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Mobile Wi-Fi Hot Spot
Posted by
kdawson
on Sun May 10, 2009 05:09 PM
from the boy-in-a-bubble dept.
from the boy-in-a-bubble dept.
bsharma writes to let us know about a little goodie that we will be able to buy starting May 17: a battery-powered, rechargeable, cellular, Wi-Fi hot spot that you can put in your pocket. "What if you had a personal Wi-Fi bubble, a private hot spot, that followed you everywhere you go? Incredibly, there is such a thing. It's the Novatel MiFi 2200, available from Verizon starting in mid-May ($100 with two-year contract, after rebate). It's a little wisp of a thing, like a triple-thick credit card. It has one power button, one status light and a swappable battery that looks like the one in a cellphone. When you turn on your MiFi and wait 30 seconds, it provides a personal, portable, powerful, password-protected wireless hot spot. ... If you just want to do e-mail and the Web, you pay $40 a month for the service (250 megabytes of data transfer, 10 cents a megabyte above that). If you watch videos and shuttle a lot of big files, opt for the $60 plan (5 gigabytes). And if you don't travel incessantly, the best deal may be the one-day pass: $15 for 24 hours, only when you need it. In that case, the MiFi itself costs $270." The device has its Wi-Fi password printed on the bottom, so you can invite someone to join your network simply by showing it to them.
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Hardware: A Real-World Test of the Verizon MiFi 118 comments
uninet writes "Over the course of a few days last week, I was able to spend a good deal of time with Verizon's amazing little MiFi 3G router. It admirably performed its task of providing speedy Wi-Fi Internet to other devices via an EvDO Rev. A connection. Ironically, the device even improved the experience of using the iPhone, making it usable for surfing where its native network (AT&T) doesn't even connect."
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Better reception with this unit (Score:5, Interesting)
One Advantage of the MiFi unit is that the performance is better than that of a standard datacard. Laptop Noise is an issue with usb sticks especially in low coverage areas.
Disclaimer: I work for the Manufacturer.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Units like this are nothing new.
The inherent problem with these isn't the fact that they're celluar; it's the fact that they're WIFI.
Driving around with this isn't nearly so great when you're getting interference from APs on the same channel (and there's no way to avoid it).
This means stuttered speeds while there's interference; and until this problem is solved with either a new WIFI spec or limiting the AP to an uncommon spec (who uses A these days?) that its utility is limited.
And when utility is
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
For me, the biggest hinderance is the cost of service. I don't travel a lot, but $15/day is exactly what I had to pay for my last hotel's internet service, and cellular internet is generally not as good as hotel WiFi, so I don't see the point in this device. Find some way that I can get device rental + service for $10/day or less, then maybe I'm interested.
Re:Singularity? (Score:5, Informative)
I am not actually an RF engineer so my thoughts/explanation may be completely ludicrous(it would not be the first time). My expertise is basically layer 3 through 5 of the OSI model
During the system test phase, a large number of measurements were performed to isolate the impact of Wifi Noise on 3G and 3G Noise on WiFi. It was found that there was actually minimal impact of Wifi on 3G and vice versa.
Parent
"simply by showing it to them" (Score:5, Insightful)
And what do you do when you no longer want to let them have access?
Re:"simply by showing it to them" (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess you get up and leave! Or yank the battery.
Parent
Re:"simply by showing it to them" (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:"simply by showing it to them" (Score:5, Funny)
You smash their computer, of course. And you'll have get them in a headlock that cuts the blood flow from their head, to try to wipe their short-term memory (of the password and you smashing their computer).
And you'll have to kill the witnesses, as this is all in public.
Parent
Re:"simply by showing it to them" (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:"simply by showing it to them" (Score:5, Funny)
And what do you do when you no longer want to let them have access?
Gee, I dunno Einstein, maybe stop showing them the password?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You send them a DMCA takedown notice to stop them using your intellectual property of course!
You make sure the passphrase is lyrics to a popular song... and have the RIAA take them to court for typing out those lyrics.
