Verizon "Hotspot" questions...

[Dick1142]

I will soon be travelling across country and would like to maintain some internet connectivity for my wife and myself. The verizon Hotspot (Samsung) sounds like what I need, but I have no experience with this kind of device.

So, I am looking for any inputs on this or similar devices...pros/cons, comments. Thanks for any and all responses. Dick

[Joels]

I've has verizon for awhile and am very happy with 2 cross country trips and connectivity. Use my mi fi hot spot configured through my smart droid phone.

[RJay]

Hi Dick,
If you're talking about the 4G MiFi it works very well. 4G is not in all the cities but it's getting there and when 4G isn't available the device switches to 3G which is very acceptable.

[llmrealestat]

We love our MiFi hotspot and have only found one place that it didn't have good reception. Only problem for us is the limited bandwidth. Just increased it to 10 Mg and still have to be a little careful, but no problems getting email, weather, news, etc.

[450Donn]

Other than the added expense of a second phone number for the mifi setup a lot or people are using their smart phone as a wifi hotspot. Me included. It works very well as long as you have 3G service. On 1G service it is doable after a fashion. But the slow speed on 1G is not worth it for me. On Android phones you can get for a one time fee apps like PDANet or you can sign up and turn on Verizon wifi hot spot as necessary for I think 25 dollars a month.

[Jupiter]

I second the 4G MiFi hotspot. Even when connected to 3G it's very fast. Also, up to 5 devices connected simultaneously. I connect with my Apple iPad while DW is connected with PC laptop. We pay ~ $50/mo. For 10GB which is plenty for us. We don't stream movies or lots of online game play.

Joopy

[rpasetto]

I bought the MiFi2200 made by Novatel about aq year ago. It has been troublesome when used as a "hotspot" connected to multiple computers. It was frequently crashing in the beginning, their tech support's solution was to reset it. That was almost a daily thing; recent software updates have made it better but not perfect. It works better if it's only used with a single laptop.

Hope you have better success with the Samsung one. Let us all know how you make out; I may be interested in an upgrade when my contract runs out.

[clubmed98]

Love it with 2 computers

[rpasetto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clubmed98 Love it with 2 computers

Is that the new Samsung 4G hotspot? .. or the old Novatel MiFi?

[calico]

We've had the Verizon MIFI 2200 since last January. We traveled from the midwest to Texas and Arizona, powered two laptops, works great!

[sdennislee]

The wife and I use mine in all our travels. I have the Verizon 5 spot. $89 per month for 50 GB. My friend was able to use it on 3G to skype with the kids at home. Video was clear and did not freeze.

[ahicks]

I ended up sending the Samsung I had back. In my case, Verizon's coverage map was total wishfull thinking where I wanted to use it. It wouldn't even connect. I had gone to Verizon as the AT&T connection I get is often poor, but at least it get's a connection....

I think either will work good in urban areas. What seperates them many times is rural performance? You can forget about 4G where I'm talking about. 3G is often wishfull thinking, and 2G the reality. On the road, running campground to campground, my experience has been it's going to play like that MUCH more often than what most sales people are going to tell you about.

[Logthumper]

Wife has the Verizon iPhone. We use the Hotspot feature. Works great.