I got my MiFi less than 24 months ago, and I wrote about it six months later, with this bit about the costs:
I liked the idea of a prepaid account because I just wanted to buy the device and the “pay as you go” model fit my usage. Of course you can’t predict the future, and those Virgin Mobile folks have changed the pricing more than once. When I was planning to buy one, the 3 options were $10, $20, and $40, and by the time I bought one weeks later, it was $20, $40, and $50. And who know? They may change again…. Urgh.
Just dropping this in as a point of reference… the current prices are $35 for 2GB per month, and $55 for 5GB per month, and there’s an “unlimited” for $50 per month which gives you “3G speeds up to 2.5GB” which I assume means any data over 2.5GB will be delivered at the speed of a 14.4 modem. I’m not sure if the $50 is available to me because I’m grandfathered in, or not, but this is the kind of shit that drives me crazy. I mean, I knew the price would increase, just like I’m sure the price of Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription will increase, which is why no matter how “cheap” it is right now, I can’t be convinced it’ll be some amazing deal in the long run…
I’m not sure that Virgin Mobile is still the best solution for my MiFi needs (which end up being maybe 3 to 5 times per year) but I don’t know what the other (cheaper?) options might be… I did find TruConnect, which might be an option, but I’m open to suggestions.