Mobile Hotspots

WT Sharpe · 11-30-2011, 01:40 PM

I was looking at what appeared to be a perfect deal on Cyber Monday at Amazon: a Novatel MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hot Spot (Virgin Mobile) for (as of this writing) $69.99. Perfect, that is, until I started reading the reviews. People complained of sluggish performance and a device that gets very warm very quick. Still, because there's no contract to sign, I'm considering it. After all, how much can I lose? And since I don't plan to use it for watching a lot of video, it may be a good deal for me, and it did get 3 out of 5 stars from Amazon's customers; certainly not the most glowing review by any means, but it seems to work for some folks.

What do you think? Buy? Or choose something different? Any other recommendations? Anyone out there with experience with this one? I can't afford to spend an arm and a leg. I only have one each left after buying the iPad.

DustyDisks · 11-30-2011, 01:59 PM

One time payment of $69.00 and change. and no usage bills?

Jump on it like a frog on a June bug. If you use the interwebs a lot.

WT Sharpe · 11-30-2011, 02:47 PM

Okay, I went ahead and ordered it. I'll be back in a few days with a review.

It's 3G, not 4G, but I saw on Verizon's site (this device is Virgin, not Verizon) that several customers were complaining that had they knew how much faster 4G uses up their allotted data that they would have stuck with 3G. I have no idea if that complaint is valid or not.

carpetmojo · 11-30-2011, 05:38 PM

Talking of hotspots, I seem to have a noticeable lack of free/open hotspots wherever I am for wifi ...

I have three coded in, 1 mine,and 2 other, (one from BT Thon and another, cant remember now - but are there any other kind of open routes for us to use these gizmos ?

Poodlemom1 · 11-30-2011, 06:39 PM

Usage is not free. I have had this device with Virgin Mobile service since mid-Oct. I have not had any problem with it getting warm. I have had very good service and used it recently while traveling from Oklahoma City to Myrtle Beach. I have not had any problem with it being sluggish. I have the $50/month unlimited plan. They do have a notice in small print that they may slow down the speed to dial up if you go over 2.5 GB in a month. I did go over that during the month and did not notice a reduction in speed.

Rob Lister · 11-30-2011, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Talking of hotspots, I seem to have a noticeable lack of free/open hotspots wherever I am for wifi ...

I have three coded in, 1 mine,and 2 other, (one from BT Thon and another, cant remember now - but are there any other kind of open routes for us to use these gizmos ?

???
really hard to parse that query. I think you're asking for something like this:

http://www.wifi-in-uk.co.uk/

i.e.

http://sites.google.com/site/wifiinuk/thedirectory

WT Sharpe · 11-30-2011, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poodlemom1

Usage is not free. I have had this device with Virgin Mobile service since mid-Oct. I have not had any problem with it getting warm. I have had very good service and used it recently while traveling from Oklahoma City to Myrtle Beach. I have not had any problem with it being sluggish. I have the $50/month unlimited plan. They do have a notice in small print that they may slow down the speed to dial up if you go over 2.5 GB in a month. I did go over that during the month and did not notice a reduction in speed.

I think I'll start with the $20/500MB per month plan. Since I don't plan to do a lot of stuff that involves motion, that may work for me. I can do my main surfing & movie downloads at home.

tubemonkey · 11-30-2011, 10:59 PM

I use McDonald's for my mobile hotspot.

Hot fries and hotspot ...winning combination

WT Sharpe · 12-03-2011, 12:51 AM

Well, it works. And not too badly for reading forums and email. I haven't tried doing anything crazy like downloading a movie. Judging from the speed at which it connects to websites, I doubt I want to; but it serves my needs well. I'm using it to write this on my WiFi iPad.

ApK · 12-07-2011, 11:50 AM

I'm glad I stumbled on this thread. I have been avoiding smartphones because the data plans are silly-expensive for the non-essential stuff I'd want it for, but a pay-as-you-go thing at a reasonable price like this might be just the ticket for my wife and me, who often travel with an iPod and/or notebook PC.
$10 for a 100MB...Hmm...anyone know off hand how much data a low-quality Netflix video stream uses...or a Pandora audio stream?

HarryT · 12-07-2011, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApK

$10 for a 100MB...Hmm...anyone know off hand how much data a low-quality Netflix video stream uses...or a Pandora audio stream?

Low-res video will about 150-200MB/hour. Audio perhaps 30MB/hour. You really don't want to do streaming over a 3G connection. That way lies mega charges!

ilovejedd · 12-07-2011, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Low-res video will about 150-200MB/hour. Audio perhaps 30MB/hour. You really don't want to do streaming over a 3G connection. That way lies mega charges!

Low quality Netflix on the phone is roughly 200MB/hour (the Netflix phone app purposely lowers quality when watching on 3G). If you're planning on watching Netflix on your laptop or iPod Touch (which would both categorize the connection as wi-fi), expect to see even higher bandwidth use since Netflix will only limited by the speed of your internet connection.

Pandora is at 50MB/hour for me.

carpetmojo · 12-07-2011, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

???
really hard to parse that query. I think you're asking for something like this:

http://www.wifi-in-uk.co.uk/

i.e.

http://sites.google.com/site/wifiinuk/thedirectory

Thanks Rob, spot on - I'm going to see if I can get my town on this - they say it's easy and quick .

