Review: Virgin Mobile Wi-Fi Modem

Posted Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 5:31 pm by Jason Cartwright |

In today’s technology driven world, a lot of our devices support Wi-Fi. While most of our homes have Wi-Fi these days, stepping outside is a whole other world.

Laptops, netbooks and most recently iPads are all devices that would benefit from being always connected. The good news is there are options available to make that happen. Not a new market, but one that’s certainly emerging is the portable Wi-Fi hotspots. Very few phones on the market today have hotspot functionality so other options are needed until this becomes the norm.

The pocket sized Virgin Mobile Wi-Fi Modem is one such solution. Containing a sim card that connects to the Virgin / Optus 3G network, the device emits a short range (up to 15m) Wi-Fi network allowing up to 3 devices to get online simultaneously.

Remember that the speeds will vary based on Virgin network coverage and the number of users downloading data. The device charges via a USB cable, but other that really should be the only time you need to connect it. A number of other Wi-Fi modems come in the form of a USB dongle. This is a pretty ugly solution and specifically won’t work with Apple’s iPad.

Personally I like the concept of having a connected car. Given it’s size, it easily fits in the glovebox of your car allowing your passengers to go online for that extended road trip. You would need to charge from time to time, unless your lucky enough to have a USB port in your car.

As a test I took the Virgin Mobile Wi-Fi Modem and my Wi-Fi only iPad to the coffee shop. This solution worked great. As I mentioned earlier speeds do vary, the same as they do on your phone, but if the other option is to not be connected at all, I choose connected.

So how much does this always connected functionality cost ?

There’s two options available, Post-paid and Pre-paid.

If you were seriously considering this as a dedicated device for your iPad you may want to reconsider and get the 3G + Wifi iPad. There’s one good reason for this. The iPad data plans are much cheaper than devices like this for two good reasons. You can only use data from the iPad, not multiple devices like Wi-Fi modems. The second reason is the amount of potential data you could burn through on the iPad is relatively low.

Overall the Virgin Mobile Wi-Fi Modem work well as an ultra-portable hotspot to get you and your devices online.

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Jarnez

Check out other forums before you buy this device, many people have had varying problems with it, notably its battery life, is crap to non-exhistant, it needs a constant power source such as a USB charger/your computer, therefore making its “mobility” very limited.
Vicbanks

Virgin Mobile is Crap in the Extreme – wish I knew this 3 mos ago. Hi! Re virginmobile. Where can you find senior management?(NOWHERE!!!) Bought my phone & virgin plan – including USB internet stick for my laptop at the Virgin shop in Marion Shopping Centre (Adelaide, SthAustralia). I live in Crafers (Adelaide hills). Internet connection is ok when I take my laptop to Seaton on the plains near beach but in the hills internet keeps dropping out every few minutes. Made 4 calls to customer service – to what I at first I took to be Indian girls. They talked me through procedures that made no difference. I said I wanted to go back to using a proper modem connected to phone line. They said it couldnt be done- unless I paid out my plan! I asked for Australian senior management, address and phone number. They didnt know. THEN I phoned the shop where I bought the phone, stick and plans and asked for the address and phone number of Aust Virgin headoffice. Remember – this is now the Virgin shop I was talking to. They told me they didn’know and when they needed to know anything they phoned “customer service” same as me!!! I said, So you work for Virgin in a Virgin shop but you dont know anything about where their head office is – even though they must have one to collect their bills and pay you! She said that’s right. I said, So you are just as dependent on those Indian girls who know nothing as I am? She replied, “They are not Indians”. I said, Where are they then? She said, They are in the Philippines. I hung up having got nowhere and rang the Philippino customer service 1300 number again. This time they gave me a job number and told me they were putting my service on a “5-day watch” so they could watch the behaviour of my connection and if I wasnt happy after 5 days to phone and complain again.
This is very crappy service and I’m not happy. I should never have left my previous service.Good luck. My next move will be ombudsman. BEWARE – DON’T GO NEAR VIRGIN.Vic

Review: Virgin Mobile Wi-Fi Modem

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