Posts tagged "mobile hotspot"

A Change in the Game Plan: Sprint Abruptly Ends Unlimited 4G Data for Mobile Hotspots

 Now that the Era of Unlimited Mobile Broadband Data Has Ended – What does this Mean for Mobile Hotspot Owners and Buyers?

On the week of October 15, 2011 a somewhat low key press release went out to the media from Sprint that basically announced it will be ending the policy of  unlimited 4G data subscription plans as of November 1, 2011 for both existing and newly incoming subscribers for all Sprint mobile broadband data plans, including mobile hotspots, that Sprint offers. Interestingly, Sprint went on to explain that smart phones (ie. their newly on sale Sprint iPhone 4S) would still be still to allow unlimited 4G upload and download over it’s 4G WiMAX network.

Out of all the mobile technology related devices that have been impacted from this announcement, mobile hotspots are clearly the most profoundly affected.  What this means is that there are no longer any options available from Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile or Sprint for UNLIMITED 3G or 4G data.

We assume that a large percentage of Sprint’s mobile hotspot customers over the past 2 years were enticed to sign up with Sprint 4G, primarily due to their (formerly) unlimited 4G policy. Why else would users willingly lock themselves into 2 year Sprint contracts, when  Sprint’s relatively “outdated” and slower-than-its-competition 4G WiMAX network is up against the cutthroat competition of Verizon and AT&T, who’s 4G networks are significantly better performing, as well as less expensive? Perhaps it was in exchange for the not having the worry of exceeding data download limits. What do Sprint mobile hotspot and data modem users do now?

Up until this announcement, Sprint has extensively marketed and used the unlimited 4G data plan as a way to carve its niche, especially the 4G market for mobile hotspot and data modem users. With this new, “capped” monthly download limit, customers are now severely restricted in their offerings for high-capacity, yet reasonably priced  4G service by way of a service contract, again, this holds especially true for mobile hotspots, which by nature allow up to five people to share one single data plan.

Sprint iPhone 4S: Did it Have Impact on Decision to Terminate Unlimited 4G Data Offerings?....Duh!!

Perhaps, the very recent and sudden addition of the Sprint iPhone 4S to Sprint’s bandwidth capacity may have put the network stress issues to the forefront.  Would the iPhone 4S send their WiMAX 4G  network over the edge with the (hoped for) mass influx of new iPhone subscribers flooding Sprint cell towers?  - OR - perhaps it is a desperate move by Sprint to soak their mobile broadband users (while they still can) with nasty data overage charges to help pay for the $20 billion worth of iPhone's they essentially pre-purchased from Apple not too long ago?

Who knows, but in either case, Sprint’s decision has altered the wireless broadband ecosystem in ways not seen before, at least in the post-3G era. In our opinion, this now puts Sprint at a severe disadvantage compared to the other national mobile providers when it comes to mobile broadband offerings, especially wireless 4G, as the core benefits and disadvantages of their data subscriptions are now radically altered. These are the facts that worry us:

a)  Sprint’s data plans are actually more expensive than just about all of the other competing provider plans “bit for bit” – especially when data overage charges are assessed. Today’s mobile broadband consumers, to a large part, have welcomed a mobile broadband rate tier of “50 Bucks for 5 Gig's on 4G”. Sprint offers 5GB of combined 4G/3G for a higher rate of $60 per month.

b) Sprint no longer has the unique selling proposition of being the only provider to offer unlimited data to entice prospective customers, along with the hopes that “unlimited 4G data” would take the spotlight attention off the relatively lackluster speeds seen on their WiMAX 4G networks across the country, especially when compared to Verizon LTE, and lastly.

c) Sprint seems to have sold its soul for the chance to grab a few million iPhone smart phone monthly subscribers, and seems to have abandoned its roots of offering quality, unlimited high speed mobile access to it’s mobile broadband and mobile hotspot customers.

Sprint.com message boards are reportedly bombarded with messages of users complaining about their difficulties in canceling their mobile hotspot data plans without early termination penalty (ETP) – some subscribers have enrolled for several years, others only as short as a few days. 

After reviewing Sprint contract terms closely, mobilehotspot.com attests that all Sprint mobile broadband customers have the right to ETP-free cancellations of their mobile broadband plans, should they desire,  as the removal of unlimited data options is clearly a "material contract change" (one of the clauses that allow a penalty free escape clause) .

It is truly one of the most puzzling corporate strategies we have seen, effectively lopping off a corporations only clear and unique selling proposition (unlimited 4G data), when all of your competitors have faster networks, denser coverage, more advanced 4G technology, and better financial prospects for future network investments.

