# MiFi



## granfire (Aug 13, 2014)

Ok, problem:
I have a small Girl Scout troop. The girls are barely old enough to look at the net (my oldest is 14), and the parents are not into letting the girls online (for various reasons) but the content has gotten so net centric, it's driving me nuts.

We meet in a church basement. No wifi, net, hardly any signal at all. (The scout master for the boys has a signal on his fancy phone, but my dumbphone has nada)

two part question:
what kind of phone/provider offers the wifi through the cell phone ($$?)

and those non-phone wifi machines, how do they work? I believe it's a monthly thing, which would suck, since we only meet 4 times tops. 8 meetings if the boys go in halfsies...

I am reluctant to ask the church, as they provide all the facilities at no cost for two troops, of which non is a member of their congregation.


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## jezr74 (Aug 13, 2014)

I believe the Verizon jet-pack mifi hot spot has a pay as you go or pre-paid option as well. You could buy a chunk of data before leaving, or top up as needed. All they do is connect to the phone network for data, so you have a SIM in it. Then you pay and manage the data the same way you do you mobile phone service.

Supports around 5 devices I think, that would just be like your home router, your device(s) attaches to it over WiFi.


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## donald1 (Aug 14, 2014)

I use at&t never had any problems here 

The non phone wifi stuff I've had one of those used several times(have no clue how it works)  but a good thing to do is get someone you can ask in person who knows what there doing cause they can help,  or atleast that's what I do 

@jezr if you prepay at verizon would there be some sort of discount??  Or just yippee you paid early...


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## jezr74 (Aug 14, 2014)

donald1 said:


> I use at&t never had any problems here
> 
> The non phone wifi stuff I've had one of those used several times(have no clue how it works)  but a good thing to do is get someone you can ask in person who knows what there doing cause they can help,  or atleast that's what I do
> 
> @jezr if you prepay at Verizon would there be some sort of discount??  Or just yippee you paid early...



I'm guessing the data rate will be different per MB block. I'll look it up when I get home, curious now.


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## jezr74 (Aug 14, 2014)

granfire said:


> what kind of phone/provider offers the wifi through the cell phone ($$?)



What network are you with now, and what are you willing\do pay monthly already? Many phones have it built in these days.

What phone do you currently have?


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## donnaTKD (Aug 14, 2014)

that's like my dumb phone -- it cuts out and stops receiving signals whenever i get near house cos the mountain in my backyard blocks the signal   yay for blissful peace and quiet with no interruptions 

sorry for digressing


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## Bob Hubbard (Aug 14, 2014)

My wife and I have S4's with Verizon. We can set them to be mobile hot spots and let other devices access the net through them.  Lets us use our wifi tablets when on the road.  She does the setup so I'm not sure what the trick there is.


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## Transk53 (Aug 14, 2014)

Not sure what the 4G coverage would be for the OP, but over here it is still quite frustrating. Thankfully BT come to the rescue with their Wi-Fi coverage. I would recommend you ask those question, you may still get a shonky connection with Mi-Fi devices.


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 14, 2014)

granfire said:


> two part question:
> what kind of phone/provider offers the wifi through the cell phone ($$?)



Blackberry, iPhone, Android, Basically you need a smart phone



granfire said:


> and those non-phone wifi machines, how do they work? I believe it's a monthly thing, which would suck, since we only meet 4 times tops. 8 meetings if the boys go in halfsies...



Basically they go through Verizon and you are charged for use. 



granfire said:


> I am reluctant to ask the church, as they provide all the facilities at no cost for two troops, of which non is a member of their congregation.



It may actually be cheaper to go this way and it may also be beneficial to the church as well depending on what they install.


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## granfire (Aug 14, 2014)

Well, the church has net, maybe no use for wifi in that location. I might have to ask my go-to person about that.

verizon? blech, no good experience with them folks.
My phone is really just a phone, makes calls, and does text, no pictures, games, etc. a phone, as they used to be (tracfone cheapo, unlike Verizon, they have not cheated me yet.)

I will check with the scout master tonight about what we can do. The boys don't really need it. Their stuff is old fashioned outdoor oriented, the girls got all the fluff and net based junk.....

Maybe I do need a smartphone....resisting the assimilation though.


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## Carol (Aug 14, 2014)

I have a Droid on Verizon Wireless and use an app called FoxFi for tethering.  The trial version is free but it only allows you to connect for a few minutes.  The paid version is a one-time fee of $7.95.   I have used this for 2-3 years and have had no issues.  I have heard FoxFi does not work on some carriers (T-mobile, maybe?) but I don't have personal experience there.

A word of caution -- if you tether a laptop, be wary of your data consumption.    Many desktop applications or desktop versions of web pages chew through a lot of data in ways that mobile apps do not.   Most plans have a monthly data cap and once you go past that cap, some significant charges can be incurred.   I once started up a script for work in the evening while tethering (with a company phone) and thought I would shut it down after the script uploaded a software patch to 10 or 12 devices.   I fell asleep and by the time I woke up the next morning, the script had done its upload for over 300 devices -- but at the cost of HR sending my boss and I an inquiry saying basically WTH are you doing chewing up so much data?  I had used over 60 percent of my monthly data allowance in that 8 hour time frame.


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## granfire (Aug 14, 2014)

I would need it for a couple of hours a week, and I hope I won't fall asleep, because I am the lead act :lol: 
Verizon though left a really bad taste in my mouth. DH is on straight talk, I don't know if his phone can do that though, it's smartish but not all out MENSA material....

or I need to go back stone age, find a way to utilize my VHS and old TV :lfao:


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## donnaTKD (Aug 14, 2014)

you not got a dvd player yet


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## Carol (Aug 14, 2014)

granfire said:


> I would need it for a couple of hours a week, and I hope I won't fall asleep, because I am the lead act :lol:
> Verizon though left a really bad taste in my mouth. DH is on straight talk, I don't know if his phone can do that though, it's smartish but not all out MENSA material....
> 
> or I need to go back stone age, find a way to utilize my VHS and old TV :lfao:



That's what the free trial version of FoxFi is for, so folks can see if it works before committing to the purchase.   Once installed and started It will automatically disconnect after a set amount of data throughput goes across, but once it disconnects, you can always hit reconnect and use it again.


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## granfire (Aug 14, 2014)

donnaTKD said:


> you not got a dvd player yet



Well, I lost it, but found the VHS while cleaning. Might find the DVD again as well


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