PAYG dataplan can work.

[LandSurveyor]

They seem to go out of their way to keep you from comparing apples to apples.

The usual caveat about MVNOs applies i.e.: carefully examine their service area because you will most likely only get the benefit of the host carrier's towers. This is one of the advantages of PP because usually if VZW ain't there, ain't nobody else there either.

The biggest downside of PP is their tiny data allotment. I recently got notice of an improvement there since they have begun to advertise a new plan with unlimited voice and messaging plus ONE WHOLE GB data per month. I guess VZW doesn't mind the first two but remains stingy with data. Oh, and it costs $55/mo.

[Hook]

As I contemplate some mini droids that never seem to go CDMA, I was looking at H2O, an ATT MVNO that has comparable per minute plans to Page Plus, my current MVNO.

https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/pageC...ans&category=W

.05/min, .05/text, .30/MB, and that's at every pin level, only the expiration period increases as you buy bigger pins. That's less than 1/3rd the cost of data at PPC, same text cost, and slightly higher than PPC's lowest per minute rate. To get a full year expiration, you'd have to spend $20 more with H2O than with pageplus.

FWIW.

This is probably pretty good for someone who uses very little of any of the three, just as Straight Talk (Unlimited everything on At&T for $45) is pretty good for someone who uses a lot of everything. I fall in the middle. For me, Gophone, even with paying for calls i don't make, at $30 a month (250 minutes, unlimited messaging and 50 MB data) works out pretty well and gives me some flexibility, especially on the data end.

[Mi An]

Prepaid MiFi coming to Walmart, starting at $10 for 100MB with no expiry -- Engadget

This is a slight departure from the thread, but prepaid mifi with no expiration could be pretty appealing to intermittent users, especially those who might need it mostly for travel. So long as you use it once a year, you never lose what you paid for. That's a policy you usually see on free email accounts, not data.

[Hook]

This is not bad, depending on the price of the hardware. Groans from the Engaget posters aside (it is, after all, Engaget), $10 for 100 Mb isn't bad. Ii's at least worth a little more research.

[Varjak]

Just in time. I mentioned last week that I was thinking of going the MiFi route. Leave it to Walmart to do it right (potentially).

[Mi An]

TruConnect - MiFi | TruConnect

I think that's the device referred to by the press release linked above. Not sure what to think about the $100 pricetag. It's not aggressive like the plan is, but it's not over-priced either -- sounds similar to the few other mifis I've looked up. Battery life is only 4 hours of active use, which makes mifi'ing sound like another job for... bluetooth 4!

Customers can buy Internet on the Go service with refill, credit or debit cards in increments of $10 for 100 MB, $25 for 500 MB or $45 for 1 GB and use this bandwidth as quickly or as gradually as they want. Online automatic refills are also available for $20 for 450 MB.

Groans from the Engaget posters aside (it is, after all, Engaget)

Heh. The data hogs are probably right to groan. But they're misleading tons of folks who are super proud to be paying for data/minutes/whatever that they aren't actually using because it's such a great potential rate per unit, ignoring that it can be a really bad rate per actual unit used. The misconception works out well for the data hogs they subsidize.

[Adama D. Brown]

I'm not in love with the $100 price tag, since that makes it kind of hard to justify picking one of these up just as a backup, but it's still a nice deal for some circumstances. Get it for a trip, then keep it around for convenience.

[Mi An]

Novatel appears to have made the mifi 2200 for multiple companies. I wonder if it has the same radios in each, and could be flashed across carriers. If so, maybe once could be gotten off the secondary market on the cheap.

[Varjak]

$100 is not a lot to pay given the fact it allows you to really divorce yourself from a major plan and give you a bucket of data to use as you will (phone, tablet, pc, car, etc.). It is a bit higher than some places sell them for; but they suck you into a plan, so the $20 'savings' is not much. Plus, I suspect Walmart may discount it by the holidays in the winter.

[worldweary]

Having just got the Galaxy Nexus I came back to this thread thinking i would do the same as Hook with the Go Phone. It seems things have changed. I'm currently on the T-Mob. prepaid 30 per month 1500 mins 30mb data. AT&T may still be the better deal perhaps...