Coffee Break- Another Case for MiFi
I am sitting here in Starbucks happily working away on the HP Mini 1000 with the 6-cell battery. The Mini 1000 is showing it wants to provide me with six hours of juice, which is a princely amount, and in spite of what some have said about how ugly the battery is, it’s not bad to work with it attached:
The battery on the bottom gives the netbook just the right ergonomic tilt to make typing easier than with the flush, standard battery. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
This work session in the coffee shop has given me another reason to like the Verizon MiFi that hadn’t occurred to me before.
I’m on the Starbucks Wi-Fi on the HP, so I didn’t need the MiFi that was in my little gear bag. A little while ago, I wanted to send the above photo from my 3G iPhone to the HP via email. AT&T wasn’t cooperating with me, however, as my email would not send; in fact, the iPhone couldn’t access the web at all, even with three bars of signal. I’ve seen problems with the AT&T network over the last few weeks in Houston, and today was worse than ever. I couldn’t send the email from the phone no matter what.
Then it hit me that I could use the Verizon 3G network to send email from the iPhone with the MiFi. I took it out of the bag, hit the power button and the iPhone connected to the Verizon network via Wi-Fi through the MiFi router. Bingo, email sent. I received it on the HP and the rest is history. I love this MiFi more each day I use it.
I know, I know, you can officially call me a hardcore MiFi and you’d be right. I’ve been called worse. To prove I’m one, after this I’m stopping by the Verizon store down the street and pretending the MiFi isn’t working and that I need a new one. They’re not released until the 17th, remember. I’m not bad, I’m just drawn this way.
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Hi,
One of your regulars here. What do you think of the Samsung NC10? – compared to new Lenovo S10-2? I hear S10-2 will have a SIM card option for 3G. Worth waiting for?
They are both nice netbooks and very similar. That Samsung is reported to get outstanding battery life and yes, the S10-2 has a 3G option.
So how does S5 feel about you taking Mini on all these coffee dates? I know Mini’s slim, tall body is very attractive, but you can’t play the field too long without getting caught up…
The S5 is in the bag for using in the nice comfy chairs up front. She’ll get her turn I assure you.
Don’t you get free wifi on your iPhone at Starbucks?
Yes but it works like this:
Open the Safari browser, wait for login page.
Enter 10 digit phone number and hit the button after agreeing to the usage terms.
Wait for text message with link to come int.
Tap on the link and get logged in.
With the MiFi it was hit one button. I’m in.
Beware of the dark side James!
Completely off topic here … but I do follow your coffee breaks regularly – did you think to try out Android on your V5?
Nope because it runs too well with XP. I’ll try Win7 again when Viliv releases drivers for it. Android won’t get me anything.
cant argue with that. just thought that maybe you have some insights how well it runs on a MID. but again in your situation, with the already paid for xp there is not reason to do that.
thanks!
James,
You need Easy WiFi for the iPhone. Just launch it and you’re automatically logged in to whatever WiFi is available. Yes, it even works with the free AT&T WiFi, so none of that phone number/text message garbage for me.
Hmm… Could have sworn I discussed that with Kevin at some point. Oh well. Another vote for Easy Wifi. I don’t get to use it much, but I grabbed it when it was free, so no complaints. Had some initial setup hiccups, but works fine for me now.
I never got it because if I remember correctly they started charging for it. Anyhoo, I don’t need it with the MiFi. This is also the perfect way to use the Sling Player and Skype without a WiFi hotspot.
I have to admit that (a) I understood the Roger Rabbit reference and (b) I want a MiFi. Makes me very, very glad I opted to buy my Novotel U707 on eBay so I could wait for the MiFi to come along.
So AT&T’s crappy network is a reason for buying a second data plan on Verizon? I am sorry, I love gadgets, but this use case doesn’t make any sense to me unless you have virtually unlimited gadget/telecom plan budget.
Nobody told you to get it. I already have it and it worked well for me. :)
James, will the MiFi let you connect the iPhone with the laptop over the wifi? Just wondering.
I’m not sure what your asking, you can have up to 5 devices on the Verizon 3G network at once with the MiFi.
In other words, does the MiFi make an ad hoc network between the iPhone and laptop so you can transfer files, etc.
No, it is only a WiFi router.
let me know what happens at the Verizon store……I live by you and if any cahnce of getting one Friday instead of Monday, I want to know!
Details coming soon. You may want to hit Verizon up just in case. :)