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Update–Verizon New Cost Plans, Confirm $399.99 for MiFi 2200 card without contract

May 26 update

Verizon posted two new MiFi 2200 plans on its website over the Memorial Day weekend.  New offerings include a month-to-month and a one year contract.  Below is a grid showing existing Verizon plans and prices.  Also included is the $59.99 MiFi 2200 card from moremobilenet.com.  This afternoon, found another $59.99 MiFi 2200 card offer (after rebate and with 2 year contract) from 3gstore.com.  Nice touch on the 3gstore site–picture of the hardware with a quarter on top to give a comparison of how small this personal wi-fi cloud really is.

Verizon MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot Plans and Prices

Contract Length	Cost of MiFi 2200 Card	Monthly Cost	How to Order
None–Pay-per-day	$399.99	None  $15 per day	Call Verizon Customer Care 1-800-922-0204 to order card.  Verizon calls pay-per-day the Mobile Broadband DayPass.
Month-to-month	$399.99	$39.99 or $59.99	Online at verizonwireless.com.  Enter Mifi 2200 in search function.
One Year	$169.99 (after rebate)	$39.99 or $59.99	Online see above.
Two Year	$99.99 (after rebate)	$39.99 or $59.99	Online see above
Two Year	$59.99 (after rebate)	$59.99 plan	Online at moremobileinternet.com
Two Year	$59.99 (after rebate)	$59.99 plan	Online at 3gstore.com

See Verizon terms and conditions for additional  pricing and other information.

—-Original Story Continues Below—- 

Savings on Verizon Wireless MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot

Less than a month after Verizon announced its breakthrough MiFi 2200, Verizon VAR moremobileinternet.com has lowered the price on the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 to $59.99 with a two year contract, $40 less than the $99.99 offered on Verizon’s own site.

You say that’s great, but so what?  Here’s the so what.  For savings, whether you are paying for a MiFi card out of your own pocket or you expense it, saving $40 is $40 saved.  MiFi provides up to five devices with a personal Wi-Fi bubble almost anywhere, anytime, on just about any Wi-Fi product.

How MiFi 2200 works 

Verizon uses the Novatel MiFi 2200 with the full marketing name “Verizon Wireless MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot.”  The hotspot links to the Verizon network and creates a 3G personal Wi-Fi cloud that can be shared by up to five wireless devices.  It is a one-touch 3G modem with Wi-Fi router and battery weighing just over two ounces (2.05 ounces per tech sheet).  Now Wi-Fi is available at the beach, in a taxi, on a plane, on a road trip, and “in a hotel with disgustingly overpriced Wi-Fi” as one writer penned it.

Why MiFi is a big deal 

Reading user reviews of the MiFi device is a lot like reading glowing reports of a great movie.  Described as “a jawdropper” by New York Times technology writer David Pogue, here are some other thoughts on what Pogue calls “a wisp of a thing, like a triple-thick credit card.”

• Kiplinger — MiFi “essentially blows up several existing business models at once.”  The MiFi card makes redundant paid WiFi access points and software and hardware combos to turn a handset into a wireless modem.  VoIP with a 802.11 handset can go out over Skype
  “anywhere, anytime, any place.” 
• Chicago Sun-Times Technology Journalist Andy Ihnatko – Under the headline “Verizon MiFi a personal broadband bubble to believe in,” Ihnatko describes the MiFi 2200 as “near close to perfect.  It might very well be exactly the mobile solution you’ve been waiting for.”  Speed tests find it “plenty fast enough” to stream Pandora and YouTube while it “struggles slightly” with content from Hulu.com, according to Ihnatko.
• James Kendrick at jkontherun.com — after having a Verizon MiFi 2200 for one day, “I can state emphatically it is everything I thought it would be and more. The MiFi is mobile broadband done right.”
• Infosyncworld – “one of those rare devices that comes along and truly wows us. . . (R)aw speed is the most important aspect of this cool little device.”

Verizon only MiFi player, Sprint to follow

 Verizon started selling the Novatel 2200 May 17.  A May 13 Sprint press release announced Sprint will start selling the Novatel 2200 the first week of June.  Sprint promises the added feature of using MiFi’s GPS capabilities for mapping applications and selecting locations.  At the present time, Verizon is not offering this option.

Verizon offers three pricing plans, two with two year contracts, one pay-as-you-go.  Sprint will offer two plans with two year contracts.  No word yet on a pay-as-you-go plan from Sprint. 

Verizon Two Year MiFi Plans (all plans exclude taxes and other charges)

• $39.99 per month broadband mobile access with 250 MB transfer.   10 cents per MB above the 250 MB limit.  Cost of MiFi 2200–$99.99 after $50 rebate from $149.99 list price.
• $59.99 per month for 5 GB and 5 cents per MB additional charge above the 5 GB monthly transfer.  Cost of MiFi 2200–$99.99 after $50 rebate from $149.99 list price.

To order a MiFi 2200 from Verizon with a two year plan, click on this Verizon MiFi 2200 link and you should get to a landing page to order the card.  Once you add the MiFi 2200 card to your cart, the Verizon site takes you to another page where you decide which monthly plan you want. 

Verizon pay-as-you-go option

The Verizon pay-as-you-go option is called the Mobile Broadband DayPass at $15 for each 24 hour period accessed, no monthly plan, plus purchase of MiFi 2200 at $400.  NOTE:  Yes, this $400 price quote is very different from the $270 price stated in the May 6 New York Times article. 

For the Verizon pay-as-you-go plan that does not require a two year monthly contract agreement, prepare to call Verizon sales.  Gnivas was unsuccessful finding a Verizon web address where we could order the MiFi 2200 without a monthly contract.  Using Verizon’s LiveChat session also did not resolve the problem.  When we called Verizon sales, we were told you cannot order the pay-as-you-go plan online–it’s an over the phone order.  Quoted retail price for the MiFi 2200–$400.

Moremobileinternet.com Verizon two year agreement option (save $40)

To order Verizon MiFi from moremobileinternet.com, a LiveChat session with a company representative confirmed that the $59.99 price for the MiFi 2200 (compared to $99.99 from Verizon after rebate) comes bundled with the Verizon $59.99 per month two year agreement.  This price is subject to change without notice.  If the $59.99 price is a typo, take advantage of the typo sooner rather than later.  Click on the company link above and it should take you to the MiFi 2200 Verizon offer at the $59.99 MiFi 2200 card price.

Sprint announced options (Available first week of June)

• $59.99 per month mobile broadband only plan (excluding taxes and surcharges)  Cost of MiFi 2200 device $99.99 after rebate.
• $149.99 per month Simply Everything Plan + Mobile Broadband (phone plus device connectivity — excluding taxes and surcharges)  Cost of MiFi 2200 device $99.99 after rebate.

Both plans include up to 5 GB per month and 5 cents per megabyte overage for the MiFi 2200

Free MiFi

In an effort to slow down the “free wifi” and “free cell phone” crowds as they flock seeking free MiFi, there is no free MiFi.  Free MiFi exists alongside Google’s free Wi-Fi in-home broadband announced April 1, 2007.  If you count not being the one person out of five people who do not pay for the MiFi card as getting free MiFi, then in that respect you have free MiFi.  If you borrow a MiFi card from your neighbor for a long family drive or vacation, you don’t have free MiFi.  You have a nice neighbor.  

We welcome comments at Gnivas.  If/when you find other VARS selling Verizon products (and the Sprint ones to come) for less that the main vendors’ web sites, please drop us a line.