F9thRet

Hi Friends, I figured I'd give a review of the Mifi 2200.

Now this is older tech, given that it runs on a 3G network, but this is what I have came to know about it.

I grabbed mine for 20 bucks at the Virgin Mobile store, and then paid another 55 bucks for 5 gig of air time.

Background: I have used both, Hughes and Wild blue in the past, and currently use Wildblue for the majority of my boxing needs.

One important thing to keep in mind, is I live out in the country, ya know, like that Van down by the river, well I sold that Van to that fat guy. that's how far out I am.

On Hughes, I average a ping of 1300 via a wireless connection , and on Wildblue, I average About 1600 ping. Via my Mifi, I hit about 200-300 ping.

Now at first glance, you would think 200 ping is great, except we are talking about 15kbs on one account, where as on the sat cons, I can easily push have a meg per second.

Going to two accounts, that mifi jumps to about 1000ms Ping. three accounts, and it drops all together.

Now Wilson electronics does have a booster, which will let me go beyond that, however it runs about 80 bucks, and actually worsens the ping time, although it gets a better signal. The reason for this, is the send portion of any game.

So here are my results between the three systems.

ISboxer :

Hughes net, 6 gig ram 5 accounts at an average of 1800ms ping.
Wildblue, 6 gig ram 5 accounts 1700-2200ms ping.
Mifi 2200 6 gig ram, 2 accounts 1000ms ping
mifi w/ Booster 2 accounts 1800ms ping.

Keyclone:
Hughes , 6 gig ram, 5 accounts 1800ms Ping.
Wildblue , 6 gig ram, 5 accounts , 1800-2300 ms ping.
Mifi , 6 gig ram, 2 accounts 1000ms ping
mifi w/ Booster, 3 accounts 1900 ms ping.

Please keep in mind, that ISboxer has more features running in the back ground then Keyclone, so it does use a tiny bit more memory. I'm sure If I increased my ram, It would match up equally.

Setup for the mifi involves waiting for the mail, and a phone call. total cost (32 bucks for mifi and next day delivery, 55 bucks for 5 gig of bandwidth.)


Setup for sat service, involves waiting for an installer, a possible 100 buck fee for installing a pole, and then a phone call. Total cost (150.oo-250.00 bucks for install, possible 100 bucks for pole install, and then 87 bucks /month for 17 gig bandwidth.)

Pros:

sat connections will allow a greater number of accounts to be played at once.

Mifi in a single play environment or in an area where the signal is strong, will give faster response times.

Mifi is much cheaper initially to set up than Satellite.

Cons:

Sat Connections will go out due to weather, squirrels, or those damn cows hitting the dish.

In low signal areas, the Mifi can not compete with the number of accounts one can run via a Sat con.

MIFI costs a lot more than satellite when one pays by the gig. For example, MIFI is 55 bucks per 5 gig, where as Wildblue is 87 bucks for 17 gig.
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In Summation, For those who are interested in trying to Multibox , but are away from a cabled internet connection, there is the ability to do so. Yes, you will sacrifice the ability to react in game somewhat, But you will be able to run either of your choices in boxing software, with no problem.

One thing I should note, Is I have not tried excede, which is the new sat service under wildblue. Prices are comparable though, 125 bucks a month for 25 gig of bandwidth, and 1 gig for an additional fee.

As always, I'm more than happy to answer any questions, for those who are moving to an area where modern internet is not available, or for those who wish to get into multiboxing, but are concerned with playing WOW from a less than desirable location.

Stephen