Got two of these from SAMS club back in Jan when they had them on clearance. Paided 20 bucks each. I’ve used it a few times and it works great. I put 2 64gb micro and sd cards in the slots, plugged a 64gb mini usb drive in the other. Took a trip to chicago during kids spring break and sit this up in the visor while they watched movies. 3 connected and watch different flicks just fine. Battery lasted the whole 5 hour trip. But it can be plugged into an adapter and into your usb port in your cr if you have one or into a phone charger. It has a LAN port on it for access as a wifi hotspot (router) if needed too. 30 bucks would be my price point but I got two for almost this price.
can it act as a wireless gateway to the internet for all its connected devices if it connects to another hotspot such as one’s smartphone or some open wifi? I know the other devices could connect straight to that hotspot, but they can’t access the internet and this monster personal cloud at the same time.
Here is the Amazon link for it. Currently $30.04 with free shipping if you have prime (or if you spend $35 w/o prime). It says it can act as an access point (probably from the RJ-45).
I’ve never tried that. I’ve not seen in any of it’s documentation where you can tether it so I would say NO.
It has a LAN connection port so it can broadcast up to 5 connections over wifi (not very strong). Just for testing, I’ve had it hooked up to my LAN, connected to it (without my wireless router on) and had it be a hotspot. Here’s a nice little write up about it.
It does say it can act as a wifi repeater, which allow simultaneous connection to the internet and its media. I presume that it has to connect to one’s smartphone’s hotspot in order to do that.