Re:"simply by showing it to them" (Score:5, Informative)
Same thing you do with every other wifi router, you change the password. In this case using their web interface which much like every other little consumer WAP/Router on planet.
And this would be a good example of how reading the article can save you from asking a stupid question.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not a stupid question, more of a snide remark. The password is printed on the device. This "feature" supposedly enables the user to share the password with other people "simply by showing it to them". If you change the password, you break that feature. So really, that can't be the point of printing the password onto the device. Some marketing guy dreamed up another bullet point. In reality it's just a way of making sure that the default password doesn't get lost, without making it the same for all devi
Someone forgot about the Cradlepoint! (Score:5, Informative)
Someone forgot about the battery powered Cradelpoint systems. They're at http://www.cradlepoint.com/ [cradlepoint.com] and aren't tied to one system or another: You provide a USB dongle for it. It provides everything else. The PRS300 or the CTR350 has been around for years now.
Re: (Score:2)
This is really cool and it's only $180.00, nice find PHS300 [cradlepoint.com]
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I've been using a PHS300 from Cradlepoint with my Sprint USB broadband dongle for almost a year. I commute by train 50 mins each way daily. I turn it on, toss it in my backpack, and I'm online for the train ride with no problems & nothing hanging off my laptop.
They've finally perfected male birth control. (Score:5, Funny)
Just what I've always wanted, a mobile wi-fi hotspot sitting in my pants pocket microwaving my genitals all day long.
Re:They've finally perfected male birth control. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
lol - thanks for that !!!
Been there, done that. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Been there, done that. (Score:5, Funny)
Clearly anything that can be described with this level of alliteration is a big deal.
Parent
Re:Been there, done that. (Score:5, Funny)
There, fixed that for you.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Hell, I can use my Nokia 6234 to get net access via bluetooth. Tho I can't speak for the speed or quality, I only did it to see if I could and then disconnected - I can't afford 1992 data rates anymore.
I suppose there might be some sort of emergency where I might use it, but it hasn't happened yet.
Rooted G1 with WiFi Tether (Score:5, Interesting)
Or if you've got a Windows Mobile Phone (Score:3, Informative)
Which works like a charm. Main uses I have for it is to get my iTouch online when there's no wifi about, or when a few of us are stuck in a ransom office somewhere with no/firewalled net access.
Main issue isn't getting a wifi available over a 3G backhaul (however you want to do it), but rather the quite horrific cost of doing so.
Re:Rooted G1 with WiFi Tether (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
great again (Score:3, Interesting)
As most of you know, the Internet is at risk of being restricted. Imagine a free, global Internet mesh, where the likes of RIAA and Big Brother couldn't reach. It would be a great boon to freedom of the Internet and to humankind.
Of course, naysayers would probably say they will always find a way to strip our freedoms... but we can all dream, can't we?
Enable VOIP! (Score:2, Insightful)
Joikuspot (Score:2)
Any Symbian S60 phone will do this with Joikuspot (a $20 software add-on).
It's occasionally useful; most of the time, Bluetooth or a USB cable are better, because they drain the battery less.
I already have one, its called an iPhone ... (Score:3, Informative)
Its rechargable, does 802.11a/b/g, does GPRS and edge and lets me make voice calls without using some POS VoIP app that sounds like shit regardless of how much bandwidth you give it (looking at you skype).
Hate to sound like an iPhone fan boy, but really this isn't impressive unless they pay me to buy it and cut the monthly cell data charges down to $40/month for unlimited usage like I get with my iPhone. Otherwise its just dumb to waste your money on it if the iPhone is an option.
Re:I already have one, its called an iPhone ... (Score:5, Insightful)
So, how well does your iPhone share out that connection to a real computer (you know, what the whole point of this little device is)? Oh wait, Apple doesn't allow tethering apps? Hmm, sorry, I think you don't quite get it. There are LOTS of Internet-capable handheld devices out there (some much more-so than the iPhone, thanks to having Flash and the option to install your own browser/mail client/whatever). The iPhone is a neat device, but until you can link it with a PC and share the wide-area connection (without jailbreaking, that is), it won't do what people buy these things for.
