How would you change Novatel's MiFi 2200 portable EV-DO router?
By Darren Murph 
posted June 27th 2009 3:30AM
posted June 27th 2009 3:30AM
posted June 27th 2009 3:30AM
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I can't do it in any of the advanced menus. The port forwarding advanced menu only has a list of common incoming applications like FTP, Telnet, HTTP and you can't edit the port for them. And there is no extra fields to put in custom ports.
@justpete
Can you give us the details on how you are able to do it?
Been a while since I looked - custom options are available only for port _filtering_. Duh.
Yep, I'm an idiot, very sorry about that. Geez but I h8 it when I don't rtfm when I oughta.
Thinking maybe something had changed as the Advanced menu wasn't available in the browser i/f over the last day or so (and what the heck was that all about anyway? - it's possessed...) I checked the downloadable manual and there was never an extended custom option for port forwarding, other than in my mucked up memory, but it does say it can't be used unless a fixed IP is purchased from Sprint, otherwise it won't work at all, or so they say.
Wow - there is a lot of misinformation on this blog! First off it does have a battery indicator built in to the Sprint application that shows you current usage (MB/GB) battery strength - AND it gives you the option for turning off the LED lights to save power. It is also done as a safety feature so if you are out in public, you aren't advertising. That's not an issue to me as I either leave it in my backpack or in my pocket. As for the power issue, only once have I drained the battery. Even then it was not an issue, I just plug the MiFi into my USB port of my mac and it charges it while I am using it. The only down side when you have to do that is you limit the number of connections from 5 to 1, which isn't a big deal to me as if I am draining it that much, it is because I am working on a project on my laptop, and don't need to worry about my Pre, iTouch or any other device needing access. And I must say the speed of the device is INCREDIBLE. I had never been with Sprint before, but I have VZW for work (Worst phone company on the planet) and came over from AT&T for my personal - and it blows both of them out of the water - VERY IMPRESSED!
Im a pretty heavy power user, and have not come close to 5GB. And I don't know why everyone bashes Sprint for that. Both VZW and AT&T have the same cap. Also, with my discount I pay $45.00 a month instead of $60.00 - something you will never see VZW or AT&T do! If you are looking into buying one, definitely go with Sprint - as with VZW they cripple their device (Just like VZW cripples ALL of their phone and data devices - try to get wifi on a VZW phone!!!!) Work has a couple of the VZW devices, I tried it and the Sprint MiFi at my house and it was not even close!!!!
Overall I am EXTREMELY satisfied with the Sprint MiFi2200 and would not have any other data device!
what discount?
Sprint was only offering me $75 off to upgrade. So I called Sprint and asked for retentions. I made my case that it wasn't fair to offer some people one price and existing customers another. Sprint gave me the same price new customers get and the additional $75 off for upgrading plus waved any other fees like activation.
It was worth my time to take 10 min and make one call. I got the MiFi fr $25.
I would change it by lowering the Price to $20. Otherwise, its perfect!!
JKK Mobile hacked a USB cable to allow charging from a laptop without killing the Wifi. I think he just clipped the green and red wires but check his sight first.
Yep, the charger can provide 1.05A according to the label so the charger in the MiFi must be using the Chinese/USB-IF 'standard' that allows the current drawn to step from 100mA and 500mA to as much as 1800mA/1500mA(1000mA?) respectively if the data lines are shorted together which they must be inside the charger, thus the hardwiring and apparent cheeziness.
So if it detects functional data lines current would be limited to a level too low to power the unit in hotspot mode without running the battery down since the unit acts like the load's in parallel with the battery judging by the way its charge state changes when wifi is enabled/disabled.
Duh, sorry. That should read wallwart instead of charger unless referring to the charger IC inside the MiFi.
a4cb664a
I've gone over the 5GB limit twice and got a bill over $250 each time. Luckily Verizon took the extra charges off after hearing a sob story. The cap really sucks and I miss those days when I could actually download "stuff" 24/7!
Then get dsl, cable, or use wifi. You can download the same amount of stuff in 6 hours that would take you 24 hours on a cellular connection. Downloading over 3g = slow by todays standards.
Wish I could but I live in the boonies and my only other option is dial-up! They keep telling us that we will get dsl "next year"..... they have been saying that ever year for the last 5 years :(
At least make the 5GB LIMIT ROLLOVER ON THE MONTHS YOU DON'T USE IT , NOW THAT MIGHT MAKE IT WORTH BUYING..
