I took a day off recently, and thought that (after packing and admin stuff) the best way to spend the day would be to camp out in a café and get some of this blogging done.
Fellow bloggers (blogees?), I’m sure you’ll understand the frustration of having so many ideas that you can’t get anything out – well, this was my problem. I thought a change of scenery would do me good.
Unfortunatly, I needed to get online to blog. And for some reason, my netbook wasn’t playing happily with the free wifi at Boston Tea Party (not for the first time!) Annoying. I have an O2 PAYG dongle, but that’s about a third of the size of my netbook! It’s clumsy, and I keep feeling like I’ll knock it out and break something. Not ideal.
So when 3mobilebuzz contacted me to ask if I’d like to trial one of their new MiFi devices, I said yes!
A MiFi is basically the same sort of thing as a dongle, but instead of plugging it in via USB, it’s a mini wifi hotspot. No wires, no crappy software, and nothing that I feel like I’m going to break off if I knock my netbook against something. And it’s oddly satisfying to say. Myyyyy Fiiiiiiii. Or Mifi.
(I couldn’t resist posting a picture of the giant gold Miffy I took in Utrecht a few years ago. Now that was a holiday where I needed a dongle or a MiFi – the only way I could get on the hotel wifi in my room was by sitting in the bath!)
So the MiFi (on the left) arrived at my office on Thursday (which was excellent timing, as I had picked up an iPhone4 before work and wanted to activate it so I could play with it! (Sadly Vodafone are seeing how much they can annoy me with porting my number from O2. Really not impressed with them yet!)
I’ll be probably tweeting and blogging about how we get on over the next few weeks.
So, as I understand it, the problem is that you were worried you’d knock your dongle out the side of your Dell and break it – or it’d look stupid. Either way. So you’ve solved the problem with a device that requires charging, is wireless so you get wifi lag AND slow 3G connection speeds, and is slightly bigger than the dongle, AND is not connected to your computer (physically) and therefore more likely to get left behind…
My solution is better: you remember that USB extension cable that came with your dongle……?
TimC, your solution isn’t so smart when you realise that the MiFi gIves you the flexibility to travel with your laptop, iPad, Ipod touch or any WiFi device. Without extra contracts for each, or buying more expensive 3G variants like the 3G iPad.
Hi Hayley, Glad Mifi was able to help you out – looking forward to hearing how it’s going :)
TimC, Simon’s right, you can connect up to 5 devices to it at once, so very flexible in that respect – just pop it in your pocket and you won’t leave it behind! : )