Wi-Fi hotspots are growing in number and convenience all over the world, but it has two major drawbacks. First most open Wi-Fi locations are left unencrypted and second, in those places where users must pay for Wi-Fi access it is almost always less expensive to purchase service from a MiFi (mobile Wi-Fi, using WiFi to access a mobile broadband connection) wireless vendor.
MiFi Is More Secure Than Using Open Wi-Fi Connections
As mentioned, the first reason that investing in a personal MiFi hotspot from companies like Virgin Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T is a great investment for any laptop computer user, not only because you can encrypt the wireless connection.
Using open Wi-Fi means that all data sent back and forth to the Internet can be intercepted by other users who are running free and easy to use packet sniffing software. This means that using open Wi-Fi in a coffee shop could potentially open up passwords and other personal information to a criminal sitting right next to you.
MiFi wireless routers do not have this problem as they can be configured to use 128 bit encryption to prevent hackers from gaining access to the data that you computer is sending back and forth to the MiFi hotspot. From the MiFi to the Internet the traffic is also encrypted over the cellular network so the possibility of data security breaches is greatly reduced over using traditional open Wi-Fi.
MiFi Is Almost Always Cheaper Than Using Hotel or Airport Wi-Fi
Most hotels and airports provide wireless Wi-Fi access for their guests but few of them provide it for free. At a typical airport or hotel the wi-fi access costs an average of $15 per day. If you need access at both places the costs add up quickly. When compared to one of the wireless pay-as-you-go plans from the wireless providers mentioned previously a user can get the same wireless access over their Mifi connection for roughly the same if not less.
For example, in a head to head comparison of MiFi plans, while Sprint and Verizon both provide access ala carte at $15 per day (100MB limit), Virgin Mobile offers ten days of service for $10 (100MB limit). For the weekend traveller that wants to use a secure wireless connection to access email and do basic web surfing the Virgin Mobile MiFi option makes a lot of sense compared to paying $15 per day.
Of course having the convenience of buying MiFii access as needed is only good if the place you are going to actually has decent service so before investing in a MiFi hotspot device from one of the carriers be sure to check out the information provided by sites such as SignalMap which allow users to report their own signal strength experiences at multiple locations all over the country. Although the SignalMap service is very handy for comparing coverage it is far from complete, so users might also want to check the coverage maps provided by companies like Virgin, AT&T, and others.
Chad Criswell - Chad Criswell is a professional educator and freelance technology writer for numerous online and print publications throughout the United ...
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