MiFi portable wireless hotspot
Very good news for South Africans is that the popular Novatel Wireless MiFi is on its way here and should make an appearance sometime this month.
The MiFi is a credit-card sized device with a built-in, rechargeable battery and SD card slot. Over and above that, its claim to fame is the inclusion of an HSDPA modem and wireless router functionality.
Using the MiFi is pretty simple. Once charged, the device should provide about five hours or so of continued use. The MiFi is charged by way of a USB cable. Since it is really small, it can be switched on and carried around in a pocket or bag. The wireless network has a range of roughly 10m and allows up to five devices to be connected simultaneously. Internet connectivity is achieved through a cellular network, ideally HSDPA for highest throughput. That’s it. In contrast to the Dovado UMR, the MiFi has the advantage of having a much smaller form factor and not having to rely on an external power source. The creation of an ad-hoc wireless hotspot in the car, office or anywhere else is finally a possibility.
But that’s not all. The MiFi includes an SD card slot that can accept SDHC storage cards up to 16GB in size. With a card inserted, the MiFi not only acts as a wireless access point for connected devices, but also becomes a very basic SAN that is capable of file sharing. The MiFi is GPS enabled, but I’m not sure whether that’s a mobile network geolocation service or an actual GPS chip.
No local pricing is available yet from Autopage, but the unsubsidized cost in the US seems to be around the USD 200 mark. If this is offered at a reasonable price here, I’d be first in line for one! Let’s wait and see…
A nice device, but if that is a the price, plus import duties, mark-ups etc. IT will be a bit pricey here in SA and possible out of many peoples budget.
That’s the unsubsidized, American price. It is very likely that the MiFi will be bundled with a SIM card and monthly bandwidth cap, so the overall cost per month should (hopefully) be reasonable and in line with something like a USB 3G modem. At USD 200, we can calculate ZAR 2000 as a rough estimate for the device only, which is not that bad considering USB modems without contract are sold for around ZAR 1500…
Best to wait and see what the price is once the device is available. I’m hoping for moderate sticker shock
A better option in my opinion is joikuspot (http://www.joikushop.com/). Works on most nokia phones with wifi. I use it extensively on nokia e51. The premium version only costs 15 Euro. Can connect multiple laptops. VPN works as well.
Also do not then require a dual sim or similar to share the databundle on my phone.
I used JoikuSpot Premium on the E90 and really like it a lot. I guess the main reason for wanting the MiFi is the fact that it’s really small and compact and I can’t run something like Joiku on the iPhone.
If you’re using a Windows Mobile phone, WMWifiRouter is the program that does the same as Joikuspot. I’ve used both programs and they work really well so unless you’re using a Blackberry or iPhone I would agree they are a better route to take. Having your own little wifi network wherever you go certainly is a very cool experience.
Just saw an Autopage advert in The Times for this product – no pricing stated. Called in the sales office – inept salespersons never heard of the product nor is it listed on their price lists! Anyone have current SA pricing?
The availability date is still listed as mid-July 2009…another typical case of a company that doesn’t update details on its website…
Autopage launches MiFi credit-card sized portable HSDPA router – full details here … http://mobiler.co.za/technology/3173.html
well i just ordered and received one of these from Autopage. R690 pay-in, and then R250 per month for 500MB data.
the only thing is that it seems pretty damn slow, I am going through HSDPA (according to the little light) and only have one device connected – my laptop. I cannot see how this device will support up to 5 other devices at the same time over Wifi.
Anyway: maybe it’s a ‘network issue’, who knows.
I’m quite happy with the MiFi – had the first one for only a few hours before I had to return it since it wouldn’t charge. The performance and throughput is reasonable, but obviously very dependent on network coverage.