Sprint 3G and 4G Data Overage Fees

As for current and prospective Sprint mobile broadband data subscribers, we want to point out the egregiously priced Sprint 4G and 3G data “overage charges” for its data plans that Sprint mobile hotspot subscribers MUST be on-guard from, this point onward.

As mentioned, mobile hotspots are likely the most severely affected by potential data overuse, simply by their intended use and nature.  Without a close and watchful eye, Sprint mobile hotspots can run past the 5 GB monthly data limit, especially now that Sprint 3G and 4G use is bundled as one single total for the “combined” monthly use.  This can lead to shocking high monthly bills.

We are guessing that many mobile hotspot data plan shoppers  may glance at the Sprint overage rates of a nickel per megabyte as "not too bad", but add this up BIG TIME in the real world, were mobile hotspot owners typically deal with “giga” bytes, not “mega” bytes.  Sprint’s actual data overage rate is an Unbelievable $50 bucks per gigabyte of overage!  Although Sprint will alert the user that the rate has been exceeded, unlike T-Mobile, Sprint does not throttle the bandwidth when it breaches the overage point. This sounds well and good, but it’s probably much easier than it should be to rack up an additional gigabyte here and there, if you’re not on the lookout.

With so many ways to forget that  the “water is slowly running in the bathroom sink”  when it comes to high speed downloads that have substantial data volumes – think Netflix  HD streaming, Pandora and BitTorrent for examples -  with careless oversight, that small flow of water soon enough could  rack up a $400 monthly bill  (Talk about a  virtual “4 foot flood  in the basement” !!)

What Now for Sprint Mobile Broadband?

In all fairness to Sprint, they have shareholders to answer to at the end of the day – and they are not in business simply to make life of 4G broadband data-hogs easy and cheap. There is a tremendous need to preserve the integrity of their networks for the balance of ALL of their customers in aggregate, or so to speak “the needs of the many outweigh wants of the few”.  We assume Sprint figures that there are relatively few mobile hotspot and other data plan users who legitimately need high-volume 4G bandwidth, and perhaps does not approve of the idea of “4G as a replacement to wired broadband”, but there is a true and real need of users in rural area that have been under-served with wired broadband, and who have been using Sprint 4G in a responsible manner as their primary gateway to the internet, Video-on-Demand and VOIP solutions for a while -  concept that for the last two years has been almost solely dependent on Sprint’s own introduction of Unlimited WiMAX mobile broadband.

The bottom line is, mobilehotspot.com editorial staff is in a bit of a quandary in terms of how to help its readers choose whether or not a Sprint mobile hotspot will be an appropriate value for them and a worthy investment for up to the next two years, when they sign a Sprint service contract. Due to the recent cancelation  of the Sprint unlimited data options, at this time mobilehotspot.com cannot recommend mobile hotspots with Sprint 4G WiMAX data plans in situations where Verizon LTE or AT&T HPSA+ 4G are similarly available. This sadly affects the MiFi 4082, an otherwise fantastic piece of hardware in of itself.

All’s not lost the Sprint however -  In mobilehotspot.com’s goal to recommend useful products and services that mobile hotspots by shoppers are looking for, Sprint is one of the most prolific companies when it comes to wholesaling their 3G data services. What this means is Sprint will sell or lease large swaths of 3G broadband bandwidth to external independent companies, Virgin mobile USA being one of the biggest. In turn these 3G mobile hotspot resellers package some really great prepaid, or pay-as-you-go mobile hotspot offerings. One of our favorite the Virgin mobile MiFi 2200 3G Broadband2go . Sprint’s 3G network is tried and true, and as robust as any other nationwide provider. In other words, while mobilehotspot.com cannot recommend the  MiFi 4082 4G WiMAX mobile hotspot to the same buyers  as before the end of unlimited data, we can point you in the direction of some excellent 3G mobile hotspots, which operate on Sprints 3G networks.

So might be wondering “what now?”

If you've been on the fence about selecting the best mobile hotspot, the good news is there's plenty of awesome choices out there, a multitude data plans to suit virtually all budgets, and even one "unlimited" (with a caveat) mobile hotspot data plan from T-Mobile, the ZTE MF61 that does technically offer unlimited monthly usage, but significantly throttles downloads of 4G speeds all the way down to 2G when the monthly  cap is reached -  clearly not  the most tasty choice for speed, but still connectivity nonetheless with no additional overage fees.

In light of the recent contract term change from the Sprint on their mobile broadband data plans, we had to carefully reassess our top five list of 4G mobile hotspots, starting with our number one pick.

