

Verizon offers iPad/MiFi Bundle on October 28, 1GB/mo for $20 no contract - nirmal
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/10/14ipadverizon.html

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DougWebb
My wife had a MiFi for her Macbook, until she went to visit her family in
Canada for a weekend. As far as we can tell, the Macbook decided to update
itself in the hotel while she was out and had left the MiFi on. With the
indicator light design on the MiFi it's not simple to tell the difference
between "I'm charging" and "I'm eating up all of your allowed bandwidth at
roaming rates". The result was an almost $900 bill for data roaming charges. I
don't think we even exceeded her 2GB/month allowance, at least not by much.

Apparently, in Verizon's view, Canada is such a technologically backward
nation that it costs an order of magnitude more to send data over their maple-
syrup-soaked drunken-beaver-operated telecommunications system than it does
here in the US.

There was no recourse; Verizon doesn't care why the bandwidth was used, even
if it was unintentional. We canceled the contract.

EDIT: Contrasting point: for my Android, Verizon gives me unlimited data for
$45/month. I use at least 1GB/month, and that's without watching videos or
doing any other data-intensive stuff that I'd probably want to do on an iPad.
(I don't pay the extra $20/month they want for tethering. I've found the
Android is sufficient for my mobile computing needs.)

~~~
allenp
Due to the ease of unintentionally spending so much so fast, it seems like the
US should have consumer protection laws in place that the mobile phone
companies should at least be mandated to text or call you and let you know
when you've gone $100 over your monthly bill.

~~~
drewda
from earlier today:

"The decision was the first step in a months-long process at the FCC that will
ultimately result in another vote on whether carriers should be forced to
alert consumers when they near their allotted limits for voice, text and data
services. Carriers would be told through text and voice alerts before reaching
their limits and they would be similarly warned when their carrier charges the
user for international roaming fees."

[http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/10/fcc_votes_...](http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/10/fcc_votes_to_explore_cell_phon.html)

~~~
DougWebb
That's great and I fully support it, but in my case it wouldn't have done a
damn thing to help. The MiFi has its own phone number which is separate from
any other accounts you have with verizon. While it can accept text messages
the only way to see them is to tether the MiFi to a computer and run the
verizon connection manager which has a non-default tab where you can view and
send texts. An email also wouldn't have helped because my wife was attending a
wedding while her computer was downloading stuff back at the hotel, so by the
time she saw the email it would have been too late.

My situation wasn't a gradual build-up of data charges over a month; the
entire $900 worth of charges were incurred in just a few hours while the
computer was unattended. The law should cause carriers to terminate service
when the limit is reached, and only allow the limit to be exceeded if the
customer explicitly requests it and authorizes the charges. This is especially
true for a device like the MiFi, in our modern world of automatic updates,
syncronization, and applications that phone home regularly for all sorts of
reasons.

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lukev
1GB per month for $20? What is this, 2001?

Of course, you just know all the Dogberts at Verizon are wagging their tails
over collecting those _juicy_ overage fees.

~~~
exit
why is wireless data so bloody expensive? what are verizons margins on
$20/1GB?

~~~
jws
Per wikipedia://GSM…

 _GSM has used a variety of voice codecs to squeeze 3.1 kHz audio into between
6.5 and 13 kbit/s._

So that is between 100k and 200k bytes per minute of speech. That gigabyte is
the same radio load as 10000 minutes of talk time.

Where does one get 10000 minutes of talk time for only $20?

I think the question is _Why is wireless voice so bloody expensive‽_

~~~
danilocampos
(Pedantic) Verizon uses CDMA, not GSM, but the question is still a fair one. I
wonder how the numbers change for CDMA, if at all.

~~~
jws
Wikipedia says CDMA uses 3 rates, 8.5kbps, 4kbps, and 0.8kbs at the sender's
choosing. It averages about 6kbps, so the numbers are about the same. There
are improved codecs, but I can't tell if they are in use.

The 0.8kbps is just for encoding background noise when the person is not
talking.

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scottw
You can get the same MiFi 2200 device from Virgin Mobile (my local BestBuy
carries them) which uses Sprint's 3G network for $40/month unlimited bandwidth
and no contract. I bought one last month for a road trip and love it.

