Originally Posted by
wco81
Why are they doing Kickstarters for Mifi devices?
Why not just sell sims?
With respect to this device, it seems to use a soft SIM for its own operation. Some of the other MiFi devices have multiSIMs and some software "glue" to figure out which one to access. It also seems to be LTE, not simply HSPA so there are less phones with large complements of bands for under $200, particularly when you factor in the need for dual SIM to get voice.
I can tell you that when I suggest to friends that they should take one of my old smart phones instead of their brand new shiny iPhone, I get a "what are you smoking look."
The catch is to tweak everything for foreign use I've spent a lot of time rigging up the phone and can't take the time to do that to each of my friend's phones. First, one of my SIMs requires manual APN configuration, another requires jailbreaking if you want to tether (which the SIM company is fine with), third I use data compression software to keep the megs down and to give the people a US internet connection with a foreign SIM, then there is a VOIP dialer tweaked for low bandwith, then there is the Google callback being set to deeply integrate into the dialer, etc. I came to the conclusion that it is easier to plug in your email information and Facebook on my phone than for me to reprogram your phone. I have the setup backed up and wipe the phone when I loan it.
My last friend decided it was easier to just use Verizon and pay them the roaming money than deal with the complications. They invoked that old burden shifting line -- "I just want it easy. Ugh.