I'm bummed...

Received my Huawei, love the device (small form factor, design, etc.). However, I have not yet connected to the internet with a US carrier's chip so far.

I received it and left work to go to T-Mobile about 2 hours before spinjockey posted that it probably would not work on T-Mobile. Purchased a $15 T-mobile SIM card; don't remember the data amount; it was lowest possible.

I could successfully connect my phone and both laptops to the Huawei 5331 MiFi modem itself. However, I couldn't get from the Huawei to the Internet on T-Mobile. At first I thought it was working, but my laptop was just using cached pages.

Sprint store said they definitely would not work, based on showing them Spinjockey's post:
HSPA+ DL up to 21.6Mbps
HSUPA UL up to 5.76Mbps
HSPA+/UMTS 2100MHz
GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900MHz

(in the Huawei docs I see the same info except the exact frequency numbers are omitted)

Verizon store said it would probably work but I'd need to sign a contract. AT&T said their chip would definitely work but I'd need to sign a contract.


From reading through ~10 pages of topics on MiFi experiences in other threads, I was going to order a chip from iPhoneTrip.com for my 14 day trip to Miami, Austria, Prague, and Berlin, and have it activated for 2 days before so we can use it on Miami Beach.

I really want to test the device before then though, so I know it works, so I know for sure it's not a locked device, etc. I don't mind paying to get a different chip as long as I know it's supposed to work in the Huawei 5331. But how to do that while still in the US?

Once I leave, I just want to be vacationing, relaxing, and navigating. Not worrying about setting up a piece of tech.

Any suggestions from those who are a lot smarter at this than I am?