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Mobile Wi-Fi Hot Spot

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.

7 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. They've finally perfected male birth control. by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    1. Re:They've finally perfected male birth control. by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't think this is a problem for most /.ers

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  2. Re:"simply by showing it to them" by James+Skarzinskas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Kick them in the nethers and run away?

  3. Re:Been there, done that. by ouimetch · · Score: 5, Funny

    "it provides a personal, portable, powerful, password-protected wireless hot spot."

    Clearly anything that can be described with this level of alliteration is a big deal.

  4. Re:"simply by showing it to them" by davester666 · · 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.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  5. Re:Been there, done that. by CaptainPatent · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Allegedly, anything able to be accounted for with this amount of alliteration is absolutely astounding"

    There, fixed that for you.

    --
    Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
  6. Re:"simply by showing it to them" by Anonymous Coward · · 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?