Sprint MiFi 2200

Ashton Wahlman wrote an interesting post intended for stock investors about Novatel Wireless. Wahlman sees Novatel’s MiFi as a game-changing device, and one that is sure to be copied by other wireless companies shortly.

Wahlman also had some speculations about where Novatel will take future iterations of the MiFi. Wahlman believes Sprint and Verizon will release MiFi’s capable of faster speeds that will also allow the wireless companies to increase the 5 GB/month data cap. Wahlman also sees 802.11n included in future MiFi’s.

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There will be a WiMax/EVDO version of the MiFi for Clearwire /Sprint/Cablecos. Given the dramatically lower cost per bit associated with Clearwire’s WiMax network, compared to EVDO, the monthly service price should come down, and the 5 GB/s monthly cap could be increased…

…There will be an LTE/EVDO version of the MiFi for Verizon Wireless (VZ). The rationale is the same as for the WiMax version. In terms of widespread city deployment, it appears VZW is approximately one year behind Clearwire in deploying LTE vs. WiMax. LTE chips are not yet mature, so it is reasonable to expect such an LTE version of the MiFi late in 2010, probably 4Q….

…There is a third development we can expect from NVTL’s MiFi device in 2010, and that is the transition from 802.11g to 802.11n. In the past, 802.11n has meant unacceptable battery performance for mobile devices.

However, given new single-stream chips such as Atheros’ AligN 802.11n router chip, it is now possible to beef up the performance of the MiFi solution dramatically. The range of the MiFi today is suggested to be 33 feet. With 802.11n, even in single-stream configuration, both range and speed should increase dramatically. The 802.11n speed increase also goes hand-in-hand with the greater capabilities of WiMax and LTE when compared to EVDO.

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Please visit A Plan for Novatel’s MiFi Comeback to read the article in its entirety.

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