Hasta La Gadget!

The international mobile hotspot rental market just got a lot more interesting. While Xcom Global‘s offerings are still broader, Tep Wireless is expanding in a major way. Previously reserved for European nations, the upstart is now serving a full 50 nations, adding Brazil, the United States, South Africa, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and UAE to its repertoire. For those in need of a refresher, the company enables customers facing an international trip to order their hotspot and get it delivered prior to departure, with a prepaid envelope included to ship it back once they’ve returned.

The company’s made clear that its hotspots will track data usage in real time right on the inbuilt display, and they’re programmed to hop onto different networks as borders are crossed. (If you’re curious, we confirmed that it all works as advertised in a recent jaunt across European borders.) The full pricing chart fo is hosted up after the break, with those needing unlimited buckets able to pay a $6.95-per day surcharge. (It should be noted that the preexisting EU-wide pricing options remain for those sticking to that region.) It’ll probably look a touch pricey to light users and common tourists, but business travelers unwilling to take chances on connectivity when heading overseas will find the rates far more palatable than roaming fees from their home carrier.

Continue reading Tep Wireless expands mobile hotspot rental plan to 50 countries, revamps pricing

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile

Tep Wireless expands mobile hotspot rental plan to 50 countries, revamps pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T has revealed its latest mobile hotspot, the MiFi Liberate, the first to include a color touchscreen. Running on AT&T’s LTE network, the Novatel Wireless-made gadget has a 2.8-inch multitouch display and can share its 4G data connection with up to ten WiFi-connected devices, while the battery is said to last for up to 11 hours of active use.

There’s also global support, with connectivity – albeit not necessarily at LTE speed – in more than 200 countries. The touchscreen can be used to monitor what devices are connected and manage security settings, as well as to arrange sharing of data from the microSD card slot using DLNA.

Novatel Wireless calls it the MiFi 2, and is unsurprisingly pretty proud of the new hotspot. The screen can be used to track account details, such as how much data a user has left in their plan, as well as to see a breakdown of roaming data usage. There’s also intelligent power management, which Novatel says automatically adjusts device performance so as to squeeze out the longest runtimes.

AT&T isn’t saying how much the MiFi Liberate will cost when it launches, nor indeed when we can actually expect it to go on sale exactly. However, it will be the exclusive carrier to offer the hotspot, presumably in the US market at least.

AT&T MiFi Liberate shares 10hrs of LTE with touchscreen simplicity is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Remember the Olympic ban on WiFi hotspots to ensure the games’ corporate sponsors could sell you back access at a premium? The threat to seize or eject anyone caught using such gear seemed hollow — after all, how could you be found in a crowd of 90,000? It turns out, LOCOG have employed WiFi police, chasing down unauthorized signals with their big red detectors. Although we should give them some credit — you’ll certainly see them coming from a mile away.

[Image Credit: Sadao Turner, Twitter]

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Wireless

You’ve heard of the Child Catcher? Meet the WiFi Snatcher originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking to snag a mobile hotspot with your pending Ultrabook purchase? If so, Sprint is looking to be the first US carrier to oblige with a package deal. The wireless provider will bundle the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 with a 3G / 4G mobile hotspot for $849 $799 — plus a monthly bill of either $34.99 for 3GB of data or $49.99 for 6GB of the added connectivity. If that wasn’t enough to get you to pull the trigger, the outfit has also thrown in three months of service for free once you commit to two years of Sprint’s mobile broadband. You’ll be strapped with the Core i5 CPU version of the Ultrabook, but you’ll be able to decide between either a MiFi or an Overdrive Pro for the hotspot option. Itchin’ to take the plunge? Hit that second source link below to sign up and part with your funds.

Update: Although the Sprint website reads $849, we’ve been told by the company that the price will show up as $799 once the bundle has been added to your cart and that the product page should be updated soon.

Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

Sprint bundles Lenovo IdeaPad U310 and a mobile hotspot: $850 plus a monthly bill (update: $799) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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