'Course, they haven't had me on board before, mind.......

Interesting about Macdonalds - you'd need a health risk warning if you were in there for any length of time though .
If you wanted to download a movie, I think a call to the local ER unit would be a smart move, just to warn 'em they might need the heart triage team.....

HarryT · 12-07-2011, 12:36 PM

If you're interested in WiFi hotspots, you may wish to consider getting BT Broadband, carpetmojo. They operate a very useful system called "BT-FON". Essentially you agree to "donate" about 5% of your broadband bandwidth for use as a public WiFi hotspot (it's completely segregated from your personal traffic) and, in return, you get to use every other FON member's hotspot for free. They have something like 2 million FON hotspots for use; no matter where I go, there seems to be at least a couple of them in range. It works really well.

DustyDisks · 12-07-2011, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you're interested in WiFi hotspots, you may wish to consider getting BT Broadband, carpetmojo. They operate a very useful system called "BT-FON". Essentially you agree to "donate" about 5% of your broadband bandwidth for use as a public WiFi hotspot (it's completely segregated from your personal traffic) and, in return, you get to use every other FON member's hotspot for free. They have something like 2 million FON hotspots for use; no matter where I go, there seems to be at least a couple of them in range. It works really well.

Now that is one great ideal.

11-30-2011, 01:40 PM	#1
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Mobile Hotspots I was looking at what appeared to be a perfect deal on Cyber Monday at Amazon: a Novatel MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hot Spot (Virgin Mobile) for (as of this writing) $69.99. Perfect, that is, until I started reading the reviews. People complained of sluggish performance and a device that gets very warm very quick. Still, because there's no contract to sign, I'm considering it. After all, how much can I lose? And since I don't plan to use it for watching a lot of video, it may be a good deal for me, and it did get 3 out of 5 stars from Amazon's customers; certainly not the most glowing review by any means, but it seems to work for some folks. What do you think? Buy? Or choose something different? Any other recommendations? Anyone out there with experience with this one? I can't afford to spend an arm and a leg. I only have one each left after buying the iPad.

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11-30-2011, 01:59 PM	#2
DustyDisks Old Fart In Training Posts: 534 Karma: 2742476 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Gladewater, Texas Device: K3+3g/KFHD 7"/Nexus 7/Nexus 7.2	One time payment of $69.00 and change. and no usage bills? Jump on it like a frog on a June bug. If you use the interwebs a lot.

11-30-2011, 02:47 PM	#3
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Okay, I went ahead and ordered it. I'll be back in a few days with a review. It's 3G, not 4G, but I saw on Verizon's site (this device is Virgin, not Verizon) that several customers were complaining that had they knew how much faster 4G uses up their allotted data that they would have stuck with 3G. I have no idea if that complaint is valid or not.

11-30-2011, 05:38 PM	#4
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Talking of hotspots, I seem to have a noticeable lack of free/open hotspots wherever I am for wifi ... I have three coded in, 1 mine,and 2 other, (one from BT Thon and another, cant remember now - but are there any other kind of open routes for us to use these gizmos ?

11-30-2011, 06:39 PM	#5
Poodlemom1 Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1028568 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: OK Device: Voyage, Oasis, Glow HD, Fire HD6, iPad Air 2, Mini 2	Usage is not free. I have had this device with Virgin Mobile service since mid-Oct. I have not had any problem with it getting warm. I have had very good service and used it recently while traveling from Oklahoma City to Myrtle Beach. I have not had any problem with it being sluggish. I have the $50/month unlimited plan. They do have a notice in small print that they may slow down the speed to dial up if you go over 2.5 GB in a month. I did go over that during the month and did not notice a reduction in speed.

11-30-2011, 10:59 PM	#8
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,762 Karma: 158733736 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	I use McDonald's for my mobile hotspot. Hot fries and hotspot ...winning combination

12-03-2011, 12:51 AM	#9
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Well, it works. And not too badly for reading forums and email. I haven't tried doing anything crazy like downloading a movie. Judging from the speed at which it connects to websites, I doubt I want to; but it serves my needs well. I'm using it to write this on my WiFi iPad.

12-07-2011, 11:50 AM	#10
ApK Award-Winning Participant Posts: 7,389 Karma: 68329346 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: NJ, USA Device: Kindle	I'm glad I stumbled on this thread. I have been avoiding smartphones because the data plans are silly-expensive for the non-essential stuff I'd want it for, but a pay-as-you-go thing at a reasonable price like this might be just the ticket for my wife and me, who often travel with an iPod and/or notebook PC. $10 for a 100MB...Hmm...anyone know off hand how much data a low-quality Netflix video stream uses...or a Pandora audio stream?

12-07-2011, 12:36 PM	#14
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	If you're interested in WiFi hotspots, you may wish to consider getting BT Broadband, carpetmojo. They operate a very useful system called "BT-FON". Essentially you agree to "donate" about 5% of your broadband bandwidth for use as a public WiFi hotspot (it's completely segregated from your personal traffic) and, in return, you get to use every other FON member's hotspot for free. They have something like 2 million FON hotspots for use; no matter where I go, there seems to be at least a couple of them in range. It works really well.

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