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You probably already have a wireless router in your home or office that connects to a cable or DSL Internet connection and broadcasts a signal that can be received wirelessly by laptops and Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices like the iPod touch. The Overdrive hotspot works the same way, but instead of using a wired connection, it sends and receives Internet signals through Sprint’s high-speed 3G and 4G data networks. It’s similar to the Verizon MiFi, although it can connect with faster 4G speeds and is slightly bulkier.

The hardware looks very simple. It’s a 3-1/4″ square box with rounded corners, about 5/8″ deep, and weighing around 5 ounces. It’s small enough to fit in a trouser or jacket pocket, and although it gets slightly warm while in use, it never seems to get uncomfortably hot.

The hotspot comes with an AC adapter for charging, some simple instructions, and not much else. There’s a surprisingly-bright display about 1-1/4″ square, where data is displayed, including the Wi-Fi network name — it defaults to something like “Overdrive-321″, but both the network name and password can be changed. The network password is displayed on the screen, too, although that can be turned off for additional security. The screen also displays data about signal strength, whether one is connected via 3G or 4G, the hotspot’s battery level, and the amount of bandwidth one has used during the current session.

Since the Overdrive only has one “power” button, all configuration changes must be done via a web-based control panel. In the web interface, one can change the administrative password, the password needed to log into the Wi-Fi network it creates, and the type of security used (including several variants of WEP, WPA-Personal, and WPA2-Personal). One can also change the WAN settings to specify whether the hotspot will connect to Sprint’s data network via 3G only, 4G only, 3G preferred or 4G preferred. With that last setting, the hotspot will fall back to a 3G connection if 4G is not available, although switching between networks can take several seconds.

The Overdrive’s web-based control panel worked with all of the browsers I tried, including Mobile Safari on my iPod touch. That’s useful, since it allows one to change the hotspot’s settings without firing up a laptop. Annoyingly, however, changing the hotspot’s default settings requires rebooting the device, which can take 20-30 seconds.

At my home office in a residential neighborhood in Seattle, I got a 4G connection that the Overdrive’s control panel listed as “Good (40%).” According to speedtest.net, my download speed varied between 1.2 and 1.7 Mb/s, and upload speed ranged between 0.6 and 0.8 Mb/s. While this is significantly slower than the cable connection I usually use (and is also slower than the CLEAR 4G modem I reviewed a couple of weeks ago), I was able to connect to a remote computer using Hamachi and do basic work with minimal delays. I also tested the device while on the go: I was able to use the hotspot successfully on an Amtrak train between Seattle and Bellingham, Wash., although I found it best to set the hotspot to “3G only” mode.

Sprint says that one can connect up to five devices simultaneously to the Overdrive hotspot. I only tried two — a laptop running Windows 7, and an iPod touch. Both worked well. Sprint claims that the device broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal for up to 150 feet, which I didn’t test, but I was able to connect easily in the next room.

I got about 3-4 hours from a charge, and the hotspot is usable while it’s plugged in. Sprint says that the Overdrive has a standby time of about 36 hours.

I didn’t test the device’s built-in GPS, but that’s only operational only on the 3G network. I also didn’t test the MicroSD slot can be set up as a “network drive,” of up to 16 GB.

As of this writing, Sprint’s 4G coverage is still quite limited: it’s offered in cities in 11 states. Sprint is selling the Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot for $99 with a two-year contract. Sprint’s data plans start at $59.99 per month, which includes “unlimited” 4G bandwidth (with the usual disclaimers), plus 5GB per month of 3G usage, and up to 300MB roaming usage.

If you’re in a Sprint 4G area and don’t want to wait for the upcoming 4G EVO phone, or like the idea of using Sprint’s 4G network to connect the devices you already have via Wi-Fi, the Overdrive 3G/4G hotspot may be for you.

If you use an Overdrive hotspot, let us know how you get on with it.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): 4G: State of the Union

The CLEAR 4G+ Mobile USB modem looks like an oversized USB drive, measuring 1.28″ x 3.6″ x 0.48″ and weighing 44 grams. It comes with documentation, a carrying pouch, a USB Y-adapter cable, a mounting bracket, and the CLEAR Connection Manager software, which is currently available only for Windows.

The modem can be plugged directly into a USB port, and since the plug on the modem swivels, can be oriented vertically or horizontally. The Y-adapter was useful in getting the modem out of the way while working, but I didn’t use the mounting bracket. The modem put out a surprising amount of heat almost from the instant it was plugged in.

