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Anyone Have Virgin Mobile Mifi Wifi

Anyone Have Virgin Mobile Mifi Wifi

Old Sep 2, 2010, 11:48 am
  #1  
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Anyone Have Virgin Mobile Mifi Wifi

Originally Posted by NYTimes.com
The MiFi released by Virgin Mobile this week ($150) is almost exactly the same thing as the one offered by Verizon and, until recently, Sprint — but there’s a twist that makes it revolutionary all over again. The Virgin MiFi, like its rivals, is still an amazing gizmo to have on long car rides for the family, on woodsy corporate offsite meetings, at disaster sites, at trade show booths or anywhere you can’t get Wi-Fi. If you live alone, the MiFi could even be your regular home Internet service, too — one that you can take with you when you head out the door. And it’s still insanely useful when you’re stuck on a plane on a runway.
story

MisterNice

Last edited by sbm12; Sep 2, 2010 at 12:19 pm Reason: to address TOS issues
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 12:05 pm
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I have the sprint Mifi (which since this uses sprint service, it's the same thing just rebranded) and I like it. Been using it for well over a year now.

Two things.

The data cap is not an issue at all for me. I use it for close to three hours every work day and have not even come close to the 5 gb (I should actually drop it down to the lower usage plan).

The second is the story is not really accurate about it being available everywhere there is not Wifi. Like any other cell service, there are places where the connection is good, and there are places where you won't connect at all.

Those being said, I would not give mine up.

If you go with it get a second battery off e-bay or something. It's battery life is not great, under four hours, and while that is fine most of the time, there are times you just can't get it charged in time, or forget or whatever.
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 12:52 pm
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I just bought it for my apartment since the DSL connection is awful and the Cable Co isn't trustworthy.

So far, so good. And the $40/month unlimited plan can't be beat.
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 2:19 pm
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Forgot to mention. The customer questions on their website are funny as anything to read.

My laptop does not have wireless, will this work?

type of stuff.

Pages and pages of them.
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 2:23 pm
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$150 & $40 pcm - rip off America, I use the Mifi from 3 generally with an ipod Touch

And from this week's "Click" program

Last edited by alanR; Sep 2, 2010 at 2:32 pm
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 2:25 pm
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Originally Posted by alanR
$150 & $40 pcm - rip off America, I use the Mifi from 3 for mifi generally with an ipod Touch
Yeah, but the coverage map in the USA is pretty bleak for that.
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 2:33 pm
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Originally Posted by alanR
$150 & $40 pcm - rip off America, I use the Mifi from 3 generally with an ipod Touch
Are you saying that three is a ripoff, or that the US is a ripoff? Because the Virgin Mobile one is $40/month compared to your 50 pounds/month on pay as you go, which equals $78.

Remember, US coverage is about 20 or 30 times that of the UK, making networks much harder to build.

EDIT: my bad - the prices seem lower, but I can't seem to figure out how much they charge monthly for MiFi service.

Last edited by ScottC; Sep 2, 2010 at 2:39 pm
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 2:35 pm
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FWIW; I have the Virgin MiFi here, and it works quite well. Speeds vary a LOT. I get around 600 Kbps at home, but have seen just under 2 mbps at other places. Sprint has good coverage. Topups are easy too. Seems like the perfect gadget for emergency online access. Walmart carries the Virgin MiFi for $119, but is currently out of stock.

FWIW; you can add 3G access to your Comcast cable account for around $20/month, plus $125 for the MiFi.
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 2:38 pm
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Originally Posted by ScottC
Are you saying that three is a ripoff, or that the US is a ripoff? Because the Virgin Mobile one is $40/month compared to your 50 pounds/month on pay as you go, which equals $78.
??? 50 is the cost for the mifi device itself - which from Virgin is $150 (100). I paid 25 for mine second hand and plugged in a free SIM

The data charge is separate and you can pay 15 pcm for 5GB of data on a rolling contract or buy 1GB for 10, 2GB for 15 which also gives you the same value in phone calls and texts
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 2:41 pm
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Originally Posted by alanR
??? 50 is the cost for the mifi device itself - which from Virgin is $150 (100)

The data charge is separate and you can pay 15 pcm for 5GB of data on a rolling contract or buy 1GB for 10, 2GB for 15 which also gives you the same value in phone calls and texts
Yeah, sorry - just noticed that and updated my post.

Just reinforces that the US is way behind on prepaid mobile. Remember, the Virgin MiFi is the FIRST decent prepaid mobile broadband product on the market!

I'm optimistic that this new competition will start driving prices down here, but things are only just getting started.

That said - Clear did start offering 4G prepaid broadband this week, $5/day and $50/month. Still steep, but another step in the right direction.
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Old Sep 2, 2010, 3:06 pm
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Here's something that's just about to go into production that will help those people who can't get broadband normally and the 3G network is patchy

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/201...ral-areas.html
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Old Sep 3, 2010, 4:02 am
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I really appreciate your answers and am leaning to getting one to replace my two cable internet costs. What input and output connections does this device have? Will it work in Europe and/or will additional charges apply? It looks like it is 3G only but will it do 3g and 4G when it ever expands further.

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Old Sep 3, 2010, 9:45 am
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Originally Posted by MisterNice
I really appreciate your answers and am leaning to getting one to replace my two cable internet costs. What input and output connections does this device have? Will it work in Europe and/or will additional charges apply? It looks like it is 3G only but will it do 3g and 4G when it ever expands further.

MisterNice
It will NOT work in Europe as it uses CDMA only, so it does not even have a Sim card slot for prepaid cards.

It has USB (Micro) only - and can charge off that port or work as a USB modem when you don't have WiFi.

No other charges apply - you simply top up your account with money, and it works. No activation fee.

3G only, and will never expand to 4G.
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Old Sep 3, 2010, 4:44 pm
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Just bought one at Best Buy today and it meets my needs perfectly for those times I can not find public wifi and need to accomplish some work on my iPad. I have PDAnet for the Macbook but the mifi seems faster. Anyway, as I said it meets my needs.
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Old Sep 3, 2010, 7:12 pm
  #15  
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So... I ended up reviewing the device for a blog I write for.

http://www.laacera.com/posts/i-am-ro...atel-mifi-2200
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