~~~
rdouble
I have the Virgin MiFi in NYC, and the service here is terrible.

The connection from the MiFi to 3G drops every 20 minutes or so, and the
connection from the iPad/MacBook to the MiFi drops 2-3 times a day. The latter
means I need to reboot the device and re-enter my admin details 2-3 times a
day. When it does work, the connection is so slow I cannot watch YouTube
videos or stay connected to any chat service. The badness seems tied to the
time of day. I can sometimes get stuff done early in the morning on Saturday
and Sunday. Any other time of the week it's mostly unusable.

If the MiFi still seems like a good deal to you (maybe it works fine outside
of NYC), please contact me in my profile, I'll sell you mine for 50 bucks.

~~~
chopsueyar
That is a good deal.

[http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Virgin+Mobile+-+MiFi+2200+Wirele...](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Virgin+Mobile+-+MiFi+2200+Wireless+Router/9919286.p?id=1218195439442&skuId=9919286)

------
callmeed
So they're tacking on $130 to the price of the iPad to cover the device? I
like my setup much better ...

I have the iPad WiFi coupled with Virgin's MiFi which is $150 + $40/mo for
_unlimited_ bandwidth (on Sprint's network). No worries about overages, works
great everywhere I've been and you don't even pay for months you don't use it.

Most Best Buy stores have them. [http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-
broadband/mifi-2200.ht...](http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-
broadband/mifi-2200.html)

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jws
The bundle is costing about $130 more than the iPad, plus whatever sliver of
profit they get on the iPad wholesale. No risk taken by Verizon, no need for a
contract.

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arethuza
I have an iPad and a MiFi from 3 and it's a good combination for occasional 3G
access (most of the locations I use my iPad at have WiFi).

The MiFi with 8GB PAYG was about £70 whereas a 3G capable iPad is £100 more
than the WiFi models here in the UK - also means I can have other devices
(laptops/ipod) on the MiFi when required.

[Edit: I would never get a MiFi on contract - PAYG works fine with no risk of
silly bills]

~~~
callumjones
Yes but the £100 is a one off cost.

~~~
arethuza
The £70 for the MiFi is a one off cost - you still have to pay for the data in
both cases.

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kloncks
Verizon working with Apple: Does this just validate all those rumors of an
iPhone next month on Verizon?

~~~
Lewisham
I think it's safe to assume that. It shows that Apple and Verizon don't have
as terrible a blood feud as some had thought. In fact, the offer looks
somewhat... desperate. It's blatantly anti-consumer (lug around a MiFi and pay
for the privilege!) in comparison to the AT&T offering. I wonder if it's not
part of some contractual agreement from Apple: "Alright, we'll give you the
iPhone, but we want iPads in Verizon stores this holiday season, and [we don't
have the CDMA chips ready yet/don't want to announce we have CDMA chips yet].
What are you going to do?"

~~~
pchristensen
It's hardly anti-consumer. For the price of a 3G iPad, you get an equivalent
Wi-Fi only iPad and a MiFi that all your other devices can use. I would have
bought this in a heartbeat over my 3G if it had been available in April.

~~~
fredleblanc
Was this option _not_ available? It seems like the only convenience is the
bundling here, or were Mifis never without contract before?

~~~
ydant
I'm pretty sure Verizon's MiFi is contract only (and $60 for 5GB data).
Virgin's just recently became unlimited, but I /think/ it's always been
contract-free, it just used to be 5GB.

Virgin's got a public awareness problem (at least among the people I know),
however, so for most people I bet the only known options were from Sprint,
Verizon, AT&T, etc.

------
yan
".. MiFi 2200 is small enough to fit in a pocket and allows customers to
create a personal _Wi-Fi cloud_ capable of sharing the high-speed Internet ..
"

Wait, what?

