Review: WMWifiRouter. Or, How I Connected To The Internet Without An Internet Connection

Posted by: dgoldring on Sep 08 2008

One of the things you may have noticed from my recent series of reviews on the iPod Touch is how heavily it relies upon the Internet.  Not only is it a fantastic Internet device, with Safari and a very nice email program; but it also makes use of a variety of included and third party applications which rely on the Internet to receive data.  For example:

• Todo accesses the Internet to sync with my Toodledo task manager
• Calendar uses Nuevasync to sync with my Google Calendar
• Contacts uses Neuvasync to sync with Plaxo contacts manager
• Fizz Weather downloads weather data from the Internet.

I could go on, but I think you get the point here.  Of course, the iPod Touch does not have a phone in it, so there is no option to connect to AT&T’s 3G network.  As such, the only way to access the Internet is via a Wi-fi network connection.  This was a real concern for me when I purchased the iPod Touch, since I do not have a Wi-fi network in my house.

Before I purchased the iPod Touch, I sent an email to many of my friends, asking for help.  How could I tether my iPod Touch to my Windows Mobile phone, and use one signal to access the Internet with both devices.  The answer was a resounding affirmation of WMwifirouter from Morose Media.  Apparently, I learned, this program will take any Windows Mobile phone and turn it into a Wi-fi router, which the iPod Touch could then use to connect to the Internet.  Sounds good to me…but would it work?  Let’s take a look.

OK.  Let’s get started.  All you need to do is head over to the WMWifiRouter website and download the program.  There is a nice, full featured trial which you can use to test it out before buying, and I highly recommend that you do so.  This program requires some pretty specific resources and will not work well with all devices.  Most notably, it will require a monster 15 MB of memory.  There were a few times that I had to soft reset before I could continue with it in order to free up memory.  It also will only work with Windows Mobile phones (though there is another program by the same company available for Nokia phones).

The first thing I noticed about he program was how easy it was to use.  I mean, this really sounded scary and complicated to me when I downloaded it.  This is going to turn my phone into a Wi-fi router.  How is that even possible?  I had visions of numerous registry tweaks and dangerous settings to change.  On the contrary, all you have to do is run the program (and make sure your Wi-fi radio is turned on) and push connect. All of the hard work will be done for you (it even gives you a reminder to turn on your Wi-fi if it detects a hardware switch.)

Once you hit connect, the program will access your WLAN settings and switch it around so that your phone will receive a Wi-fi signal, rather than transmitting one.  It then connects your phone to the Internet using your data connection (yeah, you will want to make sure you have an unlimited data plan for this.)  That is all there is to it.  It takes about 20 seconds to connect, and then you are ready to go.  Your phone will now receive Wi-fi signals transmitted from other devices and route that device to the Internet using your data connection.  This means you can essentially create a roaming Wi-fi hotspot that travels everywhere you go.

Once you are connected, any other devices or computers in the area will be able to recognize the Wi-fi hotspot you just created and connect to it just like any other wireless network.  Here, you can see both my iPod Touch (above) and my laptop (below) both identified and connected to the WMWifiRouter connection.

That’s it.  That will give you a basic connection.  Of course, there are numerous advanced features hidden within the configuration menus, which you tech savvy folks will want to check out, in order to customize your network settings.

I’ll be honest here and tell you that I am not tech savvy when it comes to this sort of thing.  The only change I made was to secure my network with a WEP Key password.  This is critical if you plan to transmit any important or personal data.  But the fun does not stop here.  Morose Media is constantly working on this program, and has over a dozen new features in the works, including:

• Multi-language support
• Share any connection - use your mobile device as a wifi card, share your connection over bluetooth, almost anything is possible!
• Multiple profile support - switch configurations with a single click
• Many more advanced configuration options
• Advanced setup wizard
• Distinction between basic and advanced users
• Keep-alive support to prevent automatic disconnects for specific carriers
• Battery monitoring and management
• Web based configuration
• New DHCP server to replace the current DHCP server
• New DNS proxy to replace the current DNS proxy
• HTTP Proxy
• Socks Proxy
• Secure Tunnel
• Easy configuration application for laptops and desktop computers

This is one program that just keeps getting better and better.  In fact, the only negative point I can make is that using both your Wi-fi network as a router and your phone can be quite a drain on the battery.  I always try to make sure I have my phone plugged in before I start using it as a router.  There is nothing worse than receiving an important phone call and finding a dead battery from all of those iPod Touch downloads.

What I Liked: Everything.  It is a walking Wifi Hotspot that travels everywhere you go.

What Needs Improvement:  It requires a lot of memory, and drains your battery extremely quickly.

Where to Buy: Morose Media

Price: 19.99 Euros (approximately $30 US)

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