Comments on: RovAir short term 3G rental mini-review

By: Brandy

Brandy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:57:09 +0000

Well it is always good to hear peoples experiences with a certain product before purchasing it so thank you for your article. As for me I have not used RovAir for my wireless internet needs, instead I found a different company called WifiRents.com In the past I have used them a few times and each time I have been very pleased with their service. For one I was able to view coverage maps for both ATT and Verizon and then choose from 3 data cards (usb, type II, or express) rather than them just sending what they want. From the posts I have read it seems that WifiRents has a little better pricing and from personal experience I know that they have Excellent customer service.
It seems that RovAir may have worked for you this time but I think I would want the product to be much more reliable, and I definately got that from www.WifiRents.com
Just a thought you may want to weigh your options before choosing them again.
Feel free to check out WifiRents for yourself!

By: jangelo

jangelo — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:58:34 +0000

Brad, that seems to be quite a steep price for a rental. I try to tell myself I don't need a postpaid unlimited data subscription (although it would be nice), but I do need backup connectivity when on the go. And so I got myself a prepaid 3G/HSDPA modem kit from a telco here in my country–Globe Telecom. I ended up paying just about $55 for the kit. I only pay about $ 0.11 per 15 minutes of use, which is reasonable enough.

Admittedly, though, connection is not always blazing fast. It depends on the cell site in my area, and the level of use/congestion. But for quick emails, blog posts and RSS feed reading, it would suffice. What's great is that I use the same network on my mobile phone, so I can just transfer prepaid credits from my phone to the 3G modem's SIM anytime I want to.

By: Nate Harris

Nate Harris — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:48:15 +0000

I’d never thought about renting a 3G modem – what a great idea! I live in downtown Portland and my ISP – Clear wireless internet (www.clear.com) – offers me free city-wide wifi, but, like you, I’m taking off for a few weeks and I think that renting a 3G modem is a great idea! I know that Clear is moving into some other cities soon (Las Vegas and Atlanta that I know of) and when they are there I can rent city wide wifi for $10 a day, but I love your idea too!

By: Brad Linder

Brad Linder — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:55:00 +0000

I tried connecting to those a few times but rarely did it work.

By: DougC3

DougC3 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:06:10 +0000

The charge for my wife's ppc 6700 is $45/mt for unlimited internet data only _in addition to_ normal cellphone minutes (over $60 for the two of us). It's around $115/mt total. Would you mind if I ask which service provider you use? I may want to switch.

By: David

David — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:29:27 +0000

i use a ppc 6700 cellphone, and I pay 30 bucks a month for 500 minutes. free text, unlimited internet, and freenights and weekends. I tether my cellphone to my netbook and get everything I need. You can get a similar service for 60 bucks a month through sprint sero. Being able to get internet anywhere, whenever I want makes me so happy. It has saved my butt more times than i can count.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:40:10 +0000

I am curious — did you try to connect to an open access point on the show floor? I checked my mail (and a few blogs) a couple of times from the floor and my iPhone always picked up several WiFi access points (I chose to use 3G, which worked fine).

I really wish one of the mobile carriers were to follow the European example and offer pay-per-day data plans. I used to have a Spring EVDO card and loved it, but with free WiFi at Starbucks and many other of my favorite locations I just couldn't justify it any longer.