Good news, MiFi fans! If Verizon, Sprint, or Virgin Mobile’s MiFi offerings aren’t fitting your portable 3G-fueled-WiFi-Router needs, you’ve now got a fourth option: AT&T. Looks like someone at AT&T got tired of Verizon stealin’ a bit of their iPad thunder with their iPad/MiFi combo packages.

The carrier has just announced their plans to carry the MiFi 2372 beginning on November 21st. It’ll set you back $149.99 out the door, but a $100 mail-in rebate brings it down to $49.99 in the long run.

[Insert joke about AT&T's network not needing any more stress here.]

The terms for plan pricing/data usage limits aren’t clear just yet — don’t worry, we’re digging. I’ll update this post once AT&T gets back to me.

Update: AT&T got back to us on our pricing/data inquires. $35 per month gets you 200MB of data (Around 17 cents per megabyte. Welcome to the future, folks.) while $60 gets you 5GB (Around 1 cent per megabyte). In comparison, Verizon’s $35 plan nets you 3GB, while their 5 GB plan goes for $50. Virgin Mobile’s MiFi gets you unlimited data for $40 a month. AT&T’s offering looks to be the worst of the bunch.

Comcast will offer both the MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot, and the Ovation MC760 USB model for individual use. Novatel claims that the Ovation is the world’s smallest EV-DO broadband modem, ideal if you prefer not to have a giant USB device hanging out the side of your laptop. The MiFi device acts as a wireless hotspot, allowing multiple users to connect to the device wirelessly. The MiFi has about 40 hours of standby time, and goes for about 4 hours of active use before you’ll have to recharge it. Pricing varies depending on location, so you’ll have to hit up Comcast’s website for the details.

[via Into Mobile]

Team CrunchGear, with a 1-1 record with one no-contest (accidental headbutt in the first round), used one or more Mi-Fi units at CESthis year. The Mi-Fi is a cute little portable Wi-Fi access point that you can use wherever you can get a cellphone signal. It takes the mobile data connection, then outputs it as plain ol’Wi-Fi, which you can then connect to from any computer. It’s also pretty hackable.

The big thing you can do is enable GPS on the device without the owner knowing, and then find out the user’s GPS coordinates. In the realm of remote attacks, this ranks, for me, at least, fairly well down the list. You can also find out the device’s access key, and from there you can do other nefarious things, like fire up something like ettercap and have the owner’s login credentials for whatever Web site be forwarded right to your screen. Not that I’d know anything about doing that.

Oh, I’m sorry, this has nothing to do with the Apple Tablet; nobody cares now.

Now you can love the MiFi even more because it’s available on Sprint. Here’s the important stuff:

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.

At your home office, on the road or at the beach, Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot connects any WiFi-enabled device to the Sprint Now Network
The Sprint Simply Everything Plan(R) + Mobile Broadband = $599 savings annually vs. comparable Verizon plan

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May. 13, 2009– Sprint (NYSE:S) today announced plans to bring a WiFi hotspot to customers virtually anywhere and everywhere — and whenever they need it — on any WiFi-enabled device.

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. Sprint will launch the service under the Sprint Mobile Hotspot name, and it will be the first in the U.S. to support MiFi’s GPS capabilities, allowing users to take advantage of select location and mapping applications.

“You can hold the MiFi 2200 in the palm of your hand, slip it in your pocket, even place it on a beach towel if you’re lying under the sun and wirelessly connect your laptop, MP3 player and gaming device to the Internet all at once,” said Steve Elfman, president of network, wholesale and product, Sprint. “Now customers will be able to use one mobile broadband device – the MiFi 2200 – to connect multiple personal devices or multiple users. If I have a WiFi-enabled device, I don’t need to find a WiFi hotspot. The MiFi 2200 creates one for me.”

Save money and cut the cord

Business and consumer customers may choose from the following service plans for the MiFi 2200:

* $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.

