It's been mentioned a few times on here so I thought I just give you the run down of how to use/setup a VirginMobile US MiFi dongle
I managed to pick one up from Radioshack in San Francisco whilst I was there.
It's $149.99+tax and I also had to purchase a $40 unlimited usage top-up with it at the same time.
Once you finally manage to force open the ridiculously thick well sealed plastic blister packaging (try using just a pencil as that's all I could find in my hotel room!!) you first put the battery in and then you are supposed to charge it up first. There was a reasonable amount of charge in mine so I just skipped that bit and just went onto setting it up.
It comes with a carry case, a charger plug and a USB charging cable. It's got a mini-USB socket on the side and just an on-off button on the top.
With Virgin Mobile US using the US Sprint mobile network and thus being a CDMA network device, there's no SIM card with it. It also wont work in many other countries other then the US, which in order to avoid ridiculously high data roaming charges charges, is obviously not recommended anyway.
There's an instruction card provided which is easy to follow. Once you have switched it on and linked your device to it's WiFi using the provided WiFi password, you need to log into the device using a web browser.
From the device set-up page you can directly access the Virgin Mobile US website in order to activate your account. I used my UK home address but you do need to select a US state and zip-code so I just used the hotels for this . It also asks you where you will use the device the most so I just selected San Francisco. This is only so Virgin Mobile can assign you a local mobile number, you only need this mobile number to log into your online account.
Once activated you are provided with a couple of account/mobile numbers and an account PIN which you need to write down as you will need these later.
You are then asked to set-up your payment details for topping up. As I'd already purchased a top-up, I just entered the code RadioShack had printed on the till receipt into the website as per UK PAYG top-ups. You get the option to set-up a credit card for either automatic monthly top-ups or manual top-ups as and when you need it. You don't have to set-up a credit card though if you don't want to as you can top-up using top-up codes as I'd done. Not sure if it will accept UK credit cards or not
The system is the same as Three UK mobile broadband *used* to be, where once your top-up is accepted and applied to your account, you then have to convert it to broadband2go monthly usage plan before you can use your device. You will see your account is in credit by $40. You then buy the unlimited monthly usage package using this $40 credit.
Once you have done this you then need to go back to your MiFi device set-up webpage and enter the account/mobile numbers you received earlier. Click on the accept button where your device will then re-boot and then off you go!
As well as the 30 day $40 unlimited plan, VM US also offers a 10 day 100Mb $10 plan too.
You can keep a track of your usage using your online account via the VM US website.
I'd recommend you change your WiFi WPA security password as the default one is printed on the bottom of the device. There's the usual list of WiFi security protocols to choose from. The default one is WPA.
As with any mobile broadband, it's difficult to measure your exact connection speed but I was getting in the order about about 1Mb downloads whilst in San Francisco.
If you use a UK MiFi device, this works in exactly the same way allowing you to connect upto 5 separate WiFi enabled devices at the same time.
I managed to pick one up from Radioshack in San Francisco whilst I was there.
It's $149.99+tax and I also had to purchase a $40 unlimited usage top-up with it at the same time.
Once you finally manage to force open the ridiculously thick well sealed plastic blister packaging (try using just a pencil as that's all I could find in my hotel room!!) you first put the battery in and then you are supposed to charge it up first. There was a reasonable amount of charge in mine so I just skipped that bit and just went onto setting it up.
It comes with a carry case, a charger plug and a USB charging cable. It's got a mini-USB socket on the side and just an on-off button on the top.
With Virgin Mobile US using the US Sprint mobile network and thus being a CDMA network device, there's no SIM card with it. It also wont work in many other countries other then the US, which in order to avoid ridiculously high data roaming charges charges, is obviously not recommended anyway.
There's an instruction card provided which is easy to follow. Once you have switched it on and linked your device to it's WiFi using the provided WiFi password, you need to log into the device using a web browser.
From the device set-up page you can directly access the Virgin Mobile US website in order to activate your account. I used my UK home address but you do need to select a US state and zip-code so I just used the hotels for this . It also asks you where you will use the device the most so I just selected San Francisco. This is only so Virgin Mobile can assign you a local mobile number, you only need this mobile number to log into your online account.
Once activated you are provided with a couple of account/mobile numbers and an account PIN which you need to write down as you will need these later.
You are then asked to set-up your payment details for topping up. As I'd already purchased a top-up, I just entered the code RadioShack had printed on the till receipt into the website as per UK PAYG top-ups. You get the option to set-up a credit card for either automatic monthly top-ups or manual top-ups as and when you need it. You don't have to set-up a credit card though if you don't want to as you can top-up using top-up codes as I'd done. Not sure if it will accept UK credit cards or not
The system is the same as Three UK mobile broadband *used* to be, where once your top-up is accepted and applied to your account, you then have to convert it to broadband2go monthly usage plan before you can use your device. You will see your account is in credit by $40. You then buy the unlimited monthly usage package using this $40 credit.
Once you have done this you then need to go back to your MiFi device set-up webpage and enter the account/mobile numbers you received earlier. Click on the accept button where your device will then re-boot and then off you go!
As well as the 30 day $40 unlimited plan, VM US also offers a 10 day 100Mb $10 plan too.
You can keep a track of your usage using your online account via the VM US website.
I'd recommend you change your WiFi WPA security password as the default one is printed on the bottom of the device. There's the usual list of WiFi security protocols to choose from. The default one is WPA.
As with any mobile broadband, it's difficult to measure your exact connection speed but I was getting in the order about about 1Mb downloads whilst in San Francisco.
If you use a UK MiFi device, this works in exactly the same way allowing you to connect upto 5 separate WiFi enabled devices at the same time.
Regards
James Mitchell
James Mitchell