3UK to launch Mobile Wi-Fi aka MiFi

3 UK will launch a Mobile Wi-Fi service - also known as MiFi® - in time for Christmas this year, allowing you to use Wi-Fi wherever you can access the 3 network with a small wireless modem. The wireless modem sends out a Wi-Fi signal so that you can connect a range of Wi-Fi enabled devices to the internet without the need for wires or a USB connection. No fixed-line is needed; customers simply require 3’s 3G coverage to connect.

The wireless modem - smaller than your average mobile phone at just 86 x 45 x 10 mm - allows you to create your own personal mobile Wi-Fi connection. You can connect multiple devices to the internet at the same time so while you are checking e-mails on a netbook, you can also download a track from iTunes onto your iPod touch.

Set-up is simple. No software installation is required. Simply switch on the wireless modem and connect to the Mobile Internet using a Wi-Fi signal. A Wi-Fi enabled device will automatically pick up the signal and ask for an eight-digit network key which you will be asked to input just once for every new device you want to connect.

Like other Wi-Fi style services in markets across the world, Mobile Wi-Fi from 3 is an ideal solution for both consumer and business use. It offers the UK market the most flexible and convenient way to get online since the arrival of the Mobile Broadband dongle over 2 years ago.

Marc Allera, Sales & Marketing Director at 3 UK says, “There are millions of Wi-Fi devices out there, but they can only be used in fixed locations. Consumer demand for easy and affordable internet access on the go is growing fast and we’re responding to that by announcing the UK’s first wireless modem.

Using Mobile Wi-Fi from 3, consumers can connect to the internet wherever they have a 3 signal, whether at home or on the move. They can download a track onto their iPod touch, or tweet their latest updates to their mates, or both. Either way it’s simple to set-up, without the need for wires.”

Mobile Wi-Fi, also known as MiFi®, will come to 3 in time for Christmas 2009. Pricing will be announced closer to launch.

(source)