Verizon MiFi Update

When I posted my initial review of Verizon's MiFi 2200, I promised updates based on my ongoing experience. Here are my latest observations.

First, I have something quite remarkable to report: with a good signal, I am seeing first-hop latency in the neighborhood of 120ms. In a city with a great connection, the average can be lower than 100ms. This is drastically better than I have ever seen with cellular data. However, I don't know whether this is a result of improvements to Verizon's data service, or to the MiFi device. I no longer have data service on my phone to do a side-by-side comparison.

The result of this low latency is that the connection is impressively fast for interactive use. In fact, it's fast enough that you could use it full-time, were it not for the 5 gigabyte per month cap.

If you're not familiar with latency, I'll explain (techies and online gamers can skip this and the next paragraph). While the number used for marketing is the raw download speed, this number doesn't tell the whole story – for anything interactive, latency is at least as important.

Latency describes the lag time on the connection: the time it takes for a message to be sent from your computer to another, and for the reply to come back (the round-trip time, or RTT). If the latency is too high, interactive use of the connection suffers. If you've ever used a satellite connection, you've seen how something described as “broadband” can feel quite slow. Sadly, until we can put all the marketing people up against the wall, we will continue to see only download speed quoted (the “megapixels” of internet service).

Previously, using cellular data, I expected latency of about 400ms, give or take. The result is usable, but still slow enough that you end up putting off doing some things until you have a “real” connection. In a city, with a great connection, it might have been as low as 300ms. In general, anything under about 150ms will feel fast for most applications (not for gaming, though). Now, with the MiFi, it's like I actually have a “real” connection.

Apart from this, I have now used the MiFi in several (13) states across the US, though not far from an Interstate in any case, and here are my observations:

Battery life: It seems to last about as long as Verizon says it will (four hours). But you have to keep it charged, and since there is no display on the device, the only way to see the current charge level is to bring up the web UI from your browser. How are you supposed to know if it's finished charging?

Power off: Several times I've had the MiFi turned off for a long time, turned it on, used it, and had the battery run down almost immediately. Unfortunately I wasn't careful to note that it was fully charged before turning it off, but I'm not convinced that it doesn't suck power even while turned off.

Standby: If the device is left alone for a while, turned on but not being actively used, it goes into "standby" mode. When this happens, it's still using power, but can't be used until you actually push the power button again. Thus it is effectively shut off, but using power anyway. This is pointless, but can be deactivated from the admin interface.

The plug: The power adapter's plug is very wide, so you can't plug it into something with another plug in an outlet right next to it (as on my power inverter). It is, however, a standard micro-USB connection, so another plug should work. There is a car adapter, but like an idiot, I didn't get one.

Coverage: There is still no Verizon data service between Oklahoma City and Albuquerque. There never has been, but now your phone doesn't always tell you you're roaming (it's free roaming, voice only), so you can be fooled. Also, the device's green light will (usually) come on anyway, fooling you again.

I have not yet seen any trouble connecting in places where I would expect a decent connection with my phone, despite the lack of an external antenna. I'm no longer very worried about this issue, but the jury remains out.

Size: You can easily slip the MiFi into your pocket. This is a bigger deal than it sounds: I find myself using it far more often than I ever used a tethered phone. Just grab the iPod Touch and go. It's like having a Verizon iPhone.

Reliability: I have had the device drop its connection, then immediately re-connect, with a new IP address, a couple of times. I think the signal was marginal at the time, but it's a bit troubling and I'll keep watching it. This happens from time to time with other devices, though, so, no real difference there.

UPDATES:

Part 1: The Verizon MiFi 2200

Part 3: Thwarting The Vegas WiFi Conspiracy

Part 4: The MiFi In Rural Areas, and Final Conclusions

MiFi Firmware Upgrade (on a Mac)

Comments

[Greg Jones]

Thanks so much for posting this information - it's helping us tremendously. We travel full time in an RV and have Hughes sat on a tripod for summer months in the mountains where no cell service, but when on the road the rest of the year, we sometimes move every 2 or 3 days making setup of tripod a PAIN. I'll look forward to your updates.

[Shahid Haque-Hausrath]

I'm using the MiFi and finding it pretty great so far. I have been wondering about the sleep mode... As you note, it will go to sleep every 30 minutes or so and you have to hit the button to make it usable again. I assumed it was saving battery life when doing this, but are you saying that it isn't? If not, then I will definitely disable that in the settings.

I live in Montana, where we don't have AT&T, but of course I'm in love with the iPhone and couldn't live without it. I am using an unlocked iPhone 3G and a local GSM carrier for voice/text. The problem with this local carrier is that they don't allow data roaming outside of Montana. (Well, they allow it, but at ridiculous rates.)

Since their data plan was already $30, I find it well worth it to pay an extra $30/month and get fast EVDO speeds and nationwide roaming. Also, I can use the MiFi to connect my laptop for work.

Sure, I have to carry an extra device, which is a bit of a pain. But the MiFi is very small. Call me crazy, but I just bought a wallet that I believe will hold the MiFi, so that its not just loose in my pocket:

[Jeremy]

When it goes into Standby mode, it's still fully powered on. So, while it is saving battery power by not using the cellular or WiFi radios, it's not saving as much as if it were powered off -- and since you can't use it again without pressing the power button (it doesn't wake up when you try to use it) you might as well just shut it off and save even more battery power.

[Jeremy]

Also, it goes into Standby even when it's plugged into power. I had it in the window of my hotel room, plugged in, and thought I could just leave it there, but it kept going into Standby. That was when I finally shut off that feature.

[Poster]

While in standby mode the device is still active which allows up to five connected devices to communicate via the network it creates -- like your laptop and your wifi printer. It uses more power than being off but may be useful for some.