I'm not sure I see the utility of the mifi.

[danpass]

At least for a smartphone user (especially the iPhone).


On the road:
Smartphone with the big screen by itself
Laptop running a tether (tether works on my iPhone)


At home:
Internet connection, with unlimited bandwidth, with wifi router.



So the above scenarios are most people IMO.



Basically you're left with:
Mifi at home for those who don't have (or don't want which is probably more likely) internet at home and then mifi on the road.

But if you don't get service at home then its probable that you won't get cell service either at that location.




I'm curious how you see mifi coming into play. The plans and pricing are not very encouraging if trying to replace a wired setup at home.

 

[7on]

I see the mifi as a roadwarrior's tool. A traveling businessman. An alternative to the laptop data card.

Personally I always reccommend that an individual get a cellphone with a data plan and tether with that. Even a nokia or winmo with pdanet would be just like a mifi.

 

[danpass]

I see the mifi as a roadwarrior's tool. A traveling businessman. An alternative to the laptop data card.

Personally I always reccommend that an individual get a cellphone with a data plan and tether with that. Even a nokia or winmo with pdanet would be just like a mifi.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Who wants to carry ANOTHER piece of equipment lol?

 

[steve2112]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Who wants to carry ANOTHER piece of equipment lol?

Tethering is nice if your carrier/phone allows it. Is AT&T allowing it with the iPhone yet? Here is one other thing I have wondered: I know the major carriers have capped their wifi cars at 5GB/month, but what about phone data plans? It seems to me that you could hit that limit pretty quickly between phone internet usage and tethering.

Anyway, I can see this being useful in business environments. If you have a team traveling, and they need internet access, you can get them all online without having to pay for wifi cards for all of them. We've had vendors come in to do installs/upgrades, and we don't let them on our network. They need to have something like this to get net access.

 

[danpass]

.....

Anyway, I can see this being useful in business environments. If you have a team traveling, and they need internet access, you can get them all online without having to pay for wifi cards for all of them. .........

Sure, it works out for a group.

I'm just not convinced, that for an individual, it usurps a phone's data connection.

I have the benm modification to enable tethering (which I don't use much at all, simply a 'nice-to-have')

 

[steve2112]

Sure, it works out for a group.

I'm just not convinced, that for an individual, it usurps a phone's data connection.

I have the benm modification to enable tethering (which I don't use much at all, simply a 'nice-to-have')

Yeah, I don't see much use for it for individuals, unless you just enjoy giving others internet access on your EVDO card. I mean, it's basically just a wireless router for your EVDO card. Even Sprint seems to be marketing it as a business tool.