Jeff Huston

Well, one of the organizations that I’m working with had an issue with a lack of reliable Internet access in order to run a web-based application.  The situation is that they are located in a historic building in downtown McKinney, TX.  Because it is a public building, the Internet service that they were using was based on what the city would provide.  That service has been hit or miss (mostly miss).  So, I purchased a Verizon MiFi 2200 in an attempt to resolve their access issues.

Overall, the product itself isn’t horrible.  The unit is tiny – only about 2 oz in weight and about the size of a deck of cards, but only half has thick.  It is battery powered, but I’m not sure what that lifespan is under normal usage.  It is essentially a little router/firewall with the WAN side being access to Verizon’s EVDO data network and the inside interface being (initially) either a USB connection (acting as a data modem) or a short-distance WIFI access point (stressing short distance here).

Overall the product is quite functional at my house.  I’m kind of in a natural dead zone, so I only got two bars on the EV network, but still received satisfactory performance.  At the historic building, it was tried out in the underground basement, in the stone-block vault and it worked just dandy.

Normally, we have it configured as a USB WWAN data modem and then use the laptop’s WiFi to create an ad-hoc computer network with Internet Connection Sharing enabled.  The laptop’s WiFi is much stronger than the MiFi unit is capable of.  Connecting the unit to USB disables it’s local WiFi bridge (but that can be circumvented through a simple hack).  Remember, though, that the MiFi’s WiFi is designed to be “local” range and not across a house or building.

When you first get the unit, you’ll have to hook it up via USB to a laptop, install their software, and then activate the modem.  Although you can connect over WiFi right away, you have to go through this activation procedure in order to light up the WWAN portion.

The only real complaint that I have is that they use the micro-USB connector on the device, making it a pain in the rear to find replacement cables.  So, don’t lose the USB cable or the power supply that come with the unit!