Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Kanex ’s $ 60MySpotaims to permit you easily make a good Wi - Fi meshing in a hotel way or any other fix where you have an ethernet port that provides automatically attribute IP addresses . This seems like a marvelous idea , but the MySpot does n’t quite live up to the hope on scrutiny .
The MySpot weighs just a few ounces and is tiny , at just three inches foresightful by a bit over one inch square . The MySpot is power by USB , but does n’t use USB for information transfer or configuration . You plug into its build - in USB transmission line ( which click into the organic structure of the machine when not in manipulation ) to a USB larboard on a computer or to a USB - to - AC adapter ( not add ) for power , and then connect an ethernet cable television to the other final stage of the MySpot for data point . You supply the ethernet cable’s length — some hotel may have an ethernet stub or cable in the elbow room , while others allow just a jack .
I tested the MySpot while traveling , plugging it into a hotel room ’s ethernet jack during a group discussion in which the deftness ’s Wi - Fi was on a regular basis overwhelmed by the quantity of attendee trying to get in touch . The MySpot gave me quasi - private access to the degenerate , wired net connection through a separate Wi - Fi communication channel . I also do standardised tests elsewhere , with the same effect . The whole powers up rapidly , as well .
As one would wait from a compact gimmick using an outdated Wi - Fi standard ( see below ) , the MySpot ’s web is n’t strong enough to be usable from rooms forth . Within a individual room , insurance coverage is middling to good , and in most circumstances where the MySpot makes more sense than the larger and heavier $ 99Apple AirPort Express , you ’ll be within crinkle of batch anyway . I did n’t thoroughly psychometric test f number , but the MySpot keeps up all right with mellow - speed cable broadband compared to right away wired and other Wi - Fi connections .
The MySpot , however , has a figure of compromises that make it potentially insecure and less of a value . For example , Kanex has equipped it with a single 2.4GHz radio set that uses the old 802.11 gee communications protocol and broken WEP ( Wired Equivalent Privacy ) security department . The choices to use 802.11 gibibyte , which has been gradually superseded by the much faster 802.11n ( which debuted in 2007 ) , and a single frequency stripe make sense from a cost stand given the destine use of the MySpot : 802.11 thousand can deliver 20 to 25 Mbps of net throughput over short distance , and most hotels and exchangeable locus wo n’t offer data point charge per unit quicker than that .
But offering just WEP , instead of the now - standard WPA2 ( Wi - Fi protect Access variant 2 ) method , is rum at any point after 2004 , when WPA2 start appearing in hardware . A WEP key can be well crack using gratuitous computer software , sometimes in a matter of second , making it a poor pick for any fixed initiation in a home or agency . Although it ’s far less in all probability WEP would be broken when using a temporary hot spot like the MySpot , WEP is still a 13 - yr - old engineering that was replace 9 long time ago with a much - improved version .
The MySpot comes preconfigured to assume a DHCP - provided name and address over ethernet , and to earmark Wi - Fi access without any password . configure the equipment is a fleck Byzantine , and the printed directions included in the box at the time of this recapitulation did n’t actually work . The companionship provided me with updated information that was correct ; a representative told me Kanex will update its website with new screen captures , and will later update the print details admit with the MySpot .
With a MySpot connected via ethernet to an participating web , the machine ca n’t be configured , even by bespeak your World Wide Web internet browser to the address assigned by the electronic web — a method used by many non - Apple wireless access points . Rather , one has to unplug the ethernet cable television , connect your computer or mobile gimmick to the MySpot via Wi - Fi , and then configure TCP / IP .
For example , using a Mac , I had to open System Preferences ’ web pane , choose the MySpot - create Wi - Fi meshing , click Advanced , sink in the TCP / IP tab , choose Using DHCP with Manual Address from the Configure IPv4 pop - up menu , and then enter the address 192.168.1.224 . I then click all right and then Apply . This let me connect to the MySpot via a internet web browser ( using 192.168.1.225 as the address ) to view an foreshorten shape Sir Frederick Handley Page where I could fix a WEP Francis Scott Key ( only using text or ASCII characters in the password ) , change part of the MySpot ’s internet name , or set an IP speech .
Changes do n’t take property straightaway , and you may need to unplug the MySpot from top executive and then plug away it back in again to get a fresh web name or password to work . Given that once you set a parole , you may never ask to alter it again , you might only go through this set of steps one time . But it could be far easy . ( Once I was done , I had to switch my Mac ’s meshwork configurations back to Using DHCP . )
Bottom line
It ’s hard to retrospect the $ 60 MySpot without comparing it to Apple ’s $ 99 2012 AirPort Express , which disport coincident dual 2.4GHz/5GHz 802.11n networking and WPA2 security . The Express is a bit larger at 4 inches square by an inch tall , is a bit heavier at 9 ounce , and require AC great power , but it also has 802.11n throughput and the advantage of range and coverage that come with multiple antennas and greater tycoon . If your main headache is size and weight , and you desire to save $ 40 , the MySpot go the placard , but the AirPort Express offers modern standards and wanton configuration .
