We just returned from vacation tour through several places in Germany. Overall a great trip plus the MiFi added additional pleasure for all of our devices (2 * iPhone + a Windows 7 notebook) and saved us a lot of money, compared to hotel WiFi charges and roaming charges.
The Network experience
Before we left I had bought and setup a PrePaid Fonic card. I bought the SIM card and activated the daily data flat rate plan. Their pricing scheme is simple, you are charged € 2.49 per day of usage with a drop back to EDGE speed after using 1 GB. Fonic leverages the German O2 GSM network. Since being taken over by Telefonica, O2 has invested into their network, so that I expected good UMTS or even HSUPA coverage. This expectation was fully met at our first location. The MiFi immediately picked up a HSUPA signal and delivered very good network connection, after it had started to work (details later).
Our second stop provided a challenge. We had chosen to spent a week on the island Usedom. near the border to Poland. Landscape and tourism are the most prominent feature of this location. Network speed dropped back to GPRS speed. For my typical notebook usage this was definitely not enough, e-mail and Google Reader on the iPhone worked ok. Luckily we had very good weather and no situation required me to connect the notebook to the cloud. Other networks (mostly T-Mobile), had in some places UMTS coverage. As I now from previous trips to Germany, that T-Mobile has a good and wide-spread 3G network plus complete EDGE coverage I have now established a contingency solution with Ja! Mobil. Ja! Mobil uses the T-Mobile network, has a daily flat rate for € 2.49 and a maximum connection speed of 384 kB/sec (UMTS speed).
All further stops, mostly metropolitan areas in Germany, again had mostly full HSUPA coverage.
The MiFi experience
After unpacking our stuff in our first location I quickly wanted to check my e-mail, tried to switch on the MiFi and nothing happened. It had worked some hours earlier but now nothing happened. Probably the battery was empty, so I hooked it up to the AC charger and we left the hotel.Later that evening still the same problem. So I started to examine the problem. The MiFi seems to "crash" immediately after plugging in the power supply (solid red LED indicator)
To make a long story short: the delivered charger doesn’t work with the MiFi. My MiFi currently only charges using the supplied USB <-> MicroUSB cable and any USB power supply, e.g. iPhone AC charger, USB car battery charger or notebook USB port. I later bought a Motorola power supply for standard MicroUSB devices, but the effect remains the same.
Besides this problem the MiFi worked as expected and connected us to the cloud. The only downside is the approx. 10 second wait time before it starts to deliver the Wifi signal and is hooked up to the GSM network. I didn’t do a full blown eval of the battery time. My subjective rating, with no constant operation but multiple startups of the device, would be an operating time of 2.5 hours per charge. Enough for a vacation, for business use I might require a longer battery.
I mailed MobilX, the shop where I bought the MiFi, about the problem. So far they responded that I should send back the whole set and it will take them 2-3 weeks for a repair / return. As I have some trips ahead and I’m allready hooked to the device, this currently is no feasible approach for me. I have to reach out to them and see if there is any other solution. I’ll keep you posted.
[Update 1]
Approached mobilX again regarding the necessary repair. As the problem seems to be with the charger, they now asked me to mail in only the charger. Did this today. Now I’m waiting for any further processing.
[/Update]
[Update 2]
mobilX replaced the charger fairly fast. It took them roughly a week before the replacement part reached me. Unfortunately the charging problem remains. So I’ll have to sent in the complete MiFi unit
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[Update 2]
Overall a positive experience. I highly recommend the MiFi.
- PTL -
