MiFi 3352 On The Horizon, Unlocked 2352 Just £137
I’m a huge fan of the MiFi 2352. Favouring it’s lovely unlocked goodness, flexibility and great feature-set over network-locked alternatives. It cost a whopping £220 back when I first reviewed it, but Multiplex Systems are now listing it at £137.
This is great news for anyone with an existing data contract or rolling contract, I picked up my Three contract for £5/month and got a dongle to boot, as £137 up-front is pretty good value for what is essentially a portable WiFi hotspot. And no contract ties means you’re free to explore rolling contracts and generally get better deals on data.
I’ve also successfully tested my MiFi 2352 with O2, making it the best and possibly only O2 MiFi setup you’re likely to get until the network start offering devices of their own. Before the iPhone went micro-SIM I found it easy to pull my O2 SIM out of the phone and pop it into the MiFi as and when I needed data for laptops/tablets. But these days it’s not particularly difficult to come by a reasonably good data tariff- even though networks have been clamping down on usage and limits.
The MiFi 3352 is on the horizon, debuting in the UK on the Orange network only. This will make the 2352 a better value proposition for a while. This network-locked alternative may come with more features and a slightly longer battery life, but is, well, network locked.
The main feature of the MiFi 3352 is, in fact, a collection of features all delivered by the MiFi OS. A new operating system will see the light of day on the 3352, enabling new connectivity widgets and simple applications that run on the device itself. This could also yield some much better GPS software and integration, without having to physically connect your MiFI to a computer.