MiFi archives

Abul (@adonisdemon) of adonismobile and Stephen (@stephenwing) of UKGadgeteer, have both tried 3’s MiFi as well as Novatel’s Wireless Intelligent Mobile Hotspot.



Back in December, Stephen commented on the differences in price between the two, ease of set up and the networks that they use.

Abul has just started trialling the Novatel device and still thinks that 3’s MiFi is the slickest one on the market.

If you’re thinking of getting yourself a MiFi and have any questions, jump over and ask away

Today 3’s Nigel Field, Director of Devices, posted on the 3 blog about 3’s handset strategy for 2010 and it seems that the Smartphone is King, with 2009 seeing a growth in popularity of QWERTY keyboards, touchscreens & data devices amongst 3’s customers.



Nigel also talked in his post about Apple:



“We don’t currently have a commercial relationship with Apple but are working to change this during 2010 and add Apple to our portfolio.”



This sparked a mixed response on Twitter, with some people thinking that 3 doesn’t need to stock the iPhone as the HTC phones that 3 are beginning to stock are far and away better



Yet others were getting excited about the opportunities that 3 might have with the iPad and there has been talk about the WiFi version of the iPad and how MiFi could be used to make the most of Apple’s new offering.



What are your thoughts on Nigel’s post and the comments it has provoked? Head over to blog.three.co.uk to read more and join in the conversation.

Chris from Too Geek To Be True has shared his thoughts on being part of our MiFi Consumer Panel:



“…it has been a very interesting experience being involved in this project, not just for the reviewer, but more importantly for 3 themselves in term of being able to get a more complete picture of how a product works in a real-life situation. “



In his post he goes into detail as to what he enjoyed about the MiFi, as well as the things that in his opinion, could be improved.



As part of the MiFi Consumer Panel he had the opportunity to feedback directly to 3 and heard about 3’s plans for the next version of the MiFi. Pop over to his blog to ask him more about it!

Last night was a great evening for catching up on the past few months and talking about the future - especially the future of 3 and its plans for 2010.



We had guys along that had been part of our trials and attended our events during 2009, as well as plenty of people from the 3 team for them to chat to about handsets, products & services, network and customer service.



Discussions mainly revolved around 3’s upcoming handset plans, the current network upgrade work and their customer service.



It was great to get everyone all together in one place to discuss 3’s plans with the people themselves and get an insight into the people behind the business. Liam Green-Hughes of greenhughes.com:



“The evening was really interesting. It was good to see some senior people form 3 UK who were very interested in the opinions and experiences of those who attended the event.”



Thanks to everyone for coming along and congratulations to @liamgh for winning the #3MBcreative award for his YouTube video demonstrating how to use the MiFi to stream last.fm whilst driving around the roundabouts of Milton Keynes!



If you have any questions for anyone that came along to the meet up last night, jump over to Twitter and use the #3UKNYmeetup #tag to see who was there and fire away!



UPDATE:

Stephen at UKGadgeteer and Mark at The Boulton Bugle have posted their thoughts on the evening, as has Justin from 3 on 3’s blog …some interesteing insights.

Last Thursday our MiFi consumer panellists, @fraserspeirs, @mahadewa, @johnhood, @ursulavasey, @improbulus & @johnnygedye travelled down to London from as far afield as Glasgow and Exeter to meet up with Matt & Tom from 3’s mobile broadband and market research teams to talk through their experiences with the Mifi.



These guys have been trialling the device since last year when they were set the task of going into store posing as normal consumers and purchasing the device, either on contract or PAYG. They went through the full consumer journey of purchase, set up and use and fed back on their experiences to 3 throughout the trial period as well as sharing their thoughts with their communities.



At the final feedback session lots of things were discussed in terms of in store experience, instruction materials and set up, device design and battery power. Various suggestions were made, with @fraserspeirs suggesting that the MiFi be made to fit inside an iPod Touch case & @ursulavasey proposing that all the instruction cards should be on display on the website in case any are lost. Imp has since posted a very indepth and interesting review of her time with the MiFi and 3



If you have any questions for the triallists, why not pop over to their twitter feeds and ask them what they thought of their experience.