The Simply Everything Plan + Mobile Broadband, unique in the industry, was introduced this February to give customers the benefits of the Now Network on their phone and laptop for one price. The plan includes unlimited text, picture and video messaging, GPS navigation, email and Web surfing on their phone, plus 5 GB of blazing Internet access on their mobile broadband device – all for just $149.99 per month, a savings of $599 per year vs. comparable Verizon plans.1 Now, for that same price, customers can use the MiFi 2200 and connect to more devices at once.

Sprint continues to innovate and deliver value

The Sprint Mobile Hotspot service with the MiFi 2200 is part of Sprint’s game-changing open approach to rolling out new types of wireless services and delivering the significant value and capabilities of the Now Network to its customers. The MiFi 2200, a portable, secure and truly wireless mobile broadband access device, is the first of its kind to be added to Sprint’s portfolio – and one of several innovative mobile broadband devices that Sprint will announce this year. Sprint plans to offer a portfolio of 3G, 4G and dual-mode devices that will take advantage of the Now Network.

How MiFi works

MiFi creates a personal cloud of high-speed Internet connectivity that can be easily shared among up to five users and a variety of WiFi-enabled devices through its connection to America’s most dependable 3G network,* the EVDO Rev A Sprint Mobile Broadband Network. For example:

* College student: a college student tucks her MiFi 2200 in her backpack to study with friends at the park and uses it to listen to streaming radio on her MP3 player while she connects to the school’s Intranet on her laptop to get details on a class assignment. She takes a break to take pictures of her pals with her Wi-Fi enabled digital camera, and the camera uses the MiFi’s signal to upload the photos to Facebook while she emails her completed report to her professor, then uses the device’s GPS capability to find a nearby pizza place for lunch.
* Business travelers: Two business travelers share a cab to the airport, then wait for their flight. Sharing the signal of one MiFi 2200 device that is safely tucked away in a briefcase, they download emails and surf the Internet on their notebooks and stream music to their MP3 players.
* Portable retail: Five vendors at a local art fair have kiosks in close proximity. Accessing one MiFi 2200 device’s signal, they each run a credit card point-of-sale device over WiFi and have secure backhaul.

Key Features of the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot

* Easily fits in the palm of your hand — dimensions: 3.50”x 2.32” x 0.35” and weight: 2.05 oz.
* Brushed aluminum finish
* Provides mobile broadband Rev A Internet access wirelessly
* Supports up to five WiFi-enabled devices
* Simple to connect with Hands-Free Activation (OMA-DM). No software installation required
* Universal Wi-Fi compatibility
* Advanced security through WPA2-PSK, WEP and SPI Firewall
* MiFi GPS capabilities to take advantage of select location and mapping applications, such as getting driving or walking directions or finding the best restaurant nearby
* Battery provides four hours of user time, 40 hours standby on single charge

The MiFi 2200 is ideal for businesses looking to extend the speed and anywhere convenience of America’s most dependable 3G network*. Soon after its retail launch, Sprint Wholesale will also be offering a version of the Novatel MiFi 2200 to wholesale wireless partners.

“Supporting more than one WiFi-enabled device, businesses can enable their employees to cost-effectively share a connection when mobile with other employees, vendors or customers,” Elfman noted. “Now business professionals like claims adjusters, mobile professionals, retail employees and field service technicians can easily perform multiple functions using various WiFi devices, all over one connection.”

“There are an abundance of consumer devices with integrated WiFi that lose their functionality when WiFi isn’t available,” said Michael Gartnerberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret. “The ability to seamlessly add WAN capabilities to this multitude of devices will empower consumers to use their devices the way they want to use them and wherever they want to use them.”

The availability of the MiFi 2200 will further deliver on Sprint’s promise to offer businesses and consumers a faster and more robust Internet experience in cities across the nation than any other wireless service from a national carrier. Sprint recently made history by launching 4G in 2008 in Baltimore and is the first national carrier to offer wireless access to both 3G and 4G networks on one device – the 3G/4G USB Modem U300. Sprint has new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops and a small-office-home-office broadband modem.

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.

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.

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 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.

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