4G Wifi Router vs 4G USB dongle

Question

My service provider is proving 4G Wireless internet connection in two forms:

1. 4G USB dongle
2. 4G Wifi Router

According to the person selling the products both offer same speed. The advantage of using the second option multiple computers can connect to the router at the same time whereas using a dongle only one computer can connect to the internet at once. The advantage of the dongle is obviously portability.

Apart from the above arguments should I look at any other points before taking my final call? What are the pros and cons of each? Am I missing anything obvious?

Solution

1 The dongle uses your CPU to work. The router has its own CPU. Do you want your PC to run as fast as it can, or do you want it slowed down?

2 The router has a firewall, the dongle does not. I like having suspicious packets turned away before they hit my PC, especially since Microsoft does not update Windows for known bugs until the NSA has had a chance to use those bugs to hack. http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/06/nsa-gets-early-access-to-zero-day-data-from-microsoft-others/ What the NSA knows, all of their Snowdens know, and one of those Snowdens might need a wad of cash in a hurry and feel compelled to sell some secrets to other hackers http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/technology/chinas-army-is-seen-as-tied-to-hacking-against-us.html

3 You can position the router in a window for maximum reception quality, while the dongle is stuck on your PC. Lap level in a home or apartment is not the ideal place to receive GHz signals, so I suspect you will not be getting quality signal like you could with the router, which has a much better antenna than can be put inside a dongle.

Comments

[Rob]

How many computers or devices that would need internet access do you use?

[Geek]

I need to access only one computer at present. However in future I might try to connect another computer simultaneously but that is not the case right now.