Verizon’s MiFi 2200 Would Be Nice, But…

We have been using Clearwire here for a few years and the speed was excellent at first. As time went on and more people signed up locally the speed deteriorated. Because of our location, we had to use an externally mounted box to pull in their signal. It worked fine until October 7^th, when it went kaput.

Clearwire no longer supports this device, so I needed to find something to replace it quickly. There are not many choices where we live, so I decided to give the Verizon MiFi 2200 service a try, since I could be up and running almost instantly.

I visited the Verizon store the afternoon of October 9^th and came home with the unit. It was supposedly activated and ready to go. The next morning I tried to get it going, but it would not work. It turned out that the salesman screwed up and didn’t activate it after all. I called the store when they opened and he activated it. To tell the truth, he didn’t seem real interested in telling me how to get it running and the instructions he did provide were not correct. I fumbled around and finally got it going.

When you connect the MiFi unit to a computer using the included micro-USB cable, two things happen:

• The MiFi begins charging
• A drive mounts to your machine

This drive contains Windows and Mac versions of VZAccess Manager, which you install and use for activation. After that, you can continue using it to control your MiFi with it tethered to the computer just as you would any other modem. Once that is accomplished, you can unplug the unit and it provides WiFi for up to five different computers.

By default, the network is protected by a WPA password printed on a sticker on the back of the device, which can be changed by logging into the web-based admin console along with a host of other options.

The speed varies, but I just ran a test. You can see the speed test results below.

I do experience fade-out from time to time, because of where we live, but that is not the reason I will be returning the unit before my 30-day evaluation period ends. It is because of Verizon’s pricing. The service costs $59.95 per month, which includes only 5 GB of bandwidth, which equates to 5,120 MB per month. I was a little leery of this, but had not idea how much bandwidth we actually use each month.

Based on eleven days of usage, I estimate our monthly charge for our first full month will be $195.00. So you can understand why I will be returning it as soon as I can get the G4 service we ordered from Com-Pair.net installed. If Verizon wants to sell a lot of these units, they better rethink their pricing. My take is that it will only be good for people who just check email and do minimal Web browsing. With this service, when somebody sends you an email with a funny video attached, the meter is running.

So while I would like to keep it, there is no way I can justify the expense. I doubt many others that are online an hour or two each day will want to pay the price either.

10-22-09 Update – Well, Guy from Com-pair.net was here the first thing this morning to install my service. I am using it now and it is great. He was even nice enough to remove the old Clearwire box from my roof, so I could send it back to them. After dropping the box to Clearwire off at Office Depot, I visited Verizon to return my MiFi 2200 unit. Although they were disappointed that I was returning it, we parted friends. The final stop was a visit to my bank to put a stop payment on the Clearwire monthly auto withdrawal on my credit card for their service. They said they would close our account when the box arrived. Based on my conversations with them this month, I would be charged for an additional month if the box arrives after our billing cycle. Then I would have the hassle of getting my money back. No Way Jose!!

Tags: Advice, Internet