Idea Cellular has launched its own hotspot device in India under the Smartwifi Hub moniker and it plans to sell the gadget across the country at a price of Rs 2999. The new release comes with a built-in battery so that it can be used whilst on the move or when a wall socket isn’t available and it offers pretty good speeds over 3G.
The Idea Smartwifi Hub will basically go up against the Tata Docomo Photon Max Wi-Fi Duo which recently went official in India for Rs 2899. The former device is a bit more costly, but it’s capable of getting up to 10 devices on its network, while the latter can only connect up to 5.
Additionally, the service provider says that you’ll get a download speed of 21.6Mbps and a peak uplink of 11Mbps. This is HSPA+ standard and the device from Tata Docomo only offers half the bandwidth with 9.8Mbps in downlink and 3.6Mbps in upload.
Also read: Idea Cellular prepares to unleash its 4G services, Kerala may welcome it first
What gives the competing device the upper hand is that it offers a 4400mAh battery which should deliver around 8 hours of activity. The Smartwifi Hub, however, has a smaller 1500mAh power pack and is most likely to offer around 4 to 5 hours of web browsing. Also, there’s no word on whether this hotspot comes with a microSD card slot.
Idea Cellular‘s Smartwifi Hub is compatible with 900MHz and 2100MHz frequency bands and it’ll be available for purchase across all circles where the operator offers 3G connectivity. They include Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Punjab and Maharashtra amongst others. The company is also bundling the device with 6GB of free 3G data for one month.