Sunday 15 May 2011

Three Mifi: Your own personal internet bubble

I think it's fair to say I'm slightly addicted to the internet. In my defense it is the way I'm able to keep in touch with my friends and family, but honestly I don't know what I'd do without it.  When we first moved into our new house a certain phone company took months to set up our phone line (even though we pleaded I was super pregnant and we needed a phone) and we had to use an internet dongle. The dongle was crap. I bought credit on Skype so I could phone my Grandmother in Ohio and I couldn't get enough signal on the dongle to get a voice call to go through; massive fail.


When Three contacted me asking if I wanted to try their MiFi, I have to say I was a bit skeptical about how it would work because of my previous mobile internet issues.  MiFi is a gadget that fits in the palm of your hand and allows you to use broadband on the go by creating a bubble of Wi-Fi around you.  Up to five devices can be synced up to each MiFi at any one time. It basically turns your pocket, purse or diaper bag into your very own personal internet hotspot.


It's incredibly easy to use; no wires or installation.  You turn it on and you're ready to go; all you have to do is enter a passcode (which is printed inside the back of the MiFi) and you are connected!  It connects with any Wifi enabled device.  I brought it with me to a Tweetup and all of us smartphone users were able to connect and tweet through our yummy sushi lunch. Even better I was at a conference and when the Wifi at the venue failed, I was still connected! Several other attendees hooked into my MiFi, too and were impressed at how easy and quick it was.


If you have an iPod or other non 3G device a MiFi would be invaluable to you. For me I have a 3G iPhone with  unlimited internet access so the internet I access through my phone is the same as that using the MiFi, but if I had a non 3G device (laptop, iPad, iPod touch, Nintendo DS) I would absolutely get the MiFi. I've spend many night in hotel rooms (before I had my iPhone) and haven't been able to get on the internet and the Mifi would completely solve that problem.


The Three Mifi is available on contract from as little as £9.91 per month or on Pay and Go from £71.99. If you like to be connected wherever you go I would highly recommend getting your own bubble and getting a Mifi!


Transatlantic Blonde was provided this product to review for a two week trial period, but the reviews expressed are her own.

3 comments:

Hay Hay said...

This seems awesome! They need to get this in the States!

Helen said...

I use my iPhone 4 MiFi for my iPad which is WiFi only. I hadn't considered using it for my DS until now! My only issue with Three is there's pretty much no coverage at my parents' house. They do live in the countryside but even when I took my phone with me over the Humber Bridge the signal was pretty much zero, but very high where we live!

elliot said...

I've used a 3 mifi for a while, and it's a very useful device, but with shockingly bad battery life - about 4 hours of use, longer if you're not using it so much. which means it won't last a long train journey. head for the seats with a power socket to avoid disappointment!

i got one and had it unlocked (check ebay) mainly so that I can use it on other networks - i buy sim cards overseas, pop them in and have data roaming for a lot less than i'd otherwise pay.

i travel with my partner - so the mifi connects 2 iphones and an ipad, sometimes a computer too; it handles all quite happily.

FYI, 3 now do a sim only internet tariff for £5.11 with 2GB data. their customer service is shocking and will tell you it won't work in this, as it's a phone tariff; this is nonsense.

@kaymee: you can get them in the US, google mifi or check ebay. these devices are the reason why an apple product demonstration on stage failed once - all the journalists had them, which was drowning out apple's own router!