Rocket and roll: A look at mobile Internet
By: calendar iconJuly 15th, 2010 a 9:28am

HSPA+ Rocket™ Mobile Internet Stick - Nokia CS-18If you’re like me, you’re probably taking a few trips this summer.

While getting away from it all is important, sometimes you need to stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues. Yes, you can use your smartphone to check e-mails or the occasional attachment. But if you need to access files, send or receive attachments, or wrap up some business before you play, mobile Internet connectivity on your laptop may give you the peace of mind to truly relax.

For example, the Rocket mobile Internet stick acts as a modem and memory stick in one, providing HSPA+ connectivity with download speeds of up to 21 Mbps and expandable memory storage up to 32 GB. All you need to do to keep connected is take the tiny stick out of your pocket, plug it into your laptop USB port and in a few clicks, you’re surfing.

If you prefer Internet access for the whole family or team, the Rocket mobile hotspot connects up to 5 Wi-Fi devices at once ― laptops, music players, gaming devices, and more. Barely larger than a deck of cards, it’s easy to use on the go and runs up to 4 hours on a single charge. No software download needed – just power on to create your own personal hotspot.

Mobile Internet 101
Our urMagazine put together this cheat sheet which details the different mobile Internet options available, including Netbooks with mobile Internet built-in, Rocket sticks, Rocket mobile hotspot and the Rocket hub.

You can also check out more details and available plans on all these mobile Internet options here.

So, where will you take the Internet this summer? How do you stay connected while on the go?

Miranda MacDonald is a regular contributor to RedBoard.

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  1. Mathieu Méa says: July 15th, 2010 a 9:49am

    Don’t forget you can also just use some smartphones as a mobile hotspot with USB/WiFi tethering.

  2. Doe says: July 15th, 2010 a 10:13am

    Just remember rocket sticks and Hub are NOT compatible with XBOX or PS3

    • rob says: July 16th, 2010 a 9:26am

      we’ve actually had the HUB working with a ps3. and have hear some people working a 360 with it, but haven’t tried personally yet.

  3. Marty says: July 15th, 2010 a 10:56am

    Love the idea of the Mifi Mobile hotspot, but any idea on when it will be available for sale again? I’m buying it as soon as I can!

    • RogersMiranda says: July 16th, 2010 a 9:16am

      Hi Marty,

      You’ll be able to get the MiFi Mobile Hotspot now at Rogers Plus or dealer stores.

      It will also be available soon from Rogers.com.

  4. javatyger says: July 15th, 2010 a 7:42pm

    I love my HP Mini I got for free from Rogers. I hardly ever use the Rogers service, since I’m usually on WiFi, but when I need too to use Rogers, it works great and flawlessly. Haven’t had any issues at all, so highly recommended. I used to used to have the Rocket Stick and I don’t have too many good things to say about it….definitely worth getting a laptop instead.

  5. Doe says: July 16th, 2010 a 12:21pm

    PS3 will connect so you can browse only! No online gaming at all!!

  6. T-Bone says: July 16th, 2010 a 7:32pm

    I have bell turbo stick. It’s a consistently faster service vs Rogers but the software and stick design are just terrible. The Rogers stick is more stable in use at times and the connect software is FAR better on Rogers vs Bell. Almost enough so that I would pick Rogers again if given a second chance, however we have a Rogers deadzone around our house for some reason, or maybe I am just holding my prone wrong ;o)

    Either way bell worked faster by a long shot but Rogers works better in terms of hardware software

  7. John Piercy says: July 19th, 2010 a 9:59am

    I did a demo with a rocket stick .. I would have kept it , if not for the price ..

  8. PM says: July 19th, 2010 a 11:17am

    Well,

    One thing that (in my opinion) is anything but straightforward is Rogers’ pricing for mobile internet.

    Let’s see: on the iPad, I get:
    - 250MB/month for $15, or
    - 5GB for $35.

    On a data plan, I get:
    - 250MB for $25/month, or 5GB for $60/month on a Blackberry plan, or
    - 500MB for $30/month and 5GB for $65/month on a mobile high-speed internet plan.

    Or would you prefer a smartphone plan? This gets you 500MB for $25/month and 5GB for $60/month. Confused? I surely am (why is pricing for 5GB so different?).

    Remarkably, the iPad plans are considerably cheaper than Blackberry, smartphone or mobile internet plan, and I don’t quite understand why. Is the mobile internet plan subsidizing the device? Possibly, but doing the math, the increase in cost is substantially above the device’s cost.

    It’s almost as if Rogers is telling you that the cost to access the internet through the mobile network depends on the sort of device you’re using… so streamlining the pricing would be really helpful.

    Philipp

    • RogersMiranda says: July 20th, 2010 a 10:04am

      Hi Philipp,

      Thanks for your feedback. Just wanted to make one point about iPad vs. other mobile internet pricing. We mentioned this on our previous iPad post, but I think it’s worth posting again here for clarification.

      More than 90% of the North America wireless market involves contracts and subsidized handset prices. In markets where many more customers routinely pay full price for the device, carriers frequently offer differential pricing. As iPad is not sold, subsidized or serviced by the carrier we are able to offer a different pricing model.

      Hope that helps clarify the difference a bit.

      • Walter says: July 29th, 2010 a 4:51pm

        So does this mean that the $30/6GB option being offered for the iphone4 launch will be applicable to mifi? What if I buy the mifi outright and just go month-month with it?

  9. javatyger says: July 20th, 2010 a 11:06am

    Hi Miranada.

    Ok, now even I have to question the logic behind your data pricing, because now after what you have mentioned here, it sounds like just because we’re on a contract, we get the worse deals.
    So according to what you have stated, you’re pricing plans are they way they are for the iPad data pkgs because they don’t have a contract, nor subsided by the carrier. Which to me makes perfect sense because you want to attract more clients with attractive data