Best portable wifi router on ATT

[CPMS]

Got a 64G wifi iPad and am loving it so far. Only issue I have is needing to hunt down wifi for email and general internet use. Verizon Mifi seems to be the best portable solution but it'll cost me another $60 a month. I just picked up an ATT laptop connect USB card for my MBP and want to use that service to connect my iPad to the net (without the MBP of course). Any ideas out there? Ideal solution would be a Mifi sized device that can take an ATT sim card (wishing really hard here). That way I can put it in my (yet to be ordered) iPad case pocket and have the router with me whenever I'm out of the office. If this thing exists I can cancel the 32G 3G iPad I have on order and avoid another fracking ATT bill

 

[Traveler]

I'm very happy using my Nokia smartphone as a WiFi hotspot. I've got a cool app called Joiku Spot that I run on my phone, and voila - instant hotspot! Works amazingly well.

 

[gentlefury]

Droid WiFi is awesome!

 

[Seadog]

While the cost of the 3G add-on the iPad is a bit steep, when I look at what it would cost to go to Verizon, I will still with AT&T. It is not great, but not any worse than Verizon in my area. The cost of using Verizon over the AT&T plan offered will pay for the 3G option in less than 5 months.

Another thing that I have to consider is that I will probably buy a new Ford within 2-3 years. They are planning on installing wifi hubs in their vehicles within a year or two. I imagine the rest of the manufacturers will follow suit. Who knows, they may even start making cars with slots to slid iPads into. Or you could even buy cars that have built-in iPads for music, communication, and navigation. All that would be needed is a AM/FM tuner and control link. Ford is pushing their mobile office in trucks and the iPad could be the next step in that.

 

[Ghuda]

I am in the Seattle area and so far have not run into any areas that i can't poach some free wifi, be it starbucks or any number of other places that have it.

I am a little unique in that i have a fairly mundane routine and have wifi in my personal office as well as home and usually just commute back and forth. I do not have to travel for my job as i operate the office so this was a big determination in opting for just the wifi version of the iPad that i chose.

If I were to need a mobile hotspot, the droid would probably do it, (from what I have read here) but I am still hoping that the pressure on AT&T from other competing vendors will force a change in the iPhone having this capability in the not too distant future. I can't imagine a better combination than my iphone and iPad working in synch to deliver this functionality.

 

[CPMS]

Update to my first post. I picked up a Sprint Overdrive 4G/3G mobile hotspot late last week. Believe it or not we (Hawaii) were one of the first locales that Sprint chose to roll out their 4G service. That said, I have to report that my experience with the Overdrive is lacking thus far. 4G signal is a bit spotty (to be expected) and the speeds are nowhere near what Sprint claims. Good thing is the device will switch to 3G if it can't find a 4G signal. I'm going to test this out for a few weeks since Sprint has a 30day money back guarantee.

 

[Rasputina]

Sprint overdrive is the one I'm considering we have 4g already here too.

 

[DanaC77]

I was looking into Sprint. What is the monthly fee?

 

[Takenover83]

$60/m with 2-year contract I think. Also if you are out of 4G coverage, then you have a cap of 5GB a month. 4G has no cap, from what I can see.

 

[henry2]

i been going into the mcdees and burger king along with a few coffee shops here and there for the poaching of the Wifi .. so far i have not a problem finding a signal here and there ..i try not stay longer than i need to do somethings on the web along with a buying a cup of tea and a sandwich doing what i need to do and not try to poach to much the place..

 

[CPMS]

$60/m with 2-year contract I think. Also if you are out of 4G coverage, then you have a cap of 5GB a month. 4G has no cap, from what I can see.

You're correct. If you don't have 4G in your area it could get iffy with only 5GB per month if you do any serious stuff (email with large attachments, etc.) 4G has no cap for now, I expect that to change once more folks get on the 4G bandwagon. Problem I'm having is the speeds I'm seeing aren't close to what is advertised. At least I'm getting equal to or slightly better than my iPhone 3G speeds.