Triangle Trip

After using the Sprint MiFi 2200 for a few weeks, my overall impression is that it’s a great wireless router (enables you to connect up to 5 devices), but doesn’t offer enough consumer support. Here are some details about the MiFi card that are not in the instruction manual:

The MiFi 2200 package from Sprint doesn’t come with a USB micro data cable. This means you cannot charge the MiFi card from your laptop and have to carry around a plug. You can and should purchase a USB micro data cable for a number of reasons. However if you using the USB micro data to charge the MiFi 2200 from a laptop, it can’t provide WiFi routing service at the same time.

Wait. It can’t charge from the laptop and tether at the same time? Doesn’t that mean it’s even worse than a standard WiFi card, then?

Not exactly. The MiFi 2200 CAN do it all but Sprint and Novatel Wireless (the MiFi 2200 manufacturer) just don’t tell you about this trip.

Here’s how you can use the MiFi 2200 as a wireless modem and charge your router at the same time:

Have your USB micro cable in hand and download the Sprint SmartView program from here; don’t worry that the card listed on the page isn’t the MiFi, they all run on the same software. Previous Sprint customers will remember that SmartView is the same program used to connect regular WiFi cards and USB sticks to a network.

Tethering is extremely simple once you install and load the Sprint Smartview program. With the MiFi card attached to your computer, navigate to the Mobile Broadband tab across the top of the Smartview program, and then click the yellow Connect button at the bottom right.

When tethered, the MiFi 2200 operates in the same exact way as a standard WiFi card; it charges, and gives signal to the attached computer at the same time. While charging, the MiFi will not function as a modem.