Three will sell Huawei E586 MiFi

MOBILE OPERATOR Three has announced that it will sell the Huawei E586 MiFi access point, which it claims will be the first mobile WiFi device in the UK to feature HSPA+ technology.

The MiFi repeater will be available from Three in store and online from next month. Initially it will offer customers a 40 per cent speedier connection which will apparently increase as the firm upgrades its network to evolved high speed packet access (HSPA+).

David Kerrigan, head of mobile broadband at Three said, "As the UK's biggest 3G mobile broadband network, we're delighted to introduce our high speed mobile Wi-Fi product. This joins our award winning HSPA+ dongles making us the only operator offering an entirely next generation HSPA+ enabled range of mobile broadband products."

Three touts download and upload speeds of 21.1 Mbits/s and 5.76 Mbits/s, respectively, a charging cradle and a microSD card slot that supports up to 32GB. However, Three doesn't include a microSD card with the MiFi device.

The Huawei E586 MiFi has an OLED screen that displays data such as battery life, data consumption, connection speed and browsing time. Three said a new feature will allow users to see the WiFi user name and password on screen.

Battery life is quoted as 4.5 hours and Three is aiming to upgrade 80 per cent of its network to HSPA+ by the end of this year.

We spoke with Three to ask about pricing but it told us that details will be released closer to launch. Its MiFi packages vary but to give an idea £72 will get you the Huawei E585 and 3GB of data on a pay as you go plan and monthly plans start at £10 per month. µ