Portable WiFi Hotspot Solutions.
Millions of subscribers are using netbooks and notebooks to surf the Internet while on the move, and this has become a strategic market for mobile operators. When cellular data 3G (and soon 4G) is capable transmitting and receiving data at almost broadband speed, mobile users enjoy getting online while roaming almost everywhere with the mobile devices. Until now users can use Smartphone, USB/ PCMCIA Datacard or tether the Smartphone to their Laptop.
The above solutions only serve 1 user at a time. In the US, recently Verizon and Sprint offer the MiFi card, a credit card-size stand-alone device that provides a moile WiFi hotspot. This small battery powered device lets up to five Wi-Fi-capable devices share the Internet connection. A practical solution for in car or small meeting Internet sharing. .
A step further, last month, Verizon and Palm announced a WiFi hotspot capability on the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus. Meaning these WebOS Smartphones could be used as an hotspot serving up to 5 WiFi users located nearby. Anyone entering your password will able to make use of the phone’s 3G connection. Users have reported they are able to surf the Web on a laptop about 200 feet away. The throughput might vary depending on the number of devices attached, but performance is more than adequate for normal Web surfing.
AT&T promised tethering capability with the iPhone for last year, but it never materialized.iPhone users want this function have to “jailbreak” their iPhone for the time being.
At the last Mobile Word Congress, a new technology is bourgeoning for GSM based phones. Sagem Orga and Telefonica have announced SIMFi, a SIM card that has WiFi radio integrated.
“An embedded WLAN modem in the SIM card, driven by the SIM toolkit applets running in the SIM, will enable Telefonica to broadcast High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) Internet access through Wi-Fi to notebooks and netbooks. The new generation USIM card "SIMFi" can be inserted in any type of classic handset to act as a universal and interoperable HSPA/Wi-Fi router for any device. “
With great solutions, there are drawbacks? especially the pricing department. Most carriers charge around $40 a month for up to modest five gigabytes of data. Above this cap, the cost is exorbitant. We hope, once the network bottleneck is lifted with later wireless technology WiMax, LTE the price will become more affordable to all And soon everybody could walk around with his/ her own cloud.
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