Saturday, November 26, 2011

Considering a Verizon Wireless 4G LTE MIFI unit

I went to the local Verizon Wireless store, and to my surprise, they had a demo unit of their MIFI unit, a mobile wireless box, about the size of a medium-sized smart phone. Running demos at home, I am using it right now with a Live version of Partition Magic (the one released on 11/24/2011, and it is, so far, working well.

The only thing I still have to check out is whether the mini USB to standard USB connector that is provided will allow me to have "wired" connectivity, which I need when I install a new Linux distribution, and have to download "wireless firmware" before I can run in completely wireless mode. If this connector works - and I hope it does, I will go back to the store and plunk down on my own version. It is still on a weekend "extended Black Friday sale" - so I have until tomorrow to decide if I want this unit. I also have until Tuesday (in case I don't or can't decide), before I have to return the demo unit.

Pretty good sales tactic on the part of Verizon Wireless. They have a decent chance of getting a sale from me. The 4G speed easily beats the Wide Open West (WOW) basic broadband network (not their fastest), that my mom has.

I also want to run some more tests to see how close it comes to the Comcast Broadband network I used in New England. Early indications are that it is at least close. If that connector gives me temporary wired connectivity, it'll probably be a deal for me.

Maybe this blog "came back"!

A while ago this blog seemed inaccessible, when Google was in the process of changing the interface - yet again. Well, at least the good news now is that this blog seems to have reappeared. If I can trust it to remain here, I may start writing articles here once again.