Picked one up 2Jun. Replaced home network, wired DSL, wireless hotspot account, and dropped second landline. Also use it in my job (FAE) - a steal at a benjy imho. Speed and wifi coverage as advertised. Will drop into rev0 or 1X w/o indication but will show that status on browser interface. Have had it drop into roaming a few times - at least the power switch lights up blue when that happens.
Power switch is also supposed to show charging status (amber), fully charged (green), and critical battery (flashing red). Rarely see amber for more than a few seconds if at all. Will go green while charging instead of indicating end of charge - pita to drop out of vpn to access the browser interface for real status which lags badly as someone else noted.
Will flash red powering up after removing from charger with browser interface indicating full charge - static bars, no charging. Browser i/f battery icon bars drop to 2 (out of 4) when powered up after taken off charger, sometimes three but it's never shown a full charge.
Occasionally shows zero bars, then one, then two when red flashing stops and light goes green when starting up on battery. Doesn't matter if wifi was enabled during charging or if charged for a few hours or overnight. Connector seems to be flakey - taking it by Sprint Store this am so they can try and charge me for warranty service.
And power switch doesn't respond predictably at power on (ignores multiple hits - touchy sucker) but does at power off, no idea what's up with that. They need to get a firmware fix out for the bogus power switch LED functionality and flakey power switch. I'm not holding my breath.
Hotspot function rocks w/customers and sales guys in office, cap is immaterial - no streaming and won't hit 5G if I try, at 1.5G now and it gets near continous use. DHCP router has a nine port address space for a few fixed IPs at home and office w/o impacting NAT. Mixed WPA/WPA2 mode helpful as work laptop (due for replacement soon) doesn't do WPA2 while netbook and print server do. Password/Passphrase shows only in text, no conversion to hex. But it's easily blanked so no big deal, makes it easy to recall if needed when configuring a new machine, etc.
Would like to see a hard case so the power button doesn't get popped accidentally and run down the battery while being carried around, have had it happen.
Wifi running continuously with power saving off while on the charger hasn't caused any noticable download hit with email, rss, and nntp cycling on a laptop and a netbook overnight.
Haven't been able to get more than three hours out of the battery but may be due to the problem noted earlier, it acts as if the battery gets discharged just by unplugging the micro USB, strange. And, yes, it does get purty toasty.
Profile (downloadable as backup from browser i/f) has some interesting parameters in it that might allow longer battery life by dropping wifi xmit power, if I'm reading it right. Ain't gonna try it tho, lemme know how it works for you. ;)
FWIW, no problems running browser i/f in linux or xp, IE or Firefox 3. Router IP and subnet mask user settable. Provides connection/authentication and internet logging. Haven't had any connection problems although it's sensitive to orientation when signal is weak, no surprise there.
Since I rolled over my previous service contract from Verizon when I upgraded from my USB based access to the Mifi, I've managed to keep my unlimited service. As far as the experience is concerned; a slightly slow start-up and performance is dependent on the area you are in. In Florida, I'm reaching ridiculous great download speeds, while in Manhattan it can crawl to a stop. But its a great idea and allows my colleagues and I to work in any diner of our choice.
This thing rocks! But pricey. Still though, me and my cousin were roadtripping with some friends, and I was streaming youtube on my pre while he was using his ipod toich to strem youtube as well, and it works great! I've also clocked it at around 1.5 mbs (verizon, with full signal)
I would love one without the 5 GB limit. I do almost that much on my iPhone every month.
MiFI rocks. Have had mine for 2 months. I do have a cable connection at home that does most of my stuff. The MIFI is for the road. The only beef I have with it, is that 5gb cap. Yeah its a lot if your not streaming video but how many people don't do video these days. From my server at home I can stream video to anywhere but only 7 at TOPS a month. All-in-all I love being able to have "THE INTERNET" where ever I am. With Sprint I get around 2mbps average with 500k upload average. I does get slow if you are not in the high speed area, but on the plus side you still have internet.
I really like it and I think the 5gb limit is fine. Just don't DL huge amounts of stuff, guys.
I lose my connection all the time though, and my MacBook Pro doesn't catch the connection unless I power cycle the mifi everytime I try to connect to it.
In summary, I'm only using it because I have to.
I agree that the price point should be lower. Certainly the basic bandwith package is ridiculous from both the MB & the price. 5GB is fine for casual road use when you have a main line at home.
Device change requests:
- signal strength indication LEDs
- battery level indication LEDs
- bandwith used LCD
... or all in one via small LCD?
Which could just be on at the press of a button for a minute, to preserve battery power.
