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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.
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.
And what do you do when you no longer want to let them have access?
Someone forgot about the battery powered Cradelpoint systems. They're at http://www.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.
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# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
Just what I've always wanted, a mobile wi-fi hotspot sitting in my pants pocket microwaving my genitals all day long.
I don't see the big deal in this. For those of us who run Symbian based phones, Joikuspot has a free version which allows you to use your phone as a personal wifi hotspot with encryption. I use my E71 on ATT for an instant 3G hotspot wherever a 3G connection exists.
I've been doing this for months. http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/
With the story yesterday about the car-centric mobile network, and now this today... it's great to see.
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?
So wait... The telco's won't allow my iPhone/G1/Crackbery/etc to use VOIP over their network unless I buy one of these first?
~/ One man's opinions is a lifetime of pain.
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.
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.
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.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
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.
or else!
I use this on my winmo htc titan. Cricket in Colorado 60/month unlimited everything, ftw.
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
Beats hauling around a bulky CPE device and WiFi router everywhere.
The only downside is that WiMax coverage isn't in many markets yet.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
http://wmwifirouter.com/
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.
"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."
Yeah, it's called a phone!
If you have a Windows Mobile phone with an internet plan, you could use WMWifiRouter(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, 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?
I can only speak for the HSPA technology on DataCard. VOIP support will be a major feature in the next generation of cards which will be out later this year or first part of next year.
VOIP requires certain functionality called continuous packet connectivity which is introduced in a later version of the standards. In fact, there will be no circuit switch support on these data cards.
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!
Sounds like paid (or unpaid?) dvertising to me. -1, it's probably not as good as it's it sounds. For $60 a month I can get 80 GB with my ISP and this is, what, 5GB?? -2 to that...
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. 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 accelerate their web browsing.
I have used this to downloaded GBs of torrents to my laptop. For $30/month to Sprint for phone and unlimited texts and internet it's an awesome deal.
Da Blog
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 door, 16 - 32kbps is not uncommon. Add an extra hundred or more kbps and this is why VoIP sounds better.
Telco's have been about reducing bandwidth since day one. They aren't about to change this mindset, it'll take a few more generations yet.
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...
I'm not looking for a handout, I'm looking for better tech. Further, 3g has far better upload in my area than cable/dsl. 150kbps up 3g. 60kpbs cable (max is around 110 in my area if I wanted SuddenSuck to gut me some more). 60kpbs handles my 4 trunks perfectly. I wouldn't see it as unreasonable to dump cdma/gsm and raise the cost of packet network access assuming it cost them more.
I have checked out every last cell phone carrier's data plan, this one is no exception. You agree that the first 5 GB of data download costs you $60. The second 5 GB of download for that month cost in excess of $1,200. Only a fool would sign a contract that has no upper limit to how much it can cost you. If you sign such a contract then don't go bitching to the carrier when you get your first multi-thousand dollar bill.
The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
Doesn't anyone else find this insulting that Verizon has the nerve to charge their customers $15.00 a day? Thats typically what a hotel would charge a one time use guest. And lets look at that awesome data plan. 250 MEGABYTES for 40$ a month!! Jeeze, get a grip Verizon. You can only screw the general public so much(Of course there will probably be enough idiots opting into this service just for the cool factor to keep it alive as a business model). Theres always the $60.00 a month 5Gig plan-You gotta be kidding me, $60.00 a month for 5 GB! This whole thing must have been cooked up by the same bean counters that figured out the SMS rates.
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
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
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 will support official tethering with 3.0.
So basically, you just made yourself look like a jackass in front of the entire internet for as long as the web exists. Do you Apple Haters get off on rants with no point or what?
What's even more delightful is the irony of your username in contrast with the mechanism used to do tethering currently, which muffles any possible complaint from you in response.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Did you RTFA? The article says it's similar to a triple-thick credit card. Or are you comparing the device your company makes to some heretofore unmentioned piece of hardware?
That's no small downside. The article you linked to says, "One big constraint, of course, is that WiMax from Sprint/Clearwire is currently limited to Baltimore and Portland, OR, but is growing this year and next to many cities." Two markets is hardly worth mentioning.
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...
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 digital circuit multiplication equipment. DTX-240's and up are pretty common here. This makes the whole system a nice big cash cow, you'll only ever get less bandwidth in this domain. Not only that, people don't link voice and data together - we (you and I) know these things are just bits on the wire, we also see the benefits of switching to VoIP, but your voice is already packet switched and raking in the money, it's hard to change that for a lot of technical reasons (Remember, billions of dollars). We know how cheap bandwidth is, but the majority of people do not. And no matter how much you are willing to pay, you're going to get screwed because of the aforementioned greed, but also because corporations are slow to roll with the trends.
You can have what you want right now, but you'll pay an extortionate rate for the convenience - there are some exceptions to this though. The main problem is that if everyone wants their XXXMbps link to their MiFi, to their iPhone, to their whatever that is fed over 3G, it'll require some pretty massive upgrades on the back end - these are happening right now, but it'll be years before you reap the benefit right across the country. Your average phone on its own can't do much damage, but tethering, the 3G infrastructure isn't quite ready for that yet. I don't make the rules here, I just roll out the tech.
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.
The truth shall set you free!