Recently Pepwave launched the new Device Connector designed to be a long range client bridge. Unlike the Surf Mini these products can pick up WiFi networks further away and also act as a full client bridge to an existing network. This means if you’ve got a larger home or office space the Device Connector’s will act as a repeater but all of the routing will be handled by your main router, which is ideal if you’re trying to share files across a local network. There are two separate versions of the device connector designed for different applications. Below is a brief breakdown of the two units and which probably makes the most sense for you:
Standard Device Connector:
The standard device connector uses a powerful 500mW radio designed to pick up distant WiFi networks and distribute a large WiFi range. There is a single 5dB antenna (included) that operates on the popular 2.4Ghz WiFi frequency. This unit will be ideal for travelers looking to grab hotel WiFi, RVer’s trying to connect to park WiFi or offices looking to extend WiFi range using bridge mode. The Device Connector also includes a single 10/100 Ethernet port if you need to convert a WiFi signal into Ethernet out. This can be useful if you have devices that don’t have WiFi built in and you don’t want to run Ethernet across a building to get Internet access.
The 300M version of the device connector adds a second WiFi antenna for diversity MiMo and 300Mbps local transfer speeds vs. 150Mbps on the standard Device Connector. In addition to faster local transfers this unit also supports 5Ghz WiFi, so you can configure the 300M to 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz, but not both at the same time. However, if you plan to use this to pick up distant WiFi networks we advise the standard version because the 300M only has 50mW of output power reducing total coverage range. For office environments this won’t likely be an issue, but for a customer trying to grab Google WiFi or a local hotspot it will be harder to capture the signal.
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