It's a variant on the wireless USB dongle - but rather than plugging into one computer, it provides a local Wi-Fi service.
I'd be interested in knowing how well they work with both a laptop and an ipod touch.
Any feedback?
Personally I haven't but I know a few people who do, and they seem pleased with them.
I have installed JoikuSpot on my phone, which makes the phone a Wi-Fi access point for laptops and other Wi-Fi capable devices, and routes the traffic over the phone's 3G connection.
It works with Windows laptops. For some reason, it is not as good with non-Windows clients. It runs down a mobile battery quite quickly, so for any long usage, you'll want the phone plugged in to its charger. Probably want to ensure your mobile contract includes unlimited data volume too, or you'll get slapped with giant bills.
I can now provide my own feedback as we lost our landline broadband last week, so needed something to plug the gap.
It took about 5 minutes to get set up; 3 buttons to press in order to Power on, Connect to Mobile Network, and then turn on wireless.
Once you've got that far you can sign in to the 3 mobile website to buy or register your topup, then all you need to do is reconnect to the network and you're off.
We were away for the weekend, so having the Mi-fi meant we could browse the internet on the Ipod touch wherever we were, and at the hotel we could use both the laptop and the touch at the same time.
The battery is claimed to give 5 hours continuous use, but it switches off the wifi if there's nobody using it, so it should last longer on the road; even if you forget to switch the power off .The battery comes with some charge, and they recommend a 12hour charge before starting. Charging is via a mini USB socket, and it comes with a mains/USB adapter.
Speeds are good - getting 1M+ about 10 miles outside Carlisle, and over 2M in central Edinburgh.
If you use the USB cable to directly connect it to your (Windows) computer, you can change the settings, SSID, Password, Firewall etc.
All in all, you can use it as a straight alternative to the traditional dongle - keeping it in your pocket rather than having it poking out of your machine - or you can use it as a shared resource for other wi-fi equipment. With trad dongles at about £20, the added value for the £50 Mi-fi is probably justified.
In our case, with the home broadband out of action, it gave us perfectly adequate service for the PC, 2 laptops and the ipod touch..
BT came out today and fixed our broadband service, so I've got 3 weeks to use the remaining data balance.
What about with a dongle + 1 month's data being 10.10 GBP? (10p for the dongle if you get a tenners worth of data)
On 3?
Yup. Got it from Currys, just before Christmas, to use while I was in hospital.
Very good price - and hope you're feeling OK.
The thing is, I already have a dongle, but would have needed 3 of them last week - and still wouldn't have been able to use the Touch online at home or when I'm away.
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