After all data plans, hardware, pricing, usability, and performance factors were considered, MobileHotspot.com choose the Samsung SCH-LC11 Mobile Hotspot on Verizon 4G LTE as MobileHotspot.com Editors Choice for 4G mobile hotspots.

MobileHotspot.com Editors Choice for Overall Best 4G Mobile Hotspot:

The Samsung SCH-LC11 on Verizon LTE 4G.

MobileHptspot.com’s number one pick that we can comfortably and confidently recommend to one the widest segments of potential mobile hotspot buyers is the Samsung SCH-LC 11, powered by Verizon's 4G LTE network. The LC11 hotspot is the Dodge Viper of Mobile Hotspots- absolutely incredible when it comes to speeds and performance, but pretty stripped-down to a fairly “bare-bones” level when it comes to onboard hardware features. With the LC11 you get pretty much just the basics: the ability to get online, administer and manage the hotspot through a web based interface, but since there is no visual display panel on the device, device management is done through a web browser. Also absent from the device by the ability to set up USB tethering, as well as a Micro-SD based on board memory slot and external antenna.

While it might sound incongruent that the Samsung SCH-LC11 is the Mobile Hotspot.com choice for Overall Best 4G Mobile Hotspot in light of the absent features that are standard on most other mobile hotspots, we are still enthusiastically  confident that you will absolutely love the Verizon SCH-LC11 4G mobile hotspot, simply for the fact that it does what a great mobile hotspot is supposed to do -  to get online quickly and easily, while efficiently sharing a single 4G subscription with up to five devices at one… with one of the most incredibly fast web downloads and uploads that has ever been seen on mobile broadband device, is just icing on the cake.

The 150 foot Wi-Fi radius of the SCH-LC11 is significantly larger than other portable hotspots in the same class we’ve tested. Battery life is not spectacular, averaging about 2 1/2 hours per full-charge, but keep in mind with speeds that are near or exceeding wired home broadband, you probably don't need to be online in a connected state (where the battery is being drawn from) nearly as much as you would with slower devices, so the somewhat shorter battery life is a wash, especially if you're dealing with the transfer of large files.

Additionally, we are quite pleased with Verizon's 4G LTE data plan offerings. To make matters simple, Verizon offers just two 4G data plans $50 per month for 5 GB or $85 per month for 10 GB. Overages are assessed at $10 per gigabyte, which is not too bad. Verizon was the only company that foresaw the need for LTE deployments in such a robust fashion, and started building out their nationwide LTE 4G networks in over 100 metro areas with roughly half the US population, now within LTE coverage areas.

To recap the reasons why mobilehotspot.com recommends the Samsung SCH-LC11 4G mobile hotspot for Verizon LTE:

  • Reasonable prices and tiers on 4G LTE data plans, not “great”, but also not materially higher than the competition. At $50 per month for 5GB and $85 per month for 10GB, this works out to a penny or less per megabyte. Pretty reasonable when you break it down that way.
  • Fair and equitable overage fees – simply priced at 10 bucks per gigabyte. Granted, one gigabyte billing increments may not sound all that fair when you  compare Sprint’s policy of billing overuse in increment of megabytes (1/1000th of a gigabyte), but the 1 cent per megabyte price is FAR less than Sprint’s 5 cents per megabyte overage (which works out for $50 per gigabyte for Sprint!)
  • NO other wireless network approaches the mind blowing, raw performance of Verizon 4G LTE’s download, upload and network ping speeds. With realistic and verifiable download speeds between 6 Mbps and 15+ Mbps, Verizon 4G LTE is LITERALLY 2 to 5 times faster than ANY other competitor – regardless of network technology.

One of the reasons MobileHotspot.com is so enthusiastic with its recommendation as Editors Choice for 4G mobile hotspots, is largely due to the strength of the Verizon’s part of the Verizon/Samsung partnership. Verizon’s 4G LTE network is incredibly well suited for mobile hotspots in general. No recommendation can be complete without honestly disclosing all the substantial negatives of the “mobile hotspot” – after all, for all practical purposes, a  mobile hotspot more than just a piece of hardware, but rather a pairing of service and product that makes a mobile hotspot standout from the crowd. 

Mobilehotspot.com wants to especially make clear that the Samsung SCH-LC11 Mobile Hotspot may NOT be best option or value for folks who:

  • Ultra fast speed is simply not your number one priority; other factor more important, such as a mobile hotspot device packed with features (which the SCH-LC11 does not have – see below) or longer battery run times.
  • You need a mobile hotspot with meaningful and strongly functioning features. The SCH-LC11 does not have a status display panel to report important info such as signal and battery strength. The SCH-LC11 also does not have an external antenna connection or the on board Micro-SD memory slot for separate file storage, as does the MiFi 4G.  In general, for users who place more value on hardware features over network functions, the SCH-LC11 may not be their best bet.

