So what's the point of a mifi then?

Recently on twitter I came into contact with Johanna who works for Three. We chatted about what works for bloggers, and then, more privately, about what would work for me 😉

As a result, when I went on holiday in December to a youth hostel, a mifi followed me there.

Now, it turned out that there *was* free public wifi in the youth hostel as long as you didn’t mind sitting in the (slightly drafty very loud) dining room to use it. There are drawbacks with publicly open wifi though. Anything you send over it is pretty much open for all to see – this can include things like passwords for emails, and there is no way at all I would use banking and so on via it. Just not secure enough. So the mifi was an absolute boon, and towards the end of the week, when Small was at the end of his tether, we could retreat to the bedroom, set it up, and let him recharge via the internet.

Yes, I know that sounds a bit weird, but if you knew Small you’d know why it helps.

Similarly, when at home and the man from BT disconnected the phone to replace the line from the pole to the house, I just plugged in the mifi and the computers switched effortlessly, and you really couldn’t tell much difference at all. It easily and seamlessly supported 4 machines and an HTC phone (also on loan from Three) doing the standard browsery and email stuff that we always do.

Tim took it with him to display at his business meeting at one point, and it was an instant hit – can you imagine if you are networking with clients/ colleagues, being able to pull the internet out of your pocket for both of you to use? In his line of work, computer type tech support for small businesses it’s right up there with the laptop in the first place.

The mifi has quickly gained its place in this family as a must have device, packed for a weekend away, a long day out and any holiday in pride of place, even before the camera. OK, that probably says something slightly sad about my family, but it’s true. When this loan device goes back to Three, we will be getting one of our own to keep. I’m not quite sure how we survived before it.

*Disclosure. The Mifi was supplied on loan by Three for the purposes of review.