Road warriors, take note. Verizon Wireless has effectively eliminated the need to search for Internet cafés and wired hotels when you're on the road. The carrier's new Intelligent Mobile Hotspot creates an ad hoc Wi-Fi hotspot, wherever and whenever you need it.
Developed by Novatel Wireless, the pocket-sized MiFi 2200 lets you share the high-speed Internet connectivity of the Verizon Wireless 3G Mobile Broadband network with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as notebooks, netbooks, cameras, gaming devices or portable media/MP3 players.
Aimed primarily at students, mobile workers, and families who need to stay connected while on the go (including hurricane evacuees stuck in hotels or shelters without Internet access), the unit is scarcely bigger than a deck of cards, measuring 3.5” x 2.3” x 0.4” and weighing slightly over two ounces. Advanced security and authentication technologies guard against eavesdropping and freeloading.
The unit looks like a portable USB hard drive, thanks to internal antennas for both Wi-Fi and CDMA (the cellular transmission system used in the U.S. by Verizon Wireless and Sprint.) Verizon claims the Mi Fi 2200’s rechargeable battery will provide up to four hours of active use for one user connected and up to 40 hours of standby time on a single charge. You can also connect the device to a PC via a USB cable and use it as a 3G broadband modem.
Verizon's Intelligent Mobile Hotspot retails for $270. Sign-up for a new two-year agreement, and the Mifi 2200 is yours for only $100 (after a $50 mail-in rebate). The pricing for currently-offered two-year mobile broadband service plans is as follows:
• $40 monthly access for 250 MB monthly allowance and 10 cents per megabyte overage
• $60 monthly access for 5 GB monthly allowance and 5 cents per megabyte overage
You can also use the MiFi 2200 with Verizon's Mobile Broadband DayPass, which provides access for 24 hours for $15, but without a service plan, the Mifi must be purchased at full retail price.
The alternative, of course, is a wireless WAN card. A card, however, only provides connectively for one device at a time. To share it, you'd have to use Windows Internet Connection Sharing, and to do so wirelessly would require configuring a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection or using a wireless access point (WAP). Verizon's Mifi is a much simpler solution.
Verizon's Intelligent Mobile Hotspot should not be confused with travel routers, which are compact, easy-to-pack AC-powered wireless routers designed for sharing a hotel room connection without paying an extra charge.
Verizon Wireless acquired Alltel Corp. in January. The nation's largest wireless carrier has spent the last six months changing billing systems and re-outfitting stores. Network conversion, however, has reportedly been the dominant task at hand.
A Verizon spokesperson told me that countless Alltel cell sites and several large switching facilities had to be upgraded in order to be integrated into Verizon's 86 million-customer network, which currently offers 3G connection speeds and plans to offer 4G in the near future.
In case you were wondering, TV commercials and billboards featuring "Chad," played by Chad Brokaw, the cool Alltel representative who always turns the tables on his nerdy competitors, are history. "Verizon Guy", played by Matthew Simmons, evidently decided that buying Alltel for $28 billion was the best way to get rid of his adversary.