  • You need a mobile hotspot with maximum battery life, typically upward of 4 hours of in-use duration. The Samsung SCH-LC11 battery will have typical “in-use” duration of about 2 ½ hours, and is among the lowest of all 4G mobile hotspot. (Great looking and well engineered replacement batteries exist that the can allow the SCH-LC11 to run up to 8 hours, click here for more info). And lastly, you need 4G speed, BUT you are far from a “heavy user”, and would not come close to eating up 5GB’s inside a month AND you don’t want to spend $50 a month, which is the lowest price offered by Verizon (for 5G of bandwidth per month). T-Mobile has lower tier plans which offer 4G at prices of $30 to $40 per month (allowing between 300MB and 2GB of high speed 4G 

    In conclusion, with the sudden end of “all you can eat” mobile broadband, comes the reflection of “what’s the best 4G mobile hotspot now?”. As usual, it’s impossible to answer such a question in black and white, but with all things considered, we feel the Samsung SCH-LC11 Mobile Hotspot on Verizon 4G LTE currently offers the best mix of mobile 4G broadband service and set of well matched hardware, and ultimately will offer the most satisfactory user experience at a reasonable long-term cost for years to come.

CLICK HERE FOR THE BEST PRICE ON A NEW SAMSUNG SCH-LC11 MOBILE HOTSPOT ON VERIZON 4G LTE

MobileHotspot.com Editorial Staff - Oct 25, 2011

ZTE MF61 4G Mobile Hotspot by T-Mobile Reviewed

An In-Depth Review of the ZTE MF61 4G Mobile Hotspot from T-Mobile.

T mobile ZTE MF61 Mobile Hotspot

WiFi Speed & Radius:★★¾☆☆ 
4G Speed:★★½☆☆ 
Data Plan - Cost & Terms:★½☆☆☆ 
Features:★★★★☆ 
Design & Engineering:★★★★½ 
Battery Life:★★★★★ 
Overall Rating:★★★½☆ 

 

In case you haven't been paying attention T-Mobile is in the midst of rebranding itself as a top-tier nationwide 4G provider, with emphasis on “unlimited” plans at prices that undercut its competitors.

With its large wireless 4G footprint, highly rated signal quality and exceptional customer satisfaction awards, T-Mobile has reaffirmed its membership in the “Big 4” wireless providers that offer nationwide 4G in North America (Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint being the others).

Up until this 2011, T-Mobile has not been a player in offering consumer mobile hotspots. T-Mobile did not even offer a mobile hotspot during the “mobile hotspot boom” about three years ago - when the 3G MiFi 2200 came out and quickly redefined what a mobile hotspot was. That has all changed now that T-Mobile has gone full force into the market with a very appealing offering, the MF61 4G Mobile Hotspot, manufactured by ZTE which operates on T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ nationwide network.

 

tmobile hotspotOne of T-Mobile's big advantages over the past couple of years has been its “niche” offerings for popular smart phones on its high-speed networks, usually at attractive prices – coupled with lots of choices for service plans to meet all types of budgets and requirements.

T-Mobile has thought to have been able to adequately manage the bandwidth and signal quality on its wireless 3G and 4G networks, in large part, since it didn't have to deal with crazy amounts of users bombarding its networks as did AT&T and Verizon with their iPhone consumers. Studies have shown that iPhone users consume as much as 400% more bandwidth than other smartphone users – in other words 20% of their (iPhone) subscribers  account for 80% of the bandwidth – “fortunately” (perhaps that’s not the right word?) T-Mobile does not have to contend with the huge network and data saturation demands of iPhone users.

In other words T-Mobile's digital mobile broadband networks have generally not been oversaturated, which would usually translate to a pleasurable experience for T-Mobile device users. Does this scenario still hold true and how does T-Mobile’s ZTE MF61 mobile hotspot hold up in the real world when compared against its competitor’s class leading offerings? Can T-Mobile's HPSA+ 4G network hold its own against Sprint’s WiMAX and Verizon's LTE 4G? Read the MobileHotspot.com review of the T-Mobile ZTE MF61 4G mobile hotspot to find out.

Before we get into the specifics of the T-Mobile hotspot, it would be helpful to explain a bit about the technology used by T-Mobile.

T-Mobile uses the HSPA+ wireless protocol (high-speed packet access, with enhanced back-haul) in its devices it labels as "4G". As of early 2011, both T-Mobile and AT&T use HSPA+ as there present 4G solution.

