Domestic Mifi Device
Jul 29, 2015, 7:48 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: Delta PM, HHonors Gold; SPG Gold
Posts: 254
Domestic Mifi Device
Good morning all -
A change in my job status has put me in a position to be near wifi at almost all times so that I can connect my laptop to the internet.
While many places do have wifi, sometimes, i find myself needing to pull off to the side of the road, for instance, for a brief time to log on.
Using my mobile phone as a hot spot is not an option - so I am looking to purchase a mifi device to keep in my bag.
This will be for domestic use only - in the United States.
I've done some research but wondered if anyone here had any thoughts, advice or experience on what I should - or shouldn't - purchase.
Thanks!!
A change in my job status has put me in a position to be near wifi at almost all times so that I can connect my laptop to the internet.
While many places do have wifi, sometimes, i find myself needing to pull off to the side of the road, for instance, for a brief time to log on.
Using my mobile phone as a hot spot is not an option - so I am looking to purchase a mifi device to keep in my bag.
This will be for domestic use only - in the United States.
I've done some research but wondered if anyone here had any thoughts, advice or experience on what I should - or shouldn't - purchase.
Thanks!!
Jul 29, 2015, 2:12 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
My Sprint MiFi 500 works fairly well, but there's no carrier aggregation so your LTE speeds will possibly be lower than with newer models.
Really though it depends on what carrier has the best coverage and speeds in the places where you'll most often be without ready access to WiFi. Once you decide on a carrier then you can narrow down your choice of hotspot device. MiFi devices are generally good though.
Really though it depends on what carrier has the best coverage and speeds in the places where you'll most often be without ready access to WiFi. Once you decide on a carrier then you can narrow down your choice of hotspot device. MiFi devices are generally good though.
Jul 30, 2015, 6:11 pm
#3
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: YYZ
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I have a question. Why not just tether to a phone?
I've thought about getting one of these things but my phone is LTE enabled, and I can tether...so I never bothered with one of these devices.
I've thought about getting one of these things but my phone is LTE enabled, and I can tether...so I never bothered with one of these devices.
Jul 30, 2015, 9:09 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
Speaking of the iPhone, if you have an Apple laptop it can tell that you're using an iPhone for Internet. I don't know if applications pick up on that though and turn off unnecessary data usage.
Jul 30, 2015, 9:55 pm
#5
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,622
We just use our Samsung S5/Note4/Note3 phones' built in hot spots, no issues with overheating. It definitely uses battery, but not too much more than normal. Now, poor signal will chew through a battery on any phone.
One time we were at a hotel in NYC which was under renovation, so internet was down on our floor. I fired up the hot spot on my Motorola phone and everyone piggy-backed off of it. At the time we had iPads with cell modems on them. The iPads were barely getting signal while the Motorola was had a reasonable signal, so they were actually FASTER via WiFi tethering to the Motorola phone than they were with their built-in modems.
Who is your carrier? Just like phones, different carriers have different hot spots. I prefer the hotspots with actual displays on them and really dislike the cheap ones with fixed SSIDs.
One time we were at a hotel in NYC which was under renovation, so internet was down on our floor. I fired up the hot spot on my Motorola phone and everyone piggy-backed off of it. At the time we had iPads with cell modems on them. The iPads were barely getting signal while the Motorola was had a reasonable signal, so they were actually FASTER via WiFi tethering to the Motorola phone than they were with their built-in modems.
Who is your carrier? Just like phones, different carriers have different hot spots. I prefer the hotspots with actual displays on them and really dislike the cheap ones with fixed SSIDs.
Jul 31, 2015, 2:06 am
#6
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: YXE
Posts: 3,050
If anyone's interested, I slapped a Sierra Wireless MC7700 (4G LTE) card into my old laptop. Basically, built in 4G for my laptop, using the antennas and SIM card slot built into it by the manufacturer. Cost = $40 on eBay.
Driving near a cell tower in rural western Canada, when I stopped the phones in the car were reporting -55dBm, while the nice big antennas in the laptop were giving the laptop -47dBm signal.
Every 3dB is a doubling of the signal, so in a nutshell, my laptop's RF reception decimated that of the phones with their tiny circuit-board trace strip antennas.
I don't expect many FT'ers are RF engineers, or anything like that, but don't count WWAN cards out of the equation if you're looking for a solution that needs to have a higher chance of working in a fringe area. It'll cost ya an extra SIM compared to just tethering with a phone, but has the advantage of being embedded, no extra box to lose, fewer power cords/batteries/etc. Its nice because I can just sit down at the airport, restaurant or wherever, and have Internet. Instead of putting up with the increasingly overloaded/congested public Wifi that quickly becomes unusable on account of CSMA/CD schemes increasing their back-off interval to extremes.
(on that note, if you want to go to a public place with awesome WiFi, I've yet to see a better implementation in retail than what Home Depot has for its customers -- I've seen over 20 real AP's (and > a hundred virtual) in some of their stores!).
Driving near a cell tower in rural western Canada, when I stopped the phones in the car were reporting -55dBm, while the nice big antennas in the laptop were giving the laptop -47dBm signal.
Every 3dB is a doubling of the signal, so in a nutshell, my laptop's RF reception decimated that of the phones with their tiny circuit-board trace strip antennas.
I don't expect many FT'ers are RF engineers, or anything like that, but don't count WWAN cards out of the equation if you're looking for a solution that needs to have a higher chance of working in a fringe area. It'll cost ya an extra SIM compared to just tethering with a phone, but has the advantage of being embedded, no extra box to lose, fewer power cords/batteries/etc. Its nice because I can just sit down at the airport, restaurant or wherever, and have Internet. Instead of putting up with the increasingly overloaded/congested public Wifi that quickly becomes unusable on account of CSMA/CD schemes increasing their back-off interval to extremes.
(on that note, if you want to go to a public place with awesome WiFi, I've yet to see a better implementation in retail than what Home Depot has for its customers -- I've seen over 20 real AP's (and > a hundred virtual) in some of their stores!).
Last edited by pitz; Jul 31, 2015 at 2:28 am
Aug 1, 2015, 7:01 pm
#7
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I use a Virgin Mobile Mifi for travel and work at a lot of sites. Signal is usually pretty good. Virgin has a $5/day episodic use plan, so if you only need it occasionally, that might work.