You know I’m a big fan of portable mobile routers, for the moment 4G/LTE only because 5G is still crazy expensive. I have a dual SIM subscription with Maxis which means I get another SIM card based on my main number with data only connectivity. Just insert the SIM into a mobile router and boom! Instant portable Internet. And since I have an unlimited plan with Maxis, the possibility is endless.
My previous mobile router was the trusty TP-Link M7350. Since it borked into an infinite loop after start up recently, I had to get a new one. For my next mobile router, I need something small yet have most of the features of a regular mobile router. The D-Link DWR 932 fits the bill perfectly. It’s small, light and fits snugly into your palm. Despite the size, it still has a simple LCD display for basic information like network strength, battery level, wi-fi SSID and password.
There’s only 2 buttons on this mobile router - one for power and another for WPS setup which I never use. Setup is pretty simple and straightforward. Most of the time it works automatically out of the box, the moment you turn it on after inserting the SIM card with no setup necessary. Just make sure your mobile line supports hotspot and you’re set. If you need to configure any advanced settings, you can go to the default configuration page which is 192.168.0.1 after connecting to the default SSID. There’s also a micro SD card slot in case you would like to stream videos or music from the router. I didn’t get the time to test this feature because whoever still downloads music and video files anymore today?
Since this mobile router is small, you don’t expect the battery to last the whole day. From my experience it can last 3-4 hours of broadcast from a single charge. So far this mobile router from D-Link has been working fine for me, at least most of the time. There was a time (or two) when I had to reset the router because it had no Internet connectivity at all for some strange reason. It works fine again after the reset. The second time I upgraded the firmware as well so we’ll see how it performs after the upgrade.
If I had to nitpick, the micro-USB port is a bit ancient in this day and age. I wish they would provide a way to disable the WPS button cause it occasionally gets in the way when I want to turn on or off the device. The startup time could also be improved cause I had to wait a full minute before the router is usable. Other than that, the D-Link DWR 932 is a perfectly capable mobile router.
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