HSPA+ has often been the subject of arguments and contention, with “experts” sometimes calling it “3.5G”. In textbook definition terms, HSPA+ may not really be a “true” 4G protocol. Compared to protocols like LTE 4G, HSPA+ is indeed not on the same level when compared to maximum theoretical speeds and network performance. But in the real world, HSPA+ has performed well beyond expectations of many of its critics, evidenced by the billions of dollars invested in the technology by T-Mobile and AT&T.

Compared to AT&T, T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 4G seems to have consistently better overall performance, which may be due to lighter customer traffic and less frequent conditions where the cell towers are “maxed out” or over saturated.

When investing in a mobile hotspot, you want to make sure the technology will be viable for the next two years. In the case of HSPA+, we would guess the answer is YES for a large number of users. But there are factors to consider – of which we’ll delve into shortly.

A closer look at the MiFi’s 5GB monthly data cap

The recent rise in popularity of MiFi and Mobile Hotspot technology has people interested in getting their own subscriptions for wireless broadband internet. The new generation of tiny pocket sized mobile hotspots has made it possible for everyone from casual to hardcore internet users to connect to the internet from anywhere and at anytime, practically wherever a cellular signal is available.

Along with this instant popularity come a few questions. Are the new generation MiFi mobile hotspots really that fast? Could these tiny, self-contained device really connect five devices to it all at once - yet deliver meaningfully high amounts of bandwidth, such as Streaming HiDef Video? And one of the most asked questions regarding this – just what exactly do these "data caps" of 5 to 10 GB mean?

For starters, the typical five gigabyte (ranging from 300MB to 10 GB) cap is imposed by all cellular networks to keep the load within their networks manageable, and allow equity for all it's users. It's easy to say "why don't they just let people download as much as they need?". The problem with this issue is that mobile broadband would loose it "congestion point" status.

Think of it this way: If the water utility gave "unlimited water" for the same price to everyone,  for the first week or two everyone would think it's a bargain of a lifetime. But when everyone's water pressure drops from 50 PSI to 10 PSI, and it takes five times longer for a shower, they start to realize that maybe the"unlimited" part for everyone isn't such a great idea, especially when only 10% of the homeowners are accounting for 90% of the water use - simply because they leave every single faucet in their house running 24 hours a day. While this may be a grossly exaggerated example, we think you might get an idea of why it's important to keep the commodity-based aspect of mobile broadband intact for the greater good of all of its users.

As for 5GB, that may not sound like much  but take these examples into consideration – to reach 5GB, you’d need any one of the following to eat up 5 gigs of data.

33,333 webpage visits (150KB each)

1,250 downloaded songs from iTunes (4MB each)

1,000 3-minute YouTube videos (5MB each)

200 hours of 56K audio stream (25MB per hour)

167 5-minute iTunes videos (30MB each)

25 45-minute TV show episodes from iTunes (200MB each),

97 hours of video video chat (52MB per hour bitrate),

260 hours of World of Warcraft online gaming (16MB per hour rate),

By way of comparison, 5GB is a represents a fairly overwhelming amount of digital content or duration of online experience, quite possibly more than an average internet user would consume, over even two months.

When you divide the 5GB capacity into 30 days, that’s roughly 167MB per day, and that's assuming you use the device EVERY day. For average users who frequently check their e-mail, surfs the web for a couple of hours, and watches online videos whenever something viral comes up, that’s a lot of bandwidth to spend. Even more "heavy duty" web users would need to make an effort to fill that 5GB monthly cap. Every mobile provider allows their users to check the  exact usage for the month with a simple click, so actual usage can monitored real-time.  The reported number is how much you’ve spent month-to-date and how much you’re under the 5GB cap for the remainder of the month.

What people are fussing about over the 5GB cap is the mere presence of it. Why is there a cap? A lot of people think that the cap is very limiting, that it doesn’t really give room for the user to do much with the internet. As discussed, 5GB is already a lot of content, and considering that wireless broadband connections are usually the secondary method of connection for most  the 5GB cap is very much adequate for what the laptop or portable device is assigned to do.

Granted, 5 Gigs will not go very far when it comes to large volume downloads such as you would encounter with activities like peer-to-peer file sharing, USENET binary groups, and Bittorrent. These type of services could eat up 5 GB often within an hour, so obviously we really can't compare apples to apples with the type of activity that users would expect to do with these services.

But again, for most "typical Internet users", the amount of bandwidth that is required on the client side is actually decreasing. More often, companies are designing the web experience from the mobile perspective. What this means is that the least common denominator becomes the handheld mobile device. Unlike five years ago when the desktop PC was the dominant denominator, developers and architects of the new generation of the web take into account that mobile users will probably be the majority soon enough. By its nature, mobile users are constrained in their bandwidth availability, thus as time goes on less and less footprint is placed on the client side, but yet still achieve the same end result.

