It seems like a worthwhile thread to follow.  It’s no secret that we maintain two households.  That means at least two of everything.  That includes Internet Service Providers.  We use Earthlink DSL in San Antonio and ATT DSL in Central Texas.  We’re happy with them both.  They cost about the same.  I’ve used Earthlink for many years.  We also travel.  Most hotels have wireless access for free, but that’s not always the case.  So, last year, we added the ATT dongle to our repertoire. (Motto:  The Internet can’t hide anymore.  To which I reply, Oh yes, it can!)

But, to maintain three high speed internet connections costs around $150 a month.  Frankly, I’d like to cut that.  As we complete moving our stuff to Central Texas, we’ll be spending less time in San Antonio.  Soon we’ll come down here to do yard work and redo several aspects of the house that need to be redone to make it marketable.  There’s no rush to do this, but we’re thinking about it.

Of course, the dongle has a two-year service commitment.  Not unusual.  That will be up in late September.  Since I got the dongle, Verizon has come out with the MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hot Spot.  Supposedly, you can connect up to five WiFi devices to it at a time.  (Checking with my husband’s older daughter who uses it in one of her business ventures to make sure multiple computers can connect at the same time).

My vision is to replace the ATT dongle (which doesn’t work in Central Texas — yet, ATT 3G coverage is approaching our small town, but isn’t there yet) and Earthlink with the Verizon Intelligent Mobile Hot Spot.  San Antonio has excellent 3G coverage.  The data package costs are the same for both ATT and Verizon, so we’d save the cost of Earthlink DSL access every month.  If we go over 5210M of usage per month, each additional M costs five cents.  I doubt we’d exceed that most months, and if we do, it would be awhile before we’d equal the cost of both services.  As a bonus, Verizon claims to have 3G mobile broadband coverage at our Central Texas locations.  If that’s true, we could have access at our other three Central Texas locations, too.

We’re thinking this might be a win-win solution.  Do any of my readers have experience with Verizon’s Intelligent Mobile Hot Spot?  If so, please share.