lgpOnTheMove: Mobile Broadband

Showing posts with label Mobile Broadband. Show all posts

Lifestyles of the Mobile Road Warrior - Staying Connected

EDITOR'S NOTE: For today's modern workforce, spending your 9-5 in a cubicle no longer makes practical sense. With the productivity and connectivity mobile tech provides, 1 in 5 workers are now able to make a living outside the traditional office environment. This new series of articles on lgpOnTheMove caters specifically to the hard-core mobile worker who is always on the go. You'll find tips, tricks, advice and proven, hands-on examples of how to not only stay useful while on the road, but create a no-compromise ultimate mobility solution.

Connectivity has become prime to providing an ideal mobile work environment. It doesn't matter if you provide lip service all day for clients on your cellphone, handle 100+ emails or need to video conference every morning half-way across the globe - it's your connectivity that will either make or break your day. With more ways now than ever to get both voice and data working for you, it's only fitting that I show how you too can hit the road without sacrificing anything when it comes to staying connected.

It's been close to a year since I first looked at Clearwire's 4G WiMax service and tested their first mobile hotspot. My unfortunate experience with their device and service, however, left me feeling extremely disappointed, especially when you understand my desire to not only enjoy unlimited mobile broadband, but make the dream of having internet everywhere a reality.

Fast forward 12 months to today, and I now have their newest mobile hotspot, the Apollo 4G, under my scrutiny. Does the newer hardware improve the user experience? And has Clear been able to take advantage of the last 12 months to make improvements to their wireless internet service? Read on to see how the company fares this time around!

Nobody can deny that over the last 2-3 years, mobile tech has changed more dramatically than at any other time. The advent of slates flooding the consumer market along with the explosion of smartphone use has pushed mobile data demands into the mainstream. Now more than ever, data is king! It's no longer a matter of choosing how many minutes you need when shopping for a wireless plan, but how much data you get and how you want to use it.

Ideally, consumers welcome choice. But die-hard mobile data users, business users, enthusiasts and a large chunk of consumers who have previously enjoyed unlimited data are left out in the cold. For them, choice simply doesn't exist, facing either a monopoly of one carrier or going without service at all. Put simply, mobile broadband in the U.S. still sucks!

It's been a good three weeks now since I signed up with Clearwire and acquired my Clear Spot 4G. While my excitement of getting faster data speeds was more or less met, and worked surprisingly well at first, more extensive testing turned out some severe deficiencies with both the hardware and Clearwire's service. Sadly, further difficulties compounding my use left me no other option than to return the 4G device and cancel my service.

I may be in a fringe area with a CINR of only 7, but it's good enough to do 2500kbps with an average latency of 77ms. That's faster than peak 3G speeds, and for a price difference of just five dollars per month, the Clear Spot 4G from Clearwire has given my Virgin Mobile MiFi 2200 the TKO. Yes, lgpOnTheMove goes 4G unlimited for 2011, and at just $45/month, I'm now seriously considering retiring my home DSL connection for good as well. I'll be taking this little gem for an extensive test drive over the next couple of weeks, including throwing it into my CES gear bag for Vegas. Stay tuned for a full review of the Clear Spot 4G on lgpOnTheMove soon!

Tech Tips - Getting the Most out of your MiFi 2200

It's only been a short few weeks, but I must admit I absolutely love my Virgin Mobile MiFi 2200. While I did have to pay the full $150 for the hardware, the $40 monthly service fee will easily let me recoup that cost within the first six months. Getting unlimited 3G speed, however, means that I can surf literally all day long, be it websites, Hulu, streaming Pandora radio, or downloading updates for software on my netbook and notebook.

I've also come across various ways to improve the out-of-the-box experience with the MiFi, including tweaking the settings and taking other steps to improve it's performance. Read on to see just what you can do to get the most out of this fantastic little device!

Yahoo may have broken the story to it's readers on Friday, but actual credit goes to David Pogue of the New York Times, who wrote about it a few days earlier. I had to actually read the story twice and do my own fact-checking because it sounded just too good to be true. Needless to say, I'm now paying a flat $40/month for fast 3G, usable with all my devices, and without any pesky usage cap. That's right - my 3G is TOTALLY UNLIMITED.