So when you hear the 5GB data cap, don’t be alarmed. It’s not something which limits your internet experience for all practical purposes.. It actually enhances it, ensuring the providers 3G and 4G  back-bone can handle the load of all the connections. The 5GB cap isn’t a hindrance, but a necessity for good service to all mobile broadband and mobile hotspot users.

The MiFi 4082: A Viable Replacement for Wired Broadband in the Home?

mifi 4g

URGENT NOTICE, OCT 23th 2011: Sprint has just announced the end of "Unlimited Data" 4G. This means that normal monthly download/upload limits of 5 to 10GB will now apply to all existing and new customers of their mobile broadband data plans (does not include sprint smartphones or iPhones). Mobilehotspot.com, understands Sprint's need to manage it's network impact,  but disagrees  to the across-the-line termination of "unlimited 4G data". MobileHotspot.com no longer can recommend the MiFi 4082 for Sprint WiMAX to users with high volume data bandwidth.

Can you save up to $1000 per year by swapping your existing Cable Broadband with Sprint MiFi 4G? We take a look...

A new debate arises after the release of the new generation of 4G mobile hotspots, such as the  MiFi 4082 4G Mobile Hotspot . Can wireless broadband technology upstage the tried and tested wired home broadband connections? Is the MiFi 4G device a feasible replacement for your home's wired cable modem, FIOS, or DSL connection?  If so, what features and benefits would be sacrificed, and what is the potential cost savings?…in other words, it may be possible, but is it “worth it”?

The MiFi 4082 4G mobile hotspot by Novatel is sold by Sprint along with their Unlimited 4G Data plan in the United States. The 4082 hotspot has an effective indoor range of about 40 feet within typical homes with wood and drywall construction. On the road, it has a battery life of up to four hours with continuous usage and forty hours in standby. In the case of the assessing the practicality of replacing an existing stationary, wired broadband connection, the battery life is not really a factor, as it will usually be AC powered.

The MiFi 4082 connects to Sprint’s 4G WiMax 4G wireless network and transforms the 4G (or 3G) signal into a standard Wi-Fi signal – exactly like the Wi-Fi access point you’re likely have in your home now. The MiFi 4082 mobile hotspot is a clear winner outside of the home where it been battle tested, so in an effort to compare "apples-to-apples" ,the merits and detractions of each solution must be carefully compared.  When the question of whether or not Sprint’s 4G service can offer a viable replacement for wired broadband, the answer seem yes “on paper” as well as based on theory  – but theory rarely equates to reality, so will the 4082 hold up in the real world use of a typical family?

The Need for Unlimited 4G Data Plan

The reason we chose the Sprint MiFi 4082 as a candidate that could potentially replace a wired broadband is the fact that Sprint is the only carrier that truly offers unlimited use 4G. We did not consider T-Mobile’s hotspot and data plan, as their “Unlimited” plan is actually severely limited (in our opinion), especially in regard to a possible substitute to fixed, wired broadband.

Without unlimited use high speed (4G), it would hardly be worth the effort to consider a plan with limited (such as 5GB per month) use and overage fees. For home broadband use, we’re talking about relying on the mobile hotspot to serve up it’s own “Triple Play” (Video, Voice, Internet) for the entire family. For those who are new to the term, that means a setup where we connect a VOIP Phone system like Vonage or Skype, an IP-TV solution like Netflix or Hulu Plus over Roku or Apple-TV, and finally up to three users who connect to the web directly through the MiFi 4082.

Price and Best Data Plan or Home Broadband

The data service plan for the Sprint MiFi 4082 Mobilehotspot range from $60 to $90 per month. As mentioned, 4G is served up in a “as much as you can eat” buffet each month. The difference in the data plan price points is simply for the 3G usage. For 60 bucks, you are allowed 5GB per month of 3G usage and 10GB or 3G for 90 bucks. A prerequisite for considering the 4082 Mobile Hotspot as a the virtual nucleus of your internet connected world at home is contingent on the presence of a strong and consistent 4G signal where the hotspot will be installed.

With that assumption, there’s no reason to subscribe to anything higher then the $60 plan, since you will not likely be relocating the hotspot to areas of questionable 4G coverage – in other words, for the majority of the time, the hotspot will say in a fixed location with a steady 4G signal presence – and consume a small, predictable volume of 3G bandwidth

Cost Savings vs Wired Broadband

In order to figure out the if swapping out your wired broadband for a MiFi 4082 running on Sprint’s 4G WiMax, it must be weighed against the “normalized” cost of a typical cable providers “Triple Play” offering. Cable companies are famous for getting households hooked on their TV-Phone-Web (Triple Play) packages. The reason is they almost always offer their triple-play bundle at $90 to $100 per month. The caveat is that the price is fixed at under a hundred bucks for the first year only. On month 13, the rates jump up to an average around $160 to $190 per month! For this comparison, we’ll figure $175 per month.as the normalized monthly cost for the cable operators triple play package,.

