Wi-Fi to Go: The Hot Spot in a Box

New York Times: "YOU know what would be so cool? A portable Wi-Fi hot spot. Whenever you wanted Internet access, you wouldn't have to hunt for a wireless coffee shop or pay $24 a night to your hotel. Instead, you'd travel with a little box. Plug it into a power outlet %u2014 or even your car's cigarette lighter %u2014 and boom, you and everyone within 200 feet could get onto the Internet at high speed, without wires. Actually, such boxes exist. They come from companies like Kyocera, Junxion and Top Global, and they're every bit as awesome as they sound. (Unfortunately, the category is so new that it has no agreed-upon name. 'Portable hot spot' is descriptive but unwieldy. 'Cellular gateway' is a bit cryptic. Kyocera's term, 'mobile router,' may be as good as any.)Before you start thinking that you've died and gone to Internet heaven, however, you should know that these boxes don't work alone. Each requires the insertion of a PC laptop card provided by a cellular carrier like Verizon, Sprint or Cingular. The card provides the Internet connection, courtesy of those companies' 3G ('third generation') high-speed cellular data networks. The box just rebroadcasts that connection as a Wi-Fi signal so that all nearby computers %u2014 not just one privileged laptop %u2014 can go online."