The CLEAR 4G network worked reasonably well at my office in a residential area of Seattle. According to speedtest.net, I averaged 10-15 Mbps down and 0.5-1.5 Mbps up, although both upload and download speeds varied considerably.

In downtown Portland, however, CLEAR’s 4G network was much slower. I averaged around 3Mbps down and 0.4Mbps up. A friend from Portland tells me that CLEAR’s network was faster when it was first installed, but that speeds have not kept up as it’s become more popular. Seattle’s 4G network is much newer; we’ll have to see how it does as more customers start using it.

The modem is supposed to automatically fall back to 3G when needed. It seemed to do this reasonably well, but it sometimes took 15-20 seconds for the switch to take place. And if the modem lost connection to all networks, I had to click the “connect” button on the software to make it rescan for a connection, then, once the network was found, click again to actually connect. Each of these processes took several seconds. As a result, the CLEAR modem did not work while on a moving train.

I found that the connection speeds were fine for most uses, such as checking email and browsing the web. But connecting remotely to my office computer via Hamachi was very slow. It would do in an emergency, but I wouldn’t want to rely on it on a daily basis.

CLEAR offers 4G service in several cities. The CLEAR 4G+ Mobile USB modem is available for purchase at $225, or may be leased for $6 per month. CLEAR offers a 3G/4G plan at $55 per month with a 2-year contract. This plan includes “unlimited” usage (see the fine print) in 4G coverage areas and a 5GB/month cap in 3G mode. If you don’t need the 3G fallback, a 4G-only plan is available for $45 per month.

If you frequently travel to places in 4G markets where other connections are unavailable, you may find CLEAR’s 4G service to be convenient. But I don’t think that I could use the service to replace my current connection. You’ll want to check your local conditions to see if the CLEAR network in your area is speedy and reliable enough to meet your needs.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): 4G: State of the Union

One of the most anticipated features of the new iPhone OS 3.0 has been “tethering,” or the ability to share your iPhone’s 3G Internet connection with your laptop, via Bluetooth or USB.

For web workers — “the great untethered” — iPhone OS 3.0′s tethering represents an opportunity to work with greater freedom, mobility and flexibility. Even for those already using 3G datacards and dongles, the feature means you have one less device to carry. Official tethering has been a long time in coming. Unofficial iPhone apps such as Nullriver’s Netshare and PDANet have provided tethering capability to jailbroken iPhones for some time. Netshare was an official App Store release for a while, until Apple forced its withdrawal due to the lack of tethering rights in AT&T’s terms.

Here in the UK, O2′s tethering support for iPhone launched today, coinciding with the launch of iPhone 3G S. Sadly, despite the fact that O2′s iPhone contracts include “unlimited” data usage, tethering will cost an additional £15-£30 ($25-$50) each month, with no pay-as-you-go option. It’s worth noting that this pricing is identical to O2′s standalone 3G data charges.

O2 is claiming that “using your laptop can be more data-intensive than using your iPhone,” but doesn’t apply the same terms to other contracts and handsets. It’s likely that the carrier simply senses an opportunity to charge iPhone users for something for which they’ve effectively already paid.

In response, enterprising users are already creating patches to tether iPhones to O2 without jailbreaking, albeit running the risk of breaching their contracts as well as disabling MMS and Visual Voicemail. Indeed, even AT&T’s yet-to-be-launched tethering feature is being prised open.

It’ll be interesting to see if O2′s pricing has a negative effect on take-up and usage, diminishing a feature that’s clearly in demand and extraordinarily useful.

Do you plan to take up tethering services for your iPhone…and do you expect to pay?

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The MiFi is a pocketable, battery-powered combined 3G modem and Wi-Fi router that effectively provides a hotspot that you can take with you anywhere. James Kendrick over at our sister site jkOnTheRun has had a pre-release version of the device for review and says that it’s “mobile broadband done right.” Once the device has been activated, hit the power button and — in a matter of seconds — your laptop, phone and any other devices (up to five at any one time) are connected to the Verizon Mobile Broadband network via Wi-Fi, without needing to install drivers.

Although the device goes on sale on Sunday from Verizon stores, if you ask nicely you might be able to get your hands on one now. The MiFi costs $99.99 (after a $50 rebate) and is available with a choice of two subscriptions:

• $39.99 month for 250 MB and 10 cents per MB overage
• $59.99 month for 5 GB and 5 cents per MB overage

Alternatively, you can buy the MiFi with no contract for an upfront cost of $269.99, with “day passes” available for $15.