Parent
Re:I already have one, its called an iPhone ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Good point - and I too "have one and it's called an iPhone".
What I think this really means is that Apple can do what it's done repeatedly this decade: Create something versatile and potentially disruptive, but hold off on the disruption as long as is profitable.
F'rinstance: Everyone else sold MP3-based music players with no DRM. Apple made an iPod that could play DRM-free music - but, instead, they turned around and partnered with every major music label to provide a locked-down but fully-stocked catalog. Gah! Where's my free music?
In retrospect, it was pretty damned smart. Guess what they could do just as soon as "pent-up consumer demand profit" became greater than "become best buds with the RIAA profit"? Remove all the DRM.
They did it again with the iPhone App store. Every other smartphone allowed independent development, but Apple told us we'd get nothing but WebKit-based apps, and we'd like it. Meanwhile, that let them ship the first iPhone without worrying about the public API - and create visible, vocal demand from the development community. By the following year, programmers everywhere were screaming: "Please! Let us write programs for your platform!" And what do you know... the App Store appeared, and Apple gets a cut.
I don't know if it was truly planned this way, but it does seem to be a pattern, doesn't it? Most companies either court the rebellious-hacker base with an open API (early TiVo, some Google, Twitter), hoping to Be The Platform, or build a fortress (late TiVo, Facebook), hoping to Be The Gatekeeper. Apple seems to have a knack for being the gatekeeper as long as it possibly can - and then amazing us with the new power of the platform.
The jailbroken apps, as well as the 3.0 betas, prove that Apple could offer iPhone tethering next week - or next year. But they'd have to annoy AT&T to do it, and probably renegotiate. Why do that before they have to?
My hope: The MeFi will be a huge success, and there will be clamoring for Apple to offer something nearly as good. And then, one day, they'll send out a firmware update... and behold: the iPhone tethers. "It's amazing. I'm really proud of this capability, which is the first in a capacitive-touchscreen smartphone." etc.
Parent
Pretty well thanks (Score:3, Informative)
So, how well does your iPhone share out that connection to a real computer (you know, what the whole point of this little device is)?
Quite well actually [mydigitallife.info]
Yes it's jailbreaking but since you only have to download an app and run it even my mom could do so. Of course, my mom would have no use in doing so, it would be only technically sophisticated people wanting to do this... kind of like the group of people that jailbreak. Huh!
And of course it's rumored (well, beyond rumor but not in place yet) that AT&T
Better than ANY other product? (Score:4, Funny)
No but wait, his Iphone lets him make phone calls (and apparently supports 802.11a), so it's as good or better than any other product on the market, no mater what that device does.
That's right! The iPhone really IS better than any other product on the market, regardless of function! No matter what task comes to hand, the iPhone will see me through.
Why, I use my iPhone to puree tomatoes all the time. And it's SOOO handy when I want to brush my teeth. And just ask my girlfriend what she thinks of its penis enlargement capabilities. Truly, the iPhone is the pinnacle of technological development!
Parent
Not to burst your bubble... (Score:3, Informative)
This isn't that revolutionary. I have an AT&T Tilt that can share its 3G connection via WiFi using a program called WMWifiRouter. Since my data plan is "unlimited" and only $15/mo, it's a way better deal than this "new" tech.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Just wait until they figure out you are tethering.
your "plan" will jump to $99.00 a month.
Yes they are aggressively looking to find who is tethering, and charging them big fees.
WMWifiRouter (Score:2, Interesting)
Exactly (Score:3, Interesting)
I read this and thought the same thing. Have been enjoying WMWiFiRouter for a couple of years now. Binds your Windows Phone's 3G signal to the WiFi and re-broadcasts it for association by clients over WiFi or Bluetooth [wmwifirouter.com]. Interestingly, attached clients score a higher bandwidth (~130%) of the phone's browser running a similar speed test (~1 Mbps). Obviously CPU limited. It amused me in the days before there was a 3G iPhone to let my 2G iPhone friends associate to a Windows Mobile phone using WiFi to accelerat
What the hell? (Score:2)
Firstly, these aren't new... they've been around for 2 years at least, and are becoming relatively cheap now.
