Huawei Power-Fi E8221 Wi-Fi Dongle Review & Specifications

USB Internet Dongles or Data Cards have become very popular and now you can find the various unlocked ones in the market, and you can use any mobile service provider SIM card in it for accessing internet. They are very useful especially for people who travel a lot and need internet on the go.

USB Internet Dongles are no doubt good enough for one person, but there can be times when you have to share your internet between two or more people. For this, a new kind of internet dongle or data card is gaining popularity, which is called a Wi-Fi Dongle or Huawei calls it as Wingle.

What is an Internet Wi-Fi Dongle or Wingle?

A USB Wi-Fi dongle or data card is a device by which one more Wi-Fi enabled devices i.e. Laptop, Smartphones, Tablets etc can access internet through the W-Fi connection provided by the data card. These Wi-Fi internet dongles are powered by a USB charger / adapter or any computer usb port. Usually many users use a mobile charger to power their Wi-Fi dongle as they are easily available. It must be noted that the performance of Wi-Fi dongle using a power adapter is better as computer USB ports are not able to provide sufficient current to the dongle for its Wi-Fi operation. Here in this post I am going to review Huawei Power-Fi E8221 Wi-Fi dongle which is one of the best Wi-Fi dongles available in the market.

Review of Huawei Power-Fi E8221 Wingle with Specifications

Here is the complete review and specifications of Huawei Power-Fi E8221 Wi-Fi Data Card or Wingle.

Build Quality & Size

The build quality of the dongle is pretty good and it has somewhat matte finish to it. The size of the data card is a little bit big as compared to other normal dongles, but this could be due to the fact that it has additional W-Fi functionality too. The Wingle is lightweight and you can insert your standard size SIM Card (mini SIM) in the SIM slot by sliding and taking out the top cover of the dongle. You can use any network operator SIM (Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance etc.) in this Wi-Fi data card. There is no microSD card slot present in this data card.

Speed & Wi-Fi Connectivity

The maximum rated 3G download speed of Huawei Power-Fi E8221 Wi-Fi Dongle is 14.4 Mbps. Practically also the speed of this Wi-Fi dongle is very good, but this also depends on the speed provided by your network operator. Huawei Power-Fi E8221 allows you to connect up to 10 Wi-Fi enabled devices, which can be a Laptop, Smartphone, Tablet etc. The range of Wi-Fi is pretty good for a small office or home.

Power Source

You can use any USB Power Adapter or Mobile Charger to power this wingle. You can also connect this Wi-Fi dongle directly to your computer USB port, but I would suggest you to use the USB Powered Adapter if there are two or more users accessing the internet through Wi-Fi.

User Interface

This wingle is a plug and play device and you don’t need to install any software for it. The user interface of this data card is web based and you can access it by typing the following address http://192.168.8.1 in your web browser. From there you can change your admin password, Wi-Fi password and configure network and other settings. The main disadvantage of this Wi-Fi dongle is that it does not support USSD codes and calling feature. It means you have check your internet balance by sending message to the provider or by putting the SIM card in your phone, and then execute the USSD code to check your internet balance and validity.

Default Login for Huawei Power-Fi E8221 Wif-Fi Dongle

Username: admin

Password: admin

The default Wi-Fi password or Wi-Fi Key for Huawei Power-Fi E8221 Dongle is: e16b2jte

LED Indicators

It has two LED indicators, one for Wi-Fi status and other for network status (2G/3G). The first LED is for Wi-Fi and the second one is for 2G/3G indication. The various color codes for different indications are listed below.

Wi-Fi LED Indicator

Steady Green: A Wi-Fi connection is set up

2G/3G LED Indicator

Blinking Green twice every 2 second: The Wingle is powered on, but is not registered with a network

Blinking Green once every 0.2 seconds: The Wingle’s software is being upgraded

Blinking Green once every 2 seconds: The Wingle is registering with a 2G network

Blinking Blue once every 2 seconds: The Wingle is registering with a 3G network

Steady Green: The Wingle is connected to a 2G network

Steady Blue: The Wingle is connected to a 3G network

Steady Cyan: The Wingle is connected to a 3G+ network

Price and Conclusion

In the last I must say that it is one of the best, powerful, affordable and branded Wi-Fi Internet dongle in the market. So if you really want flexibility, power and an extra edge over the standard 3G USB dongles then this is the right product for you. Huawei Power-Fi E8221W-Fi dongle is priced at Rs. 1800/- but you can get it at much lesser or discounted price from the link given below.

Buy Huawei Power-Fi E8221 Data Card