ConiuGo USB 3G modem
ConiuGo is a German manufacturer of industrial GSM modems and wireless data equipment. Their range of GSM modems include models with a serial port, USB port and RJ45 LAN port. There are also separate models with DIN-rail casing and 3G UMTS wireless modules.
For this review, we tested the USB 3G/UMTS model of the ConiuGo modem.
| ConiuGo LAN modem specifications | |
|---|---|
| Connection | USB |
| GSM Frequency bands | 850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100 |
| Network protocols | GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA |
ConiuGo USB modem
The ConiuGo USB modem, plus external antenna, was bought from the ConiuGo reseller Conrad. The modem is sold without antenna and requires an external antenna with MMCX connection. Antenna's with an MMCX connection are not very common and it is probably best to order the antenna together with the modem.
Setting up the ConiuGo USB modem
The USB models of the ConiuGo modems do not need an external power supply, it is powered by the USB connection. On Windows 10, the modem was immediately recognized by Windows and the appropriate USB serial port drivers were installed automatically. The CD that is included with the modem contains drivers for older versions of Windows.
Diafaan SMS Server found the modem without any problems, the modem identifies itself as a Motorola H24 GSM/3G module. But newer models of the ConiuGo modems are using Telit modules.
ConiuGo DIN-rail USB modem
Daily operation
The modem worked well in our tests but in the SMS send speed test, where the modem must send 500 messages to itself, there were a lot of low level send errors that triggered Diafaan SMS Server to reboot the modem. Because of this, the send speed was only 39 minutes and 18 seconds for 500 messages, which is very slow for a 3G modem. When we set the 'RebootBeforeInitialization' option in the GSM Modem Gateway to 'False' to prevent the long reboot procedure, the 500 messages where sent in only 19 minutes and 9 seconds. Low level send errors are caused by communication problems between the modem and the mobile network and it is likely that the modem performs better in other networks.
The modem supports the full reboot command from Diafaan SMS Server after GSM modem encounters a problem. It also recovers well after the network connection has temporarily been down.
SMS send speed
| Network | Vodafone |
| Signal quality | Average |
| Time to send 500 messages of 160 characters, delivery confirmation enabled. All messages sent to the same number (concurrent send and receive) | 39 minutes 18 seconds |
Conclusion
The ConiuGo 3G USB modem is an good GSM modem for use on computers with only a USB port. Because of a relatively large number of send errors, the send speed in our test is lower than expected for a 3G modem but apart from this, the modem performed well.