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[perkiset]

Looks pretty good. I changed my Sprint EVDO account yesterday from the installable card to a Mifi. I like it. It will allow 5 devices to connect at once, but of course you all slow down if you're hard on it since it's still a single 3G stream. But I was able to log into it, set it up like any wifi router and kerpow, it works great.

Yesterday driving about with my youngest, let him check his FB account, download some stuff and surf about while I went back and forth between AM1090 and KROQ2 to see how hookup and steadiness of the stream went. It was damn good, having only one drop out for about a second at the exact same place that AT&T does near my home (a weird hilly area that is right under a cell tower - it's like magically blank right there). Today I have to drive quite a while across Phoenix so I'll get a better picture of the reception.

So, between the iPhone as a tether and the MiFi, I can get strong network to my phone/computer most of the time. The only deal is that the MiFi contract is for 5G/month, and the cost per kb after that is rather steep (this is the same as the EVDO card). I'm going to play about with Skype now and see what the usage looks like. Also, the MiFi is only good in the US, Canada and Mexico. You'd need another plan for European travel. That said though, I don't pay any more for "roaming" CA or MX.

The total cost is something like $72/month (after taxes/fees) so it's not cheap, but I think it's going to wind up as a great addition to the tool bag - much better than the installable card.

[rcjordan]

thanks, perk.  the part about "at the exact same place that AT&T" is of particular interest for those of us in cell markets where all the major vendors have black holes, many of which seem to align regardless of the vendor.

[perkiset]

Update after today's driving about.

Big winner: Pandora Radio and battery life. I'm pretty accustomed to the recharge speed in my car, with either the iPod, WunderRadio or nothing playing. The worst is with the iPod playing while I have the TomTom nav system running - It just BARELY eeks out a little bit of charge - in a two hour trip to Tucson last week, I gained 2% recharge over a 1:40 trip (3G radio on as well, receiving push). With Pandora or Wunder running over the Wifi, battery recharge speed is considerably quicker - more like when nothing's on. Also, Pandora' streamer seems to be stronger than radio streams. Radio breaks more easily, but with the WiFi it recovers much more quickly.

I have yet to look at my download volume, because of course with the AT&T data plan it's unlimited - so using this probably needs to be more of an "also" than a primary game. But since, for the most part, all of my clients and hang locations are WiFi, having this little thing makes my road-net experience stronger.

More as I know it.

[rcjordan]

>hang locations are WiFi, having this little thing makes my road-net experience stronger.

Yeah, in another thread you mentioned "just install this in Pinkhat's car" or somesuch. I think that's the solution; just leave it in the car, dig it out if some unusual situation arises where you'd like to have it inside and there's no wifi (about .001% chance of that).

[isthisthingon]

Cool stuff man I had a perfect visual of your journaled wifi experience.  As for the charging, I found quality DC converters far superior to anything trickling straight out of the cigarette socket.  But you probably have a DC converter built in to your car with a 3-prong plug anyway no?

I keep one in my car and the only issue is you need to let it "juice up" before plugging anything into it.  Once it's fired up it works almost as well as a plug at home.

[perkiset]

I do have an inverter in 2 of my cars, but it's a pain to set up for a quick trip. The nice thing on the MiFi is that it's battery operated. So I turn it on and in about 10 seconds, the WiFi is available. It has 4-5 hours per charge. I use a dock/charger for my iPhone that connects as a "second CD player" to my radio, so I have to charge through that (because that how I play music in the car). I have a 12V/USB barrel in the car and a USB charger for the MiFi as well, so there's no lack of power, it's just slow compared to a 110 line. 'Cause I absolutely agree - plug it into 110 and charging just smokes.

Was pretty amazing though, how, with the TomTom nav system, the iPod playing and accepting Push over the 3G the charger could only just keep up, it could not gain on the battery (USB/12V). That little thing must be right on the edge of consumption vs. usage - and would explain why they don't want background apps running amok. Battery life would probably be crap on a biscuit. At best.

[isthisthingon]

I don't know why more cars don't offer this, especially new ones, but I have an 80GB iPod "installed".  It uses Apple's proprietary wide plug at the bottom and get its charge directly.  The stock stereo that comes with the GPS touch screen is designed to play iPods when the after market stuff is installed.

It's cool to have thousands of tunes available.  However, the design is a bit lacking since you have to either 1. play the whole damn thing and skip song by song, or 2. unplug it and select a playlist/album/etc. and plug it back in.

Skipping songs from the steering wheel is nice though, once you have the play list you want.  And it plugs in inside the glove box so less wires to deal with.  But I discovered this install was available for my car so it might be an option for yours too.  About $300 to have it done i think.

crap on a biscuit 

[perkiset]

The Sequoia does not have Nav, rather a stock player as that's what the kids drive the most. So connecting as a 2nd CD changer was really the only option. The 300C has nav, but the year we bought it was JUST before they were really ready for aux music AND bluetooth ... so the bluetooth phone aftermarket attachment takes up (that position) in the stereo ... I'm going to have to do the second CD changer trick for it as well I believe (if I wind up doing anything).

The jeep has AM radio, man. OK, it has FM and a cassette deck, which is how I listen to the iPhone in it.

I agree, it seems really strange to me that the sound system engineers don't add a simple port that, with a small upgrade fee, could be Zunable, iPhoneable, iPodable... you name it. It's not like this stuff is brand spanking new. Really seems like it would make sense to me.

I am looking forward to iPhone 3.1, which will include bluetooth-based voice control - that will really convert how I work with it in the car. Strange to me that they did 3.0 without it, but there you go.

[vsloathe]

Preface: I only buy Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti

Every car I've ever considered buying has what you describe, ITTO.

[isthisthingon]

Preface: I only buy Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti
Every car I've ever considered buying has what you describe, ITTO.

LOL - My last two cars: Acura CL Type-S and now I drive a TL.  Bang for buck I think Acura is extremely competitive.  You basically get two options: NAV/No NAV & Manual/Automatic.  Otherwise it's fully loaded, along with the option to have an iPod permanently installed

[perkiset]

Preface: I only buy Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti

That's bullshit. I saw you in that Yugo last year. And the two of you looked SOOO happy.

[isthisthingon]

Another case of the Mundays @perks??   Have another cup 

[perkiset]

Wha.... that was funny .. wasn't it? I mean, I'm a funny guy and ... wait, are you being sarcastic? Oh man, I...

No need for another cup meng. The perk is at near top speed this morning

[isthisthingon]

isthisthingon = no, not yet anyway   My engine gets rolling around 10-11am, regardless of cup count.  Too much coffee makes me jumpy and blog angrily 

[perkiset]

Update: drove my most problematic route today (for 3G).

I was testing with WunderRadio, which is fun but seems pretty persnickety. I drove the exact same route in both directions. On the outbound I drove with 3G, and the inbound I drove with the MiFi.

Interestingly, the MiFi had troubles in some of the exact same spots as the AT&T 3G - leading me to believe that some of my AT&T angst should be pointed at local cell tower positioning more than just AT&T.

But the most interesting thing is that when I was connected via WiFi via the MiFi, the application recovered much more quickly. It almost feels like the phones 3G connection gets confused, which throws off the application and then streaming is in trouble. But with the phone connected to the MiFi, and it responsible for reconnection, it would bounce, then almost instantly reconnected and start buffering again.

One of my original notions was that if I took the cell tower connection off the phone and put that responsibility on another device, then the connection would be more stable and I think that's what I am seeing.

Head to head, standing in a 5-bar 3G position, both network connections work well and comparable in speed, although I am inclined to think that the Sprint data is a little faster.