nathan's techblog
Product Review: Virgin Mobile Mi-Fi
Sometimes a new product is so disruptive I feel compelled to post about it. Virgin Mobile has recently rewritten the pricing rules for mobile broadband, and a lot of people could benefit from taking note. Mobile Broadband is nothing new, but Virgin Mobile has managed to both dramatically undercut all current providers on price, and finally offers a resonable plan for the occasional mobile broadband user.
I remember the first time I used mobile internet from a cell phone provider in late 2005. My employer had ordered two wireless cards (including a contract of $60/per month for two years), and they arrived just before I left on vacation to Virgin Islands. I tested the service from a a balcony overlooking the ocean on St. John, picking up a signal from a tower on the neighboring island of St. Thomas. The transfer speeds were twice as fast as the hotel's $15/day internet. I was hooked. Fast forward 5 years and the adoption of these cards has been much lower than I would have imagined. The reason should be fairly obvious - the 24-month contracts typically required by the major cell phone providers (nothing short of a $1440 commitment) puts the service out of reach of those who only need the service occasionally.
Virgin Mobile buys their bandwidth from sprint, and resells it with two pricing plans:
- $40/month unlimited, no contract
- $10 for 100MB of data, expiring in 10 days
Why you need it
- For even occasional travelers, can save cost vs. getting gouged by hotels and airports for wi-fi
- Access in places you'd never thought possible
- Low-cost backup solution for offices with frequent internet outages. Check out the CradlePoint MBR 1200 Router for a truly redundant solution.
- Great primary internet solution for a single apartment dweller who travels
- Good alternative to paying AT&T for internet service to your iPad if others in your family also want to connect while traveling
Any Caveats?
- There is 100 MB limit on the $10/10 day plan. If you avoid attachments and online video, this should get most people through a long-weekend trip, especially considering heavy usage could be done at a coffee shop or hotel with free internet.
- You have you choice of only two access devices, and they are not heavily subsidized by Virgin Mobile. Pay $80 for a USB card for a single laptops, or $150 for a portable wifi hotspot that can connect up to 5 devices simultaneously. This could enable a vacationing family to to connect an iPad, iPod touch, netbook & laptop all at the same time.