The MiFi is a branded version of the Novatel MiFi. Other carriers (like Sprint) will be offering their own versions, too.

Will you be picking up a MiFi?

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• Mobile Wrap-up: Q1 2009
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I can work on practically any computer and of course, I prefer some browsers, operating environments and applications over others. However the ability to work nearly anywhere thanks to today’s 3G wireless broadband is as much of an enabler today as it was for me in 2004. Along the way these past five years, I’ve learned a few things that might be useful to you.

1.  Location, location, location! Before you decide to take the 3G plunge, do your homework with the carrier’s coverage maps. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile are the big four players, although I’d call them the big three-and-a-half since T-Mobile only just began their 3G roll-out. You’ll want to check the coverage maps for your home office area as well nearby work locations, not to mention places in between.

I failed to do this once before when I switched from Verizon Wireless to AT&T and I paid the price. A $175 Early Termination Fee, to be exact, and that was only three months into finding out that AT&T didn’t have nearly the coverage I needed at the time.

2. Once you sign up, give the service a good test. Had I followed my own advice here, I would have saved the $175 ETF, but I didn’t. Most carriers have a return period between 14 and 30 days for your service. Once you get service, use the heck out of it in various locations and make sure it’s going to work for you where you need it most.

You may have to pay a small restocking fee for any hardware plus a month’s service, but that’s far less than $175 out of pocket and possibly useless hardware. You’ll also want to bookmark a site that can help you test your uploads, downloads and network latency; there are several out there, but I recommend SpeedTest.net.

3. Consider the form factor of the hardware. Back in the day, PC Cards were the standard adapter of choice for 3G modems. Today, you can find them in ExpressCards, USB and integrated right into a laptop. Since I work with multiple devices, I opted for USB and I’ve never regretted that decision. Just about any computer I use or borrow to review can take advantage of my 3G USB adapter. If you’re set on using one device and it has an ExpressCard slot, maybe that’s the best for you. I still lean towards USB because I not only consider the devices I use today, but the ones I might use tomorrow. They don’t all come with ExpressCard slots, but you can bank on USB for a few years to come. Integrated 3G is very nice to have since there’s nothing sticking out from your computer, but it’s limited to the one device due to the integration.

Some adapters even have useful secondary features: my USB727 on Verizon’s network offers a miniSD slot, making for a card reader. And the AT&T Quicksilver card I’m testing right now includes the drivers and software on-board, negating the need for any downloads or optical drive to get going.

4. Can your phone be a modem too? For a good year back in 2005, I opted to use my handset as a 3G modem. I had an XV6700 handset on the Verizon Wireless network for which I was already paying $30 monthly for 3G service. At that point, paying $60 for another 3G adapter of some type wasn’t appealing. Most carriers offer a low-cost add-on option so that you can “tether” your 3G handset for modem use. You can physically connect the handset to your computer through USB or if both support Bluetooth, you can use a wireless connection to get broadband to your computer.

Some third party companies offer software to get around the carrier charge of tethering, so dig around if that option sounds appealing. I used to use an application called PDANet for this purpose and it worked great, but supports Windows only. Some phones have Internet Sharing software built in and it’s actually pretty easy to make the connection. To get a feel for how simple the concept is over Bluetooth, check our video tutorials for using a Windows Mobile device for either a Mac or a PC. Yes… you can actually use a Windows Mobile phone as a modem for a Mac!

5. Share that connection with a small team. If you’re a team of two or three web workers, you don’t all need to shell out $60 a month or more for 3G service. Both Windows and Mac OS X allow for sharing an Internet connection. Most people think that means a network or WiFi connection, but it applies to 3G as well.

You can also go with a hardware solution to share the connection. Cradlepoint makes a number of 3G routers that take the signal from a 3G adapter and share them over a WiFi connection. Dave Winer is the most recent Cradlepoint convert I know of, so you can follow along with impressions as he puts it through the grind. Likewise, Novatel Wireless offers an all-in-one solution called the MiFi that provides both the 3G signal and WiFi hotspot for sharing; no adapter is needed.

6. Optimize your network settings. A few months ago, I noticed that the same 3G card was offering different speeds on different devices, even though my location was constant. A little research indicated that one device was better optimized for broadband than the other, but that was easily resolved on the slower device. A small Windows utility called TCP Optimizer gave the slower device a boost, making the two on par with each other. In fact, I saw a 15% increase in download speeds and double that improvement in uploads using this utility.

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