MiFi 2352 for only 799 AED (almost the same amount in Saudi Riyals).
One more thing, Mobily is selling one of the few HSPA+ (Evolved HSPA) portable hotspots in Saudi Arabia. It’s a BandLuxe PR30 or PR39 from BandRich.
This is the latest innovation in the field of Mobile Internet telecommunications: print your team flag on it! That’s what STC and Mobily think is a good idea.
Here’s the STC “Quicknet“, sounds a lot like Quakenet.
And Mobily’s “Connect AL-Zaeeem” for Hilal, that’s too many eees.
My advice to the 2 companies: Mobily, just make sure you have enough iPhone 3GS in stock and STC, improve your DSL lines and allow me to use BeejiveIM, open these ports!