Sorry for the wall of text that is there to follow.
I do like the docking station concept. It will keep the box small for 4G and WISP usage. And in case you want Ethernet you could plug in the “docking station” and use the Ethernet on that.
When I look for a travel router I want all the flexibility I can get. I generally do not know if a room/apartment/accommodation has Ethernet (plenty of business orientated hotels do), good enough Wi-Fi or neither. In case of neither 4G will of course be the way to obtain internet! In general I do check in that order, because Ethernet is better (generally more stable) then WISP. 4G is generally more expensive then Ethernet and Wi-Fi when that is available. I want to be able to handle all those cases and my current gear can do so, but consist out of multiple parts and is really not as plug and play as non-power-users would like a product to be!
When I’m not traveling my travel router sometimes will actually act as backup system in case there are service disruptions at my ISP, which for my setup is means it is wired between modem and router and will use WISP or 4G as uplink while wired is gone. (Automatically switching back when it sees wan is connected to the internet!)
I do understand you aim it at being a Mifi and WISP system! The device has no Ethernet ports at all unless you connect the docking station. I’m just wondering if an 2 Ethernet dock is being considered as option? For those rare users that search a very flexible solution instead of just a Mifi! I doubt an 2 port Ethernet dock would make the Mudi to big. Especially given those ports are not in the Mifi, but a special docking station that is only needed when you want to use Ethernet!
Let me be honest and compare the GL-Mifi and Mudi based on what I know:
- GL-Mifi has no “fancy” screen.
- GL-Mifi has smaller battery. (5000 mah vs 7000mah)
- GL-Mifi is smaller but a bit thicker! (105 * 72 * 27mm vs 145 * 77,5 * 23,5mm) Really?!
- GL-Mifi has no 5GHz wifi.
- GL-Mifi has 1 LAN and 1 WAN port without needing to attach anything!
- Mudi with dock attached only 1 Ethernet port ever! Pick your config carefully! LAN onto LAN can break a network if you needed LAN to WAN!
In my eyes I will have more issues with only 1 Ethernet port then with having no 5GHz and no screen! I can image that users that really are looking for a MiFi the Mudi might indeed be better than the GL-Mifi.
Without the Ethernet, the Mudi is aimed at Mifi-market where there are alternatives (probably none with as advanced software as the Mudi will likely have), but specification-wise and quality/price it might come close to some other mifi-devices!
For those wondering, my current gear:
(GL-AR300M + battery pack + 4G dongle + Netgear WNDA3200 as dedicated radio for WISP OR GL-Mifi + Netgear WNDA3200 as dedicated radio for WISP)