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The Software Router As MiFi Killer

An anonymous reader writes "The MiFi Mobile Router has been getting a lot of positive reviews these days, for combining a cellular modem, WiFi radio and battery pack in a portable device. But playing with a beta release of a software based wireless router for Windows 7 has me wondering if there's any future to these dedicated, multi-radio routers. Is the future that every PC should be a router? Or is that a job best left to a cell phone?" I just drove across the country and back with a MiFi (using Verizon's service, which was not zippy but very reliable); it strikes me that being nicely cross-platform and not requiring a laptop with its own cell-network connection is a serious advantage for the MiFi or any similar device.

3 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I've never really understood this device by Mike+Buddha · · Score: 0, Troll

    Maybe someone can enlighten me.

    Some of us have friends.

    --
    by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
  2. Re:NAT is a good thing by girlintraining · · Score: 0, Troll

    Isolating functionality doesn't mean blocking yourself off from the net - he was talking about using dedicated devices to provide routing services in order to minimize the chance of being compromised.

    Ignoring your pathetic ad hominim attack: Properly designed software has approximately the same level of security as dedicated devices. Case in point -- I have a Windows XP box directly connected to the internet (not behind NAT or anything). It has no anti-virus, anti-spyware, and the firewall is disabled. It has never been compromised. Why? Because all the networking services are disabled and it's only used for web browsing, which runs under a restricted account with Firefox and noscript.

    This idea that hardware solutions are superior to software solutions is bunk. It's all in the configuration. Always has been.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  3. Re:Windows 7? More like XP. And OS X. And Linux. A by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 0, Troll

    Ok. What do you want, a prize?