I mainly use our MiFi in rural areas / on the road. There is no way of telling whether the placing of the device is ideal for the circumstances. I use a basic Nokia CDMA phone to check the signal strength, which can vary between nothing and 2-3 bars depending on the direction of the nearest tower and building. For me, ideally, there would be about 5 LEDs that indicate the reception level: red (no signal / connection), orange (connected, but barely), green (good, better, excellent)
We know it it supposed to last 4 hours to a charge, but unless you keep track of it or keep it plugged in, you won't know what the exact battery level is. A small button that briefly shows 4 LEDs indicating a charge of 0-25-50-75-100% would be great.
Provide a way to track data usage on the device. A small LCD ~ tripmeter is needed when you have something that supports 5 devices and tiny data plans with expensive overages ... and no way of tracking usage, unless you plug it into the main system via USB that has verizon manager installed. Plus, for us, that data usage report is about two days behind. Certainly 256MB for a month would be grossly inadequate for even minimal use, and is a recipe for overage fees and/or getting you kicked of the system. That's why we have the 5GB plan. Still, with a slew of automatic updates on a couple of portable systems, we are seriously concerned about that precious bandwith, and so we temporarily disable updates to help with that.
Don't automatically turn the device on when it is plugged in.
Provide an option to disable SMS. Within the first weeks we had several people SMS-ing the previous owner of our MiFi's cell # ... at 20c a pop. Fortunately Verizon was kind to disable it and refund every message. Still 20 minutes we shouldn't have spent on the phone.
Make a pay as you go or have a higher cap for the same cost. GPS drivers in MacOS that work.
I have the Sprint version and its quite nice when just using it with my iPhone, but using it on my Macbook as a tethered modem proves to be irritating in Mac OS if I want to get the GPS working. I haven't messed with it as much in Windows but it seems its just a serial > USB bridge for the GPS.
I bought a miniUSB to microUSB adapter for $.69 on Amazon that passes all the pins, and used one of the Y cables that came with my hard drive to use both USB ports on my Macbook to properly power the device while its tethered. I think I can just plug in the power part and provide just power to it and it it will still do wifi. It really requires 1000 mA to charge though, so YMMV.
Sell it UNLOCKED (and yes, I know its a CDMA device and would need to be manually activated using its ESN number on another operator) and unsubsidized and UNBRANDED. Then I might look at it for more than 5 seconds, although I'd still never buy a CDMA2000 EV-DO device, which would only ever work on a few operators worldwide, while their are hundreds of GSM operators across the globe. Qualcomm's proprietary CDMA2000 family of technologies are such a joke... get with a real open standard like GSM people!
I like it, but activation should be feasible over Wifi. This is for many users a one-time issue, but I use the Verizon $15/day option (since I use this while travelling, and I don't have use for it on more than 3 days a month... and not every month...), and so activation is a daily chore. That is compounded in my case because I use Linux...
external antenna jacks. Display you can "activate" or deactivate to see status, connected machines, battery level, etc. The Display could even be e-ink and update every so often, as opposed to a power hungry LCD.
cant u just go to the ip address of the router on ur computer
It needs a cat-5 port for non-wireless networking equipment, ie hardware VPNs, VoiP equipment etc...
I LOVE mine. I swear by it. I use it with the Eye-Fi Card, and can shoot from anywhere, in real-time. If I want more battery power, I use the Tekkeon MP1800, and I get 14 hours of uptime.
I have the Verizon version, and it's flawless. It never drops connections. Haven't tried the Sprint version.
In fact, I'm using it now, to post this comment :-)
Give that sucker an external antenna port!
The range is only 33 ft id increase that to about 55 or 60 to cover at least one floor of a house so that i could walk around and leave the router in one place
I have the Verizon version. This thing is awesome paired with my Ipod touch, like Iphone on Verizon network. I had Samsung Omnia, which was excellent device considering Winmo, but so much more pleased with new combo. Takes up to 15 seconds to connect to wifi on touch, but data speeds for surfing and web radio are great, as well as new Sirius app works flawlessly. Connects to other wifi devices fine, and tethers fine with USB cable in modem mode on my non-wifi work computer. No complaints, as has been my experience on Verizon. No opportunity yet to share wifi with another user.
I really like it. I have made several co-workers very happy by providing them with internet access while in areas that they could not get local WiFi. Fortunately, I had a U720 with unlimited data and since this was just a device upgrade, I don't have the 5GB cap. For those of you that have Sprint and had an unlimited plan, go nuts, the is no cap. I had four people from Sprint (all recorded on tape in case they pull the "we didn't tell you that" crap) all confirm that the 5GB limit does not apply to my account.
