Walmart cut the price on its 3G mobile hotspot from $120 to $79 and lowered the price of prepaid data cards. Walmart’s mobile hotspot, a re-labeled Novatel MiFi, uses Sprint’s 3G network (but with no LTE).
Walmart’s $79 MiFi hotspot can share WiFi for up to five devices.
Walmart also offers at least two pre-paid data cards that can be used with the mobile hotspot. Significantly, any unused data can be rolled over for up to a year.
Walmart also offers a 1.5 GB refill card for $25. It won’t expire until you use the entire 1.5 GB.
Walmart’s $45 refill cards, which used to provide 1 GB of usage, now offers users 4 GB of usage for the same money. Best of all, unlike other prepaid data plans, any unused data can be rolled over, and used in the next month.
Choice of plans:
- Go Big Plan, Never Expires 4 GB
- Go Bigger 30-day Expire, 8GB
- Only at Walmart
Walmart’s $115 4G Mobile MiFi Hotspot uses T-Mobile’s faster HSPA network. The T-Mobile $35 Prepaid Mobile Broadband Pass, though Walmart, offers 3.5GB of data usage and is good for 60 days.
Verizon and AT&T’s data plans for tablets include 2GB/$30 (3GB/$30 on AT&T), 5GB/$50 and on Verizon, 10GB/$80 packages. No WiFi hotspots.
Sprint’s iPad and iPad mini plans cost 300MB/$14.99, 3GB/$34.99, 6GB/$49.99, or 12GB for $79.99. There are also $10 and $15 offers for customers that also have Sprint smartphones that offer 100MB and 1GB of data, respectively, and activation fees for all 3G/4G tablets are being waived for a limited time.
Several new business models offer “free” or low-cost wireless broadband:
- Wireless startup Karma is offering a hotspot that accesses Clearwire’s mobile WiMAX network but allows users to open it up to the public. Users pay $69 to buy a mobile hotspot and then pay $14 per GB of data. The hotspot is then opened up to the public. When a new user joins, that user is taken to a page where public users can then sign in with their Facebook account to get 100 MB of free browsing. For every new user who signs in, the owner of the hotspot also gets 100 MB of free data.
- Solavei launched in September with a $49 unlimited voice, text and data plan. The MVNO rides on T-Mobile USA’s GSM network with a $49 startup fee. The company sells HTC One S, HTC Wildfire or ZTE Origin smartphones, which range in price from $160 to $500.
- Ting, a Sprint Nextel MVNO run by Internet domain company Tucows, offers a shared data plan. Ting customers will be able to share data, as well as voice and texts, across unlimited devices on one account. Each active device will cost just $6 a month. Ting said it plans to release a number of LTE devices for Sprint’s LTE network. Ting currently offers a number of EV-DO Android smartphones, including the WiMAX-capable Samsung Galaxy S II 4G.
- Republic Wireless pledged “unlimited” voice and data service for $19 per month, but only if most traffic was routed to Wi-Fi. Currently, customers pay $199 up front for their first month of service and for the LG Optimus smartphone running version 2.3 Android. If customers want to continue with the no-contract service, they can pay $19 a month plus taxes after that, but can cancel the service at any time without an early termination fee.
- FreedomPop. FreedomPop’s $99 iPhone case promises free broadband. You can get up to 500 MB free every month using their mobile WiFi unit that uses a built-in WiMax radio.
- Simple Mobile is a T-Mobile MVNO which offers a $25/mo (750MB) or $45/mo (2GB) data-only plan. All that’s needed is an AT&T or T-Mobile GSM phone or mobile hotspot like the ZTE MF61 Mobile Hotspot and a data-only SIM from Simple Mobile. No contract or long term commitments.
- T-Mobile’s prepaid plans don’t offer data-only but does offer a $30/mo 5GB HSPA+ prepaid service with 100 minutes of talk time.
- Ultra Mobile, a T-Mobile USA MVNO, offers a prepaid unlimited plan that includes up to 1,000 minutes of international calling. It operates on a bring-your-own-device, SIM-only model and has a $29 per month unlimited talk and text and $39 per month for unlimited talk, text and HSPA data.
- The $49 Clear HotSpot gets you unlimited data for $34.99/mo, with no contract, but limits speed to 1.5 Mbps. The $49.99 service package gets you true unlimited data from both Clear and Virgin Mobile, with no preset speed caps.
Related Dailywireless articles include; Netzero: Free Data for Facebook Users,Great Deals on Prepaid Wireless Broadband, “Free” Public WiFi with WiMAX Backhaul ,FreedomPop: Now 500MB free/month, Sprint Brings WiMAX to Virgin and Boost Mobile, NetZero: Free WiMAX Service, Banner Ads: Google’s Next Thrust?,
