Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 3G Mobile WiFi Hotspot Modem, flashed to Verizon Wireless

by Novatel Wireless

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• ASIN: B003JUBQE2
• Item model number: Mifi 2200
• Batteries 1 Lithium ion batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,779 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #46 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Networking Products > Modems

Product Description

Small enough to fit in your pocket, but powerful enough to bring the Internet to your whole family wherever your wireless phone goes - no cables required. Just power it on and instantly connect up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 70 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Slow Wifi hotspot in your pocket - but when needed, irreplaceable September 12, 2010

By Michael Orr

Amazon Verified Purchase

The Verizon Mifi (made by Novatel) is a combination of a great, hugely convenient product and some annoying quirks.
However, first you need to set your expectations. When you use this, your PC, iPad, Smart-phone etc. are all sharing a "3G" link to the internet, which is basically a cellular line. The speed if this connection is whatever "3G" means in that particular place at that particular time - but if you expect Mega-bits per second, you will be disappointed - that usually only happens in Verizon ads.
That said, this is EXTREMELY useful for business travelers like me. When you need to get or send an email, attachments and all, or check a web-site for some information or updates - you can be sure you WILL be able to do it. Even while in motion 9and yes, it does work while in high-speed motion, if you are in a good coverage area), and even when visiting a company that does not have any arrangements to give visitors internet access.
Operation is dead simple - you turn it on, and connect your PC/iPad/Whatever to the WiFI network as usual. by default, the network requires a Password, and supports up to 5 simultaneous connections.
The battery seems to last about 2-3 hours, but in most cases, you can power it up, synchronize your email, and power it back down, with each session lasting openly a few minutes - which will allow this to give you a day's worth of service.

Now for the "annoying" part
1. When you connect it to a charging source, it turns on, even if you don't want to. to be
clear - you can't charge it without having it broadcast a WiFi network for the entire duration.
Aside from this limiting where you can charge it (e.g. not on a plane) this is simply
stupid - If i want to charge it, broadcasting a WiFi signal DISCHARGES the battery,
making the charging time longer. I find it strange that the On/off Button does not work
when charging. I am told this is by design, but I still consider this a bug.
2. If you connect it to your PC to charge, it will go into an "I'm a cellular modem" mode,
providing service to just the PC it is attached to, and not putting out the WiFi network
which is its main function. This is probably a conscious choice by the designers of this
product, and sort of makes sense - you may WANT to service only a single PC, and not
serve as a WiFI Access point. However, in practice, you want to charge it when in use,
and having to connect it to a separate AC outlet, and lugging yet one more power-adapter,
where it SEEMS the device is charged via a USB port, of which you have several free
in your PC is annoying. (Note some Internet searching will tell you how to change some
internal settings to prevent this). The product could benefit a lot from having one additional
"mode" switch instead.
3. It is quite finicky about what can charge it. If you want to use some universal AC-to-USB adapter,
you will find that most of them do not work. if you want to try it, do lots of research before you buy.

112 of 122 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Might work for some, technology still needs some work July 9, 2010

By J. Escobar

I recently purchased and sadly returned one of these devices within a couple of days. I've been researching these for the better part of a month and had very high hopes for it. Think about this... a credit card size portable wireless hot spot that you could carry in your pocket (watch out it gets hot) that you could connect your laptop, home computer, cellphone, iPAD, iPOD, etc to the internet anywhere you get a Verizon cell signal. Before I had a smartphone, i always had the need for a portable wireless signal for my laptop so I could search for restaurants, hotels, directions while i was out and about. How about not having to pay that hotel WiFi access fee anymore? It could also serve as your internet provider at home if you only occasionally used the internet. (For home use you could easily go over your 5GB max download ($60/mo) so this is more suited for on the go activities) Yes like I said some of us have smartphones that can do all the above but this device (in theory) could be used for all your WiFi devices mentioned above. I specifically got this to use with my iPhone to make and receive calls through Skype Mobile and access the internet on my phone, taking my phone bill from 150+ to ~$65 but it just didn't work as planned.

Setup:
Fairly simple, I am tech savvy but if you set up a wireless network in your home this will be no problem. Setup took about 5-10min. You access Verizon activation website, have your computer recognize it, enter some codes, reset and your ready to use.

Initial Testing (Stationary):
After activation I saw my phone was getting a signal from the device but a weak one which I attributed to being inside at work. I've received poor cell phone reception in the building before so this was not the MiFi's fault. Did a WiFi speed test on the phone and it was horrible, <100kbps download, <100kbps upload. I put the device in my pocket and went outside to try again. ~600kbps download, 300kbps upload, thats more like it. I tried a Skype test call and it was perfect, low cell phone bills here I come... so I thought.

Testing Pt2 (Mobile):
So I tried this out while driving home from work and it failed... miserably. Made a few calls, Skype test and real calls. Calls were very choppy, unusable. I ran another speed test as i was driving and would range from <50kbps to 200kbps. Very unstable signal. I don't know if that was due to trying to acquire a signal from a moving vehicle but hey, if a cell phone can do it then this should be able to. I tested this for about a 1/2hr in all different sections of town (Phoenix). My opinion is that this is not reliable enough to use while in a moving vehicle. Maybe if you pulled over and parked but thats not what I was looking for or expecting.

Testing Pt3 (Home):
Tried it at home and had similar results to when i was driving. Signal not strong enough to make phone calls. Speed ~100-150kbps. I can get cell phone calls fine in my home, so why can't MiFi get a decent signal? I switched my phone's signal to my home WiFi just to compare it and I got 3000 - 5000kbps speeds from my home wireless router. Night and Day difference.

Final thoughts:
I'm guessing maybe the antenna isn't as powerful as a cell phones' antenna. For what ever the reason I just don't think the technology is there yet for this, at least not over a 3G network. What this could be used for is the occasional need to access the internet, while not moving, read emails and surf non data intensive websites. Large email + attachments, videos, data heavy website I think would just take to long to load to use feasibly so I as well as others might skip on this for a while. Especially if you are going to be locked into a 2yr contract and paying up to $60 a month for this, at that price and commitment you should be getting at least low-mid level speeds that you could get with your home ISP. If you want to try this out also check out Virgin Mobile version of this, same exact device and manufacturer except there is no contract and plans range from $10-$60. Also check out Sprint's device, you might be lucky and live in a Sprint 4G network area. If Sprint had 4G network in Phoenix or if they have it in your part of the country...then this might just work. Sprint has unlimited download limits over 4G network for $50 a month and it's supposedly 10x faster than a 3G network. So that in theory could provide my laptop, home computer and cellphone with all the WiFi I need, no need to worry about going over the limit or have any speed issues. I believe in this device but not until it goes on a 4G network. Make sure you try before you buy and are able to return it within a certain amount of time, you do not want to be locked into a contract or pay for a device that doesn't meet your expectations.

Note: This device does get warm to the touch if active for a while.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars good for the money, some limitations August 30, 2010

By Tom

For the US, this is a good deal: for $40, you get 30 days of unlimited Internet usage with no contract. Speeds are around 800kbps down and about 180kbps up in my area. That's not great, but it works fine for most applications. It's the same speeds you would get on Verizon (for comparison, in many places in Europe, you get nearly 10x the speed for half the price). Configuration is done through a straightforward web interface. The default setting for the MiFi is a secure network with a key printed on the back (this can be changed through the interface). There are some limitations: battery life is nominally only 4h and Internet connectivity in moving vehicles is not all that great. I've used this with iPad, iPod Touch, netbooks, and laptops, and it has worked well with all of them.