I agree with some others that something simple like a multicolored LED to indicate battery and signal strength would be nice. Also, a very simple app that can be installed on the PC/Laptop/PDA to give the same info would be great. However, a quick click to log in to the router is not a big deal so this is not a major complaint.
I also note that my EVDO reception is not quite as good as the U720 as it seems to switch to 1xRTT in areas that would consistently give me EVDO from the U720. I would say this happens 10-20% more often than with the U720. The upside to this is I can reposition the MiFi within my hotel room (or wherever) to get EVDO back but this is where a multicolor LED would come in handy.
My wife has been using it this past week while at a conference in Texas and she reports nothing but positive things about it and she has been the envy of all the other people there! Seems she has been sharing the signal because, at last check, I see 8GB of use!!! This will be the acid test of my "unlimited" plan.
Regards,
Gordo
I would like to buy a spare battery....anyone know if they are out yet?
im not kosher with 5 gb, i have a sprint data pack for my treo (no data limit) and i use it to tether internet to my phone. why doesnt sprint remove the 5 gb limit on the router?
I currently have the unlimited plan with Verizon and went to check on getting the MiFi. The salesman told me that my plan wouldn't be altered but I have a feeling that Verizon will figure out how to change my data plan in the upgrade. These comments are very illuminating.
@YukonDawg sounds like you have the sweet deal at $55 / mo. for home and mobile. How is the mobile coverage?
I was able to sign up for sprint mobile broadband back when it was unlimited.
I'd like the ability to non-broadcast the router name. I don't want to worry about hackers finding it.
Flaky service overall, I have to reboot every time I drop signal as I will roam in 1X without a reboot. The manual is weak. When it works, I'm averaging 760, but I go in and out of service range constantly in the NE. The option to recharge only from USB should be a no-brainer. Disabling the WIFI when USB charging is stupid, stupid, stupid.
I got one from Verizon and it's only the personal version that has the 5GB limit, enterprises does not..
It's very neat, and because I live in an area where stoopid AT&T does not offer 3G my iPhone is using Verizon's 3G network to make my phone fly.
Not sure I would buy it if I was spending my own money, but for free it's definitely cool :)
~j
The mifi works great and the best part is that you can have multiple users connected to it at the same time. At just $100 it is totally worth it. Besides this isnt meant to replace your everyday cable connection.
The battery life is great. The wifi range is decent for what I typically use it for (DSi, iPod Touch, 2 laptops, etc). I do like the fact that it's possible to send SMS through the device as well when it's tethered. I'm also on Verizon, which means the one feature of it I'd like to use, the GPS, is disabled with no means of turning it on. I don't see any reason why such a feature, which is part of the hardware itself, needs to be restricted by the service provider. One feature I'd like to see, however, is access to the GPS data over the air. It doesn't have to be glamorous but it would be nice for geotagging and other similar applications. Have the application connect to the MiFi either via a raw connection or even an HTTP query. The more standards-compliant, the better.
There should be an Ethernet port on it, to allow you to share an Ethernet connection via WiFi if you've got one, like in a hotel room, since its most likely faster than the WWAN connection.
It should be possible to charge it via USB without tethering it. Either two different cables, without the data pins connected, or a button, or a switch on the cable or something. See jkkmobile's hack re. cutting a couple of the wires to make this work.
I have one as my primary internet connection. I am in my first month and I have had to pay close attention to make sure I don't exceed the 5gb limit. Not a bad thing though because it makes me log off and do other things.
I would like to see an accessory battery or an extended life battery released. I have never been able to get more than 3 hours before the battery die and having to stay plugged in seriously defeats the purpose of the device.
I would also like to see Sprint dump the data cap or charge a few bucks for each gb over 5. If they want more people to buy this, they are going to have to listen to what the people want and it's not data caps.
(go away for a month, and miss some of the best "how would you change" threads...)
1) GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA version with both T-Mo-USA and AT&T 3G bands, as well as Euro/Asian bands (so, clearly not a Sprint product anymore). But Itd settle for just quadband GSM/GRPS/EDGE and AT&T 3G.
2) built in SIP server, so you can use its access to the voice network your PDA/netbook/laptop/wifi-phone/etc. (even though the current hardware probably doesn't actually access the voice network -- that would be part of this change)
3) same as #2, but with SMS and MMS -- via a built in Jabber server
4) 8-12 hours of battery (I'd let it be a bit bigger to accommodate that)
5) possibly dual SIM cards, so you can mix its use between carriers
6) available with each carrier subsidized, and available unlocked/unbranded/unsubsidized