Short version: We’ve loved the MiFi mobile router since we first laid eyes on it back at CES. After a few days of playing with the Verizon MiFi 2200, we still love it just as much – but with one hangup: the nasty monthly bill. After a trivial hiccup with the activation, we had 4 computers up and running in minutes. Speeds in our area are about average for the local EVDO Rev-A network, and we’ve had absolutely no connectivity drops in our 2 days of testing.

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Sprint plans to launch the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 intelligent mobile hotspot device for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year service agreement (excluding taxes). The MiFi 2200, available in the first week of June on www.sprint.com, in Sprint retail stores and other select channels, will allow users to connect to the Internet by bridging WiFi-enabled devices like laptops, MP3 players and gaming devices to America’s most dependable 3G network* – the EVDO Rev A Sprint Mobile Broadband Network. * $59.99 per month mobile broadband only plan (excluding taxes and surcharges)** or * $149.99 per month Simply Everything Plan + Mobile Broadband (phone plus device connectivity -- excluding taxes and surcharges)** Both plans include up to 5 GB per month and 5 cents per megabyte overage for the MiFi 2200.

Purchasing a netbook this way isn’t the cheapest solution. It will cost somewhere between $960 to $1,440 over the 2 years to own and use the netbook. But some folks still have the disposable income to pay for the convenience of walking into a VZW store and leaving with an always-connected netbook. The rest of us will purchase our netbooks and internet access separately.

We’ve had a special place in our hearts for the Novatel Wireless MiFi ever since we played with one at CES. Verizon let it leak via the MiFi’s online manual that the carrier was getting the portable EV-DO router sometime soon, but now we have info to fill in the blanks. 

The Verizon MiFi 2020 appears to be all of the hotness that the pre-production Novatel was with ability to share a Verizon 3G connection over 802.11b/g to five WiFi devices simultaneously. The battery should last up to four hours when in active use, and 40 hours in standby mode. You would think that Verizon would charge a hefty premium for such a device, but actually, it’s not that bad.

The monthly plans start out at $40 with a 250MB cap, with the 5GB plan fetching $60. Then there is the 24 hour “DayPass” that charges the user only $15 for usage, but also requires that the MiFi be purchased at the full, and also unannounced, price. Expect to pay $100 after a $50 with a monthly service plan when the MiFi drops on May 17th.

It’s definitely not the first time we’ve seen the Novatel MiFi, or even the second – but they can keep cranking these things out in all sorts of different flavors and we wouldn’t mind a bit. A few weeks back, we found out that Sprint would be getting a MiFi of their own sometime in the next 3 months, and this latest leak indicates that Verizon will be getting one as well. No date is mentioned – but with CTIA 09 but a night or two away, we’d wager that an announcement is looming.

Here’s the concept, if you’ve missed our past blabbers on it: It’s essentially a battery-operated, 3G-powered WiFi router. Push a button, bam – it’s now a WiFi hotspot, fueled by the 3G network of whatever carrier’s SIM you’ve got inside. No dealing with cables or flaky tethering apps. It’s a blogger’s dream toy. Both times we messed with the MiFi were in environments that are generally absolutely horrible for such evaluations (the GSM model on an overloaded network, and the CDMA model in the basement of a hotel) – yet it performed spectacularly each time.

A few things are still unclear (EVDO Rev.A? Did Verizon lower the carrier-adjustable 5 person cap?). We just landed in Vegas – if our assumptions are correct and a VZW-branded MiFi is lurking around Sin City, we’ll have a hands-on up as soon as possible.

[Via PhoneArena]

We first saw the MiFi 2352 Mobile Hotspot’s CDMA brother back at CES; we loved it then, and we love it just as much in its GSM form. Novatel announced yesterday that Telefónica would be the first carrier to launch the MiFi sometime during this quarter, so we figured we’d stop by their suite to give it a spin.

We liked the brushed metal look of the CDMA variant a bit more than the plastic case of the MiFi 2352 – but aesthetics aren’t what counts here. It’s slim, and it’s light weight, and it works well. Once your SIM is in, the MiFi 2352 will act as a wireless router for up to 5 people (though carriers can drop this down to 3 if they choose). It goes from powered off to kickin’ out the WiFi juice in a matter of seconds, and has a swappable, USB charged battery, up to 16GB of storage via microSD, and internal GPS – live bloggers couldn’t ask for more.

Thee device can theoretically handle up to 7.2 megabit per second HSUPA but, as with all theoretical caps, don’t expect to actually reach that speed. We ran a few speed tests and were averaging about 4 megabits per second download and 1000 kilabits per second upload – not bad at all, considering that there are probably at least a few hundred thousand cell phones battling for tower time in the area around Mobile World Congress.

We got to take a quick sneak peak at the configuration screen, which we hadn’t seen previously; nothing too exciting here, but everything seemed about as simple as could be – see the screenshot below as an example.

I’ve been eying FIOS for a few years now – I know Doug has it and likes it – and was just inspired by a commercial on cable to pop by the Verizon site to check on FIOS in Brooklyn. Almost immediately I was shunted into a chat with “Philip” who proceeded to offer me DSL. Phil then encouraged me to “check back” with some regularity, something that would be swell if I cared enough to check back regularly.

What is it with third-generation networking systems? Carriers refuses to plug in anything, whether it’s fiber or WiMAX or real 3G, and then wonder why their revenue is so low. It took carriers a good decades to really bring in 3G – I remember Japan whizzing around on wireless networks in the 1990s and the European telecom I worked for in 1998 already implementing 3G in Poland. It can be argued that we didn’t really get 3G – or any devices that could actually use 3G – until the iPhone.

Sorry, Philip. I won’t be checking back. I’ll keep my eye on wireless technology like the MiFi from Novatel. There will be a day that you drop a little box in your living room and all your wiring problems are solved.

Fine: I’m a crank. But don’t offer me something I can’t have and shunt me over to your lesser and less valuable offerings when I’m asking to pay for your crown jewels