So, when 3mobilebuzz readers were asked what they would connect to if they were magically transformed into a 3UK MiFi for a day we got some interesting responses…



@colinmccarthy wished his work used MiFi as it is faster than the internet they have there, @liamgh would connect to an internet radio, whereas @steverowlands & @adonisdemon were thinking more along the kitchen route, with kettles that could be emailed instructions to boil and fridges that order in food as soon as it’s run out!



Good ideas guys, now to email my kettle…!

The 3mobilebuzz MiFi Consumer Panel continues on into the new year with Johnny posting his latest findings on the experience.



After the early excitement and setup he invited some friends over to test out the capabilities when multiple users are connected. Connecting up a Laptop, a Desktop and an iPhone everyone was able to stream video, check email and browse the net.

“For 3 people using the device simultaneously, it performed pretty well. With each of us able to ‘browse’ the net at a generally good speed. My friends were surprised at the performance of the device.”

Johnny also highlights the benefits of using a MiFi to live blog conferences, meetings etc. Something I’m sure lots of people out at CES would like right now.

Last week saw the start of our latest (and potentially greatest) trial activity; a trial with a twist. Instead of a straight forward two week device trial, this is a much more engrossing, full consumer experience. We’ve asked @frasierspeirs, @improbulus, @johnhood, @johnnygedye, @mahadewa, @markie016, @t3styler, @ursulavasey and @vero to take the whole journey, from in store purchase decision to set up to day-to-day usage. We are conducting the trial in this way because 3 is keen to get detailed honest feedback on all areas of the consumer journey from both PAYG and contract customers.



The trial has started well, and John is going strong, impressed with his in store experience:

“MiFi was clearly explained and its benefits over a USB modem dongle…I live in an area where 3 mobile coverage is weak and this was pointed out by the sales assistant who asked me whether or not I wanted to proceed with the transaction. 3Store offers excellent customer service and compares favourably with Apple Store.”

Continue reading…

We’ve seen a lot of conversation around 3’s MiFi: Simon, Stephen, Ian and Craig are only the tip of the iceberg. We all know everyone loves Apple – there’s too much to point to on here! And now 3 is bringing the two together with a MiFi + iPod touch bundle! This is what MiFi was built for and indeed what a lot of people have said they’re doing with it.



We’re pretty excited about this new deal and can see it being at the top of a lot of Christmas lists.



Here are the details:
- MiFi + iPod Touch
- 5GB of data
- £23 / month
- 24 month contract

custom made MiFi case - @jamesbody we love it!

It’s not often you get the chance to see Avril Lavigne and Ziggy Stardust rubbing shoulders, so the rock star fancy dress theme at last week’s Spotify party certainly made sure that it was a night of heroes.

The theme was, of course, underlined by the presence of the much worshipped HTC Hero handset, but there was another heroic device also grabbing plenty of attention. Continue reading…

Ian Miller has posted a review of 3’s Mobile WiFi device, complete with videos. As well as an unboxing Ian also shows us the simple connecting procedure and the capabilities of the connection for browsing, using chat software, and so on.

“The killer for me was being able to use Skype on the go. Those who use iPhones know that its Skype app has quashed the ability to make Skype Calls over 3G, it will only allow it on wifi. Well, now my iPhone had wifi, albeit mobile connection from inside my bag, but crucially, its still wifi. So I was able to walk around making Skype calls.”

He’s also thought of another useful application of the technology,

“I am considering reccomending [sic] the school I work at invests in one to allow groups to use offsite on trips, so that updates can be communicated back to base and students with wifi devices can get a few free minutes to catch up.”

Ian ends his review with a positive comparison against standard mobile broadband dongles. Whilst their software can sometimes be difficult to set up, “MIFI has no software, just a wifi, which makes it a product that’s instantly a thousand times more preferable.”