Take a personal Wi-Fi hotspot on the road with MiFi
MiFi portable Internet hotspot
UPDATE: As of early June the MiFi is also available from Sprint.
We usually recommend Sprint in the US because of their fast data network, but Verizon has a really interesting new device coming out soon that will make us get a Verizon account for the first time ever. This little thing is a wireless Wi-Fi router, like the one in your home or office, but it has a rechargeable battery and it connects to the Internet through Verizon’s 3G cell phone network.
You can now have your own personal hotspot, for multiple Internet users, wherever you need it. Think about that for a minute. Now your team has Internet access anywhere:
- remote or outdoor job sites
- conferences and trade shows
- a sales presentation where you don’t have time to figure out the customer’s network
How often have you walked into a customer’s conference room and then had to crawl under the table in a skirt looking for the network connection? How often has the customer said “Sure we have wireless Internet” only to find out that you can’t get connected, as valuable presentation time is wasted?
David Pogue of The New York Times was the first to get his hands on the MiFi. Read his initial review here. David’s followup comments are available on his blog.
Verizon doesn’t have any information on their Web site yet, so we’ll have to wait and see about features in the router, battery life, Wi-Fi signal strength and more. But if this is as good as it looks, Verizon has us as a new customer.
Quick Followup:
A couple of days after writing this Sprint announced they would also be offering the MiFi, starting early in June. Read their press release.