[Test & Reviews] Internet everywhere with the Huawei E5577 Wifi Pocket PC

EDIT: I made a little confusion between two models, the Huawei E5573 and the E5577.

The only difference between the two: the E5577 has a digital display to show the amount of data consumed.

The model you see on the video is the E5573.

The E5573 (without screen) is available here : Amazon link or on my Leboncoin account

The E5577 (with screen) is available here: Amazon link

In this little video, I present you a great hardware: the Huawei E5577Cs-322Wifi pocket

As its name suggests, a wifi pocket allows you to have a wifi spot in your pocket.

You can configure it in two different ways.

By inserting a SIM card

This is the most common configuration mode.

Buy a local SIM card at the airport or in town at a phone store. Insert it in the wifi pocket.

That’s it, you have internet thanks to your pocket wifi and can use it on several devices (10 maximum).

The connection is instantaneous, unless the SIM card is protected by a PIN code. In this case, you have to go through the wifi pocket application to enter the code.

Most smartphones already allow connection sharing but :

• It makes your device considerably warmer and reduces the battery life
• The wifi signal will be less powerful than with a wifi pocket which is dedicated to this use

We usually buy a SIM card each when we travel. Except when SIM cards are too expensive. In Japan for example, we bought one SIM card, configured the wifi pocket, so we could use the internet together.

Thanks to the SIM card, we always have an internet backup if the wifi in our accommodation doesn’t work when we are working. In some countries (Turkey or Morocco for example), wifi connections aren’t very efficient (especially for uploads) while mobile connections are very good, so we make most of our Skype calls through the SIM card.

By repeating a Wifi

(Description of the configuration of this mode at the end of the article)

In this configuration mode, you configure the wifi pocket to connect to an existing wifi (that of a hotel, a restaurant, your Airbnb, …).

There are three advantages to this:

• You secure your connection by generating a private network (public wifis are particularly insecure);
• You won’t need to configure wifi on each of your devices (since they already know the password of the wifi pocket).
• The wifi pocket will act as a relay to the wifi box. Very practical if you are in a large apartment and the box is in a corner.

Every time we arrive in an Airbnb, one of the first things we do is set up our wifi pocket. So our 5 devices are instantly connected (2 computers, 2 smartphones, 1 iPad) on a secure network. In Marrakech, we were even in a huge riad of 4 floors. Our room was on the 4th floor and the wifi box on the ground floor. Obviously we were not receiving any signal. By putting the wifi pocket on the 2nd floor, it acted as a relay and allowed us to pick up wifi everywhere in the house.

Conclusion

For digital nomads, wifi is like oxygen, it is vital. The wifi pocket is therefore a great accessory.

There are several of them, the Huawei E5577 is one of the cheapest and gives us full satisfaction.

The E5573 (without screen) is available here : Amazon link

The E5577 (with screen) is available here: Amazon link

How to configure the Wifi repeater mode?

A commenting player having difficulties configuring this mode, here are some details, hoping it helps.

I confirm that the Wifi repeater mode works without a SIM card (that’s how we use it).

Step 1: Install the Huawei HiLink application Google Play link – App Store link

Step 2: With a smartphone or a tablet, connect to the Wifi pocket (as if it was a classic wifi)

At this stage, you don’t have access to internet yet because the pocket wifi isn’t yet in repeater mode.

Step 3: Open the Huawei HiLink application

Step 4: Click on the “Tools” tab

Step 5: Click on “Wi-Fi Extender



Step 6: Activate “Wi-Fi extender” and wait a few moments for the Wifi networks to appear.



Step 7: Choose the Wifi to use and enter the password.

Step 8 : wait a few moments for the wifi pocket to restart.

If all goes well: that’s it, you have access to internet through your wifi pocket 🙂

The Huawei E5783B wifi pocket

In June 2020, feeling that my wifi pocket was getting tired after several years of good and loyal service, I replaced it with the Huawei E5783B.

This one is very similar to the E5573 but has two significant improvements:

• The maximum flow rate is 300 Mbs compared to 150 Mbs for the E5573
• It can connect to the more efficient 5ghz Wifi networks, which are gradually becoming the norm.

It is necessary to count about thirty euros more but I think that the argument of the 5ghz justifies them.

You can find it on Amazon by clicking here.