RE: Verizon MiFi 2200 Mobile Wireless Hotspot WiFi Modem

I've had the regular Droid for a little over a year now.  I'm not a heavy
user so maybe I've just missed bad spots, but the only places I have not had
3G where 1) out of the US of course and 2) Puerto Rico where I did have cell
phone service but no 3G.

Bp


-----Original Message-----
From: touring-bounces+bp20100401=comcast.net-Wizm5X4GRk5g9hUCZPvPmw@public.gmane.org
[mailto:touring-bounces+bp20100401=comcast.net-Wizm5X4GRk5g9hUCZPvPmw@public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of
John Gorentz
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 9:31 AM
To: Heisdorffer Scot ; [email protected]
Subject: Re: Verizon MiFi 2200 Mobile Wireless Hotspot WiFi Modem

My son and a niece of mine in north-central Minnesota use those in 
their residences, except they have the service with the 5GB 
cap.   They are reasonably happy with it -- it's the best service 
available where they live  -- though of course the 5GB limit has to 
be watched carefully.    I think it's about $50-$60/month for that.

Last October I tried adding the Verizon mobile hotspot service to my 
wife's DroidX when we were on tour, so we could use it in camp 
evenings.  It's $20/month for I think more like 5GB/month.   But we 
were NOT at all happy with it.   First of all, Verizon's data service 
was not available in all the parts of Indiana where their phone 
service was available.   That didn't happen to be a problem in most 
places where we wanted to use it.    But in some places, it would 
work great for a half hour, then quit with a message like "Service 
unavailable."   Well, we knew very well that their data service was 
available, because it kept working on our phones.

I've seen other reports like this on the internet, too.   Now this 
may be a problem with Verizon incompetence in designing wifi hotspot 
services for Android.   My son thinks he has seen suggestions to that 
effect in the internet geek places where he hangs out.  But if it's 
just a problem with Verizon vs Android, it wouldn't affect for your MiFi
box.

If I had had time to mess with such things, I would have got one of 
those 3rd party apps that Verizon is trying to keep off the market 
that will turn your DroidX into a hotspot, if there is one that can 
be installed without rooting the thing.

I should point out that I also tried using it along the Interstate on 
our drive home after my ride from southwest Michigan to New Madrid, 
MO was complete.   The hotspot service worked without a problem 
there.   And we used it without trouble on the Interstate Highway on 
a drive to northcentral MN at Christmas, though we didn't give it a 
really good workout that time.  But in rural campgrounds where we 
really wanted to use it, it didn't work very well.

John Gorentz