For comparable services that can be used with the MiFi 4082 4G hotspot, let’s break it down with one closely comparable bundle, with the cost factored across one year. This bundled cost assumes the upfront price of the 4082 hotspot at 150 bucks.

(Typical) Upfront cost of the MiFi 4082 hotspot          $150

12 Months Sprint 4G @ $60 per month                      $720

12 Months Premium Skype VOIP @  $9 per month       $108

12 Month Netflix Streaming or movies @ $8 per mo.    $96

12 Months Hulu+ for network TV shows  @$8 per mo. $96

     TOTAL YEARLY COST:       $1,170

 

Now, compared to the yearly cost of a fixed broadband triple play from a cable provider @ $175 per month = $2,100

The potential net savings from switching from wired broadband to wireless 4G with the Sprint 4082 4G Mobile Hotspot is $930 per year. Not too bad!

Advantage and Disadvantages of Wireless Broadband 4G vs. Cable/FiOS

Advantages:

  • Upward of $1000 per year total savings easily possible
  • Flexibility to easily move the mobile hotspot as needed and where needed.
  • Take your broadband with you on vacations or trips…what good is broadband at home if you’re not there to use it?
  • Data-Only (4G) plans from wireless providers are often subject to less taxes and fees than FCC imposed surcharges that are typical with voice/telephony services.

Disadvantages

  • Will need to rely on digital antenna for local Live TV
  • Little or no regularly scheduled TV shows, limited to streaming shows and on-demand features. Loss of cable providers own channels, such as local news.
  • Slower Speeds: Sprint’s 4G WiMAX typically offers 3 to 6 Mpbs download speeds, compared with 10+ Mbps of cable broadband.
  • Wireless 4G WiMAX is more susceptible to interruptions due to severe weather than wired broadband.
  • Will need a patchwork of various services and companies to put your own “triple play” equivalent together. Separate billing, accounts, and setup can be a hassle.

Speed Expectations: 4G WiMAX vs. Cable

The MiFi 4G will deliver around 3 to 6 Mbps download speed, however, in dense urban areas, you may see around half that speed. Cable modems are generally 10 Mbs or more, while FIOS is around 25 Mbps. The speed winner on face value is clearly wired broadband. Though network and cable companies cringe at the contention, but the practical reality is that not everyone needs 10+ Mbps download speeds. Remember browsing in the web in the late 1990's with a 56K modem? It may sound ridiculous, but for regular, everyday "web stuff" (such as Facebook, e-mail, andTwitter) 56K (that 0.05 Mbps) is not too as slow as you might assume. Not counting video, music and multimedia related content, the average website need far less bandwidth than the typical site in 2001 did.  Not that we are in any way saying the 56K is a workable speed for today’s digital lifestyle, far from it – we just wanted to make the analogy clear that you often could do with far less bandwidth than you might believe – and you may not even notice it.

This is due to the explosion of mobile devices accessing the web. Web engineers design and optimize the web’s user interactivity with the least-common-denominator of the average wireless mobile user in mind. Bottom line, you probably need far less bandwidth that you imagine.

Take this example to mind:  The Sprint 4G WiMAX running at 4 Mbps can perform all of the following at the same time:

1. Steam a movie in HD to Xbox or PS3 (~1.5 Mbps rate)
2. Two way high quality phone call over Vonage (0.15 Mbps)
3. Two users surfing the web over Wi-FI (0.60 Mbps)
4. Realtime XBOX Live Call of Duty multiplayer game (0.25 Mbps)

As you can see, the whole family can keep busy, each connected to their own service or site, without any stutters, drops, and freezes. Think of bandwidth like water pressure, it works well because not every single faucet, sink, shower, or toilet is in use at once.

Factors to Consider with Wireless Broadband for the Home

If you are a person who lives on the go  who prefers to always have their connection where they go, the MiFi 4GMobileHotspot may be a great alternative. After all, the MiFi device can always follow along on your ride, be it at home or on the road - It’s assuring to know you will always have access to a fast connection.

The MiFi 4G is likely NOT going to be a realistic replacement for your home broadband if you have a need for the mobile and wired environments to coexist. For example, you might have GotoMyPC.com setup on your desktop PC at home, and need the ability to reach the desktop remotely. This will require an “always on” solution that is best served by wired broadband.

