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Bulldog3777

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 2, 2009
327
8
Great combination. I am on the road right now and the Air with the $40 unlimited from Virginmobile works perfectly together for traveling. Nice to pay as you go and not have a commitment every month.
 

ipoppy

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2006
423
9
UK
In UK. Giffgaff on O2 network with unlimited data + MBA + jailbraked iPhone with TetherMe. Should I say more:D
 

hcho3

macrumors 68030
May 13, 2010
2,783
0
Yea, but Virgin mobile charges you like 150 dollars for Mi-fi device. I use clear iSpot 4G and I pay 25 dollars a month to tether my iPad, MBA and MBP for my family. I thought about Jailbreaking iPhone 4, but I am not going to bother to do that yet.
 

nizmoz

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2008
1,410
2
Yea, but Virgin mobile charges you like 150 dollars for Mi-fi device. I use clear iSpot 4G and I pay 25 dollars a month to tether my iPad, MBA and MBP for my family. I thought about Jailbreaking iPhone 4, but I am not going to bother to do that yet.

Good luck finding coverage for 4G. It's not in many places. I can't even get it inside my house, outside yeah. I got the Virgin Mobile one too and love it. Best one out and always finds a signal.
 

hcho3

macrumors 68030
May 13, 2010
2,783
0
Good luck finding coverage for 4G. It's not in many places. I can't even get it inside my house, outside yeah. I got the Virgin Mobile one too and love it. Best one out and always finds a signal.

No need to be sarcastic. I did not say it was for everyone. Nor I did say op made a wrong choice. I only said iSpot 4G because it works in my area. Do you live where I live? No. Do you know every single places that have signals and doesn't have 4G coverage in 50 states of US? No.
So, what is up with your attitude? You should be more polite to others in forum. It makes me so upset about how people take an attitude on someone else over a small thing that meant no harm. I get decent coverage with 4G here. Maybe you don't. iSpot 4G is good for people like me who have a coverage. If you don't, then go for virgin mobile. What is wrong with expressing my opinion? Thanks for your sarcasm and criticism.
 

robby818

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2007
587
6
I have been using the Virgin Mobile card with my iPad and my MBA. Works great here in Los Angeles. One complaint and I don't know if this is a problem for others, but I cannot get my credit card information to stick. I have to re-enter it every time I want to buy a plan which is really inconvenient. There is an option to keep my card on file but it doesn't seem to work. I am buying $10 or $40 plans as needed. I sought help from Virgin, but they don't seem to understand the problem.
 

foiden

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2008
809
13
The new virgin Mifi option is one of the cheapest buys, around here. I think I've seen them sell for $99 here.
 

ReallyBigFeet

macrumors 68030
Apr 15, 2010
2,956
133
I'm a Verizon MiFi user and have been since its introduction. With 3-4 devices on my person at all times, all WiFi-enabled, its a great tool to have! Nothing like having your own WiFi bubble around at all times.
 

jaeguyoon

macrumors regular
Apr 20, 2010
129
0
Sprint Overdrive user here. I live in a 4G area and i was getting a bit slower speed then comcast basic cable. So I just cancelled comcast and live solely on the sprint overdrive! it's awesome!
 

nizmoz

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2008
1,410
2
Sprint Overdrive user here. I live in a 4G area and i was getting a bit slower speed then comcast basic cable. So I just cancelled comcast and live solely on the sprint overdrive! it's awesome!

I thought about getting that instead of the MIFI from Virgin Mobile, but no contract, cheaper price, and 4g coverage is not everywhere. I have 4G on my EVO from Sprint, and it rarely can find a signal in an area they say it's strong in. Plus I read the Overdrive seems to have issues with overheating. That kinda scared me away.
 

fibrizo

macrumors 6502
Jan 23, 2009
411
5
The mifi is a pretty good deal for no contract.

I'm lucky enough to be on sprint with an EVO 4g... with wifi tethering in a 4G area and 3g when not. :)
 

treynolds

macrumors regular
Feb 17, 2010
158
0
Seattle
I've been looking at options for 3G, and the Virgin looks good, but it's a rebranding of the Sprint network. Nothing wrong with that, but somewhat limited versus some of the other carriers.