Secondly.. 2 year contract? $40 a month for 250MB? WTF?
I pay $7 per month for 1GB, and that isn't limited. On a 12 month contract. I could go to $14 a month for 5GB, but haven't needed to.
I know things are more expensive in the US, but that is an *insane* difference.
Clearwire already has a similar product and faster (Score:4, Informative)
Full disclosure: I work for Clearwire, and I am also not authorized to speak for the company.
http://gizmodo.com/5192430/review-clear-spot-portable-wimax-wi+fi-hotspot [gizmodo.com]
Beats hauling around a bulky CPE device and WiFi router everywhere.
The only downside is that WiMax coverage isn't in many markets yet.
WMWifiRouter, JoikuSpot, PDANet... etc? (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, it's called a phone!
If you have a Windows Mobile phone with an internet plan, you could use WMWifiRouter [wmwifirouter.com](the most advanced of the pack), which has been available since 2007, and was the very first app to do this.
If you have a Symbian phone, you could use JoikuSpot [joikuspot.com], which has been available since 2008.
To continue, for iPhone you could use PDANet. For Android there are also several programs available as well!
Why would you use something like this and get another data subscription when all you need is already in your pocket? Aside from the internet plan which you are likely to have already, all of these software are available for a small one-time fee - likely lower than one month of the data package itself.
Funny thing, none of those apps ever made it out of the firehose when I posted them. What makes this (very expensive and limited) product so special?
Joikuspot (Score:4, Informative)
One word: Joikuspot
Turns your mobile into a wifi hotspot.
I've only tried with Nokia models but it works great (N82, 5800). The free version only allows port 80 and gives you a nagware screen the first website you go to but thats it. The paid version allows all ports/protocols with no nag screen.
Beats this device hands down - you always have your phone with you . Of course your carrier charges may be another story...
But only with insane contract terms... (Score:5, Insightful)
Insulting (Score:3, Insightful)
great... (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know if anyone else read the article, but my favorite quote was:
Last week, I was stuck on a runway for two hours. As I merrily worked away online, complete with YouTube videos and file downloads, I became aware that my seatmate was sneaking glances.
I am sure he was "working" on Youtube because he is a reporter. He was probably "researching" on Wikipedia too.
Anyway, I like how they keep emphasizing how easy it is to put that thing in your pocket. Cause I need another microwave source to irradiate my testicles...
Re:Cash money! (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, I don't get how these highly-metered services even exist -- especially on "landline broadband". Even in mobile broadband, it's nowhere near justifiable, methinks. Anyone who pays $40 for half a CD per month of data transfer in 2009 is batshit insane. That probably wouldn't even cover the spam I get.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Because 'the industry' that runs the 3G typically runs the GSM and CDMA too. It's obviously not in their interest to hook you, the customer, up with data and then allow you to make unlimited voice calls over your own private SIP server running out of your basement. They want their cake, and they want yours too. Your VoIP sounds better because it typically has a metric arse load more bandwidth to work with. GSM codecs are about 13kbps, your typical land line turns digital a few hundred feet from your front d
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Who said anything about a hand out? I don't think you understand the environment you are wanting to change good sir. Or the one you currently have. Dumping the voice carrying component of any mobile or cellular system is not going to happen in your lifetime. It's far too entrenched. Billions of dollars are tied up in this infrastructure, in making it as efficient as possible for the financial benefit of the telco. You'll never make any traditional voice call these days without going through some kind of dig
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Often not mentioned is many of these small electronics items can be powered by a small pocket inverter in the car. You don't need 12 volt appliances for mobile use. I use a $20 inverter instead of a $100 mobile laptop power supply.