Use a Mobile Broadband Hotspot

SO YOU DIDN’T BUY the Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad and now you regret it because you can’t tap into a cellular network for Web access when there’s no WiFi pipeline around. What do you do—slap your WiFi iPad up on eBay and put the bucks toward your Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad Upgrade Fund? Get an older Wi-Fi + 3G model? Frantically lurch from hotspot to hotspot all over town?

If trading up to a Cellular iPad isn’t in your future, you have another option: a mobile broadband hotspot. This portable hotspot-in-a-box pulls down a cellular network signal from a carrier—probably AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint—and divvies it up into a mini WiFi network so four to five wireless devices (laptops, PlayStation Vitas, iPads, and so on) can get onto the Internet at once.

Novatel’s MiFi (above) and the Overdrive from Sierra Wireless are two models. And newer mobile hotspots can use today’s faster 4G data networks, which give connected WiFi devices an HOV lane to the Web, blowing past 3G speeds.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Yes, having a WiFi network wherever you go has its advantages, but there’s a downside, too: cost. First, you have to pay for the box itself, which costs $100 to $250. Then you have to sign up for a service plan, which typically adds at least $40 a month to your bill and involves a contract.

If you do the math, that’s more than the bare-minimum $15 you’d shell out for AT&T’s cellular-data service or the $20 that Verizon Wireless charges for its low-end data plan. Plus, the Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad models from either carrier don’t require any additional hardware to drag around. You pay for this convenience up-front, however—the 4G or 3G iPad’s cellular chip tacks $130 onto the tablet’s cost.

But here’s where the pocket network does make sense: when you need to get multiple devices online wherever you go. This could be a family with three WiFi iPads, an iPad and two laptops, and so on. The monthly service fee covers everyone—and it’s way cheaper than buying individual 4G ’Pads and 4G LTE plans.

If mobile hotspots sound attractive, investigate your options at Verizon Wireless (www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobilebroadband), AT&T (www.att.com), or Sprint (www.sprint.com). The regional carrier Clear (www.clear.com) has mobile hotspots you can lease instead of buy, which may make more sense for travelers.