Am seriously thinking of the iSpot from Clear, IF I can get it to work with the Air. Would be great for my iPod Touch as well.

Thought about this a solution for at-home WiFi, but if I needed to go out of town, the family would be without a signal...

Tony
 

jaeguyoon

macrumors regular
Apr 20, 2010
129
0
I thought about getting that instead of the MIFI from Virgin Mobile, but no contract, cheaper price, and 4g coverage is not everywhere. I have 4G on my EVO from Sprint, and it rarely can find a signal in an area they say it's strong in. Plus I read the Overdrive seems to have issues with overheating. That kinda scared me away.

yea the contract does suck. But I dont' know where u live, but where I live, I always get at least 60% signal strength. Also, as for the overheating issue, no problem here, mine's on all day at work (I don't want to go thru the work's network cos they block lots of websites), and when I get home all night and I leave it on while I sleep. I'm a year into my contract so it's been awhile.
 

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,583
1,327
I’m getting my iSpot tomorrow, I live in NYC. I hope it’ll work out well for me with my iPad/iPhone, MBP and my new MBA that I ordered last night. Just can’t wait to see what 4G/iSpot can bring me. If it doesn’t work out, I’m falling back on the Virgin’s MiFi service.
 

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,583
1,327
How are you doing that for $25? Their website says that plan isn't for laptops.

They lock iSpot down by filtering the MAC addresses.

So you need to do some MAC address spoofing on your Macs, or if you’re lucky, your MB/MBP will have the same MAC address as the IOS devices which means it’ll work out of the box.

http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2010/08/15038/

List of supported MAC addresses on iSpot:
http://forums.clear.com/clearcom/topics/ispot_supported_mac_address_list?from_gsfn=true

My MBP’s MAC address is on the list, so I don’t need to do any spoofing.


There’s also custom firmware update you can do:
http://ispotunrestricted.com/
 

peapody

macrumors 68040
Oct 7, 2007
3,176
142
San Francisco, CA
I have been using my mifi for my ipad, mbp, mba, and ipod touch.

Love the no contract deal because I definitely do not purchase any data unless I need it. Gone 3 months without needing data in the middle of 3 months needing it. Very nice accessory.
 

nizmoz

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2008
1,410
2
The mifi is a pretty good deal for no contract.

I'm lucky enough to be on sprint with an EVO 4g... with wifi tethering in a 4G area and 3g when not. :)

I have a EVO as well, but sadly it didn't work out the way I wanted. I can't talk on the phone helping someone when I use my laptop to fix a issue. Unless 4G was available I couldn't do that.
 

aberrero

macrumors 6502a
Jan 12, 2010
857
249
I tether to my Epic 4G. Works great, I get very good speeds out of it. I wish I had 4G where I lived though.
 

harleygold

macrumors regular
Nov 1, 2009
147
0
Anderson
Great combination. I am on the road right now and the Air with the $40 unlimited from Virginmobile works perfectly together for traveling. Nice to pay as you go and not have a commitment every month.

very good combination. thats the only option my sis has and she's happy with it.
 

rahrahrachel

macrumors newbie
Nov 17, 2010
2
0
3G is a bit of a power hog but what battery life does the MBA get with the 3G/4G/Mifi?
Thanks
edited to add:
It seems that that the MIFI holds out for 4hrs but the MBA battery life over 3G might be shorter than that anyway.
http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/review-of-virgin-mobile-mifi-2200/
I don't own a iPhone but i should imagine that over continual 3G with bluetooth on battery life won't be great either.
 
Last edited:

deedas

macrumors regular
Dec 2, 2003
139
0
Baltimore, Maryland
I got the iSpot. It's 25 bucks a month for 5GB (though I could swear I've used way more than that) throttled slow internet. Umm, I forgot how this was supposed to be a positive post about it. Regardless, I'm keeping it because it's usually my only way to connect online once I reach my monthly cap on my comcast home internet. This month it was January 4th :(

Edit: No need for MAC address spoofing, just follow these directions http://ispotunrestricted.com/2.0/. Works as long as you didn't update to the latest firmware (Jan. 6th)
 
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