A mobile broadband solution such as the MiFi 4082 is not a suitable solution for those who need the extreme speeds and massive download capabilities of cable modems or FiOS.  This would be users who download tens or hundreds of gigabytes per month from Torrent sites, Usenet newsgroups, and P2P file sharing tools.

Conclusion: The MiFi 4G was never intended or marketed as a full time replacement for a wired home broadband connection, however in our opinion there is a fairly large user base  that could be called the "constantly connected family" who could greatly benefit from a practical device that can provide both mobile and stationary broadband service for voice and internet at a substantial cost savings over traditional plans.

 

The MiFi 4082 Mobile Hotspot can save time, money,and headaches.

Does MiFi 4082 4G Mobile Hotspot + Sprint's Unlimited 4G data Usage = A Perfect Pair?

URGENT NOTICE, OCT 23th 2011: Sprint has just annouced the end of "Unlimited Data" 4G. This means that normal monthly download/upload limits of 5 to 10GB now apply to all exsiting and new customers. Miobilehotspot.com, while understanding Sprint's need to manage it's network quality, strongly objects to the across-the-line termination of unlimited 4G delivered data for it's existing customers who SIGNED CONTRACTS with the assumption of unlimited data 4G service. These customers must pay exit fees of up to $250 or more to get out their Sprint contract. For this reason and other reasons, MobileHotspot.com no longer can recommend the MiFi 4082 to users with high volume data bandwidth.

The MiFi 4082 4G mobile hotspot that Sprint released in late 2010, and to in conjunction with its manufacturing partner, Novatel Wireless, has become the hotspot and data plan that a huge number of people have been clamoring for.

The 4082 4G Hotspot weighs in at only 2.9 ounces and is roughly the size of about 9 stacked credit cards. The MiFi 4G portable hotspot is also totally Plug and Play and does not require any software installation to activate, unlike its Verizon counterpart. From the factory , the mobile router has 4 hours of running battery time (or 40 hours standby time)  Several vendors have filled the niche of extended duration batteries for a mobile hotspots, including the MiFi 4082. Just about every modern mobile hotspot has an extended battery pack available, that will allow up to 12 hours of continuous, uninterrupted use of the device. One of the best retailers for mobile hotspot battery packs is 3Gstore.com

The MiFi 4082 is currently the only 4G mobile hotspot that offer TRUE unlimited and non-throttled 4G downloads and uploads. What this means is that you can do things like watch Hi-Def streaming movies and videos from Netflix, download full albums from iTunes and share large files across the web without that nagging worry that you're going to exceed your monthly download limit, an often all-to-common concern that tends to be in the back of the mind of mobile hotspot owners using the Verizon LTE 4G Network.

The Sprint MiFi 4082 utilizes the same 3G/4G data plans as Sprint’s other a mobile broadband  monthly data plan that ranges from $50 to $90 per month, depending on the amount of 3G usage allowances. The MiFi 4082 Mobile Hotspot also has just about every modern robust security feature built in, such as WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPS, and MAC Filtering. It is also universally compatible with every device that has Wi-Fi built in, ranging from wireless “B” all the way to wireless “N”.  The MiFi 4082 supports up to 5 connected users in Wi-Fi mode, in addition to one USB/Tether connected user, for up to 6 effective concurrent users.

The MiFi 4082 mobile hotspot, when acquired in conjunction with a 2 year data plan commitment, can be had for as low as $150 (with some merchants offering the 4082 for much less than $100 when you buy the data service).

The Novatel  MiFi 4082 is a prime candidate for enabling an entire world of IP based video, telephony, and voice services-will through the central 4G hotspot. Use the 4082hotspot to connect to Netflix or Hulu, as a virtual replacement for cable television. Enable Skype or Vonage as a robust VOIP phone solution for a fraction of the cost of the major network providers, and have plenty of bandwidth that for direct connection to the Internet by way of this Sprint 4G mobile hotspot.

Conclusion:

The Sprint 4082 4G mobile hotspot is a viable contender to adapt to the roles of the great number of tasks previously handled by a fixed, wired broadband solutions. With the unlimited data option that Sprint offers, it’s finally a realistic window of opportunity to enable all the real world benefits that  high speed wireless mobile hotspot was to offer - something that has always been a bottleneck with monthly limits.

At an average cost of two bucks a day, the Sprint 4G data plan for the 4082 mobile hotspot is a tremendous value, especially given the fact of unlimited 4G  bandwidth, coupled with the opportunity to serve up voice, video, and Internet simultaneously - it's finally a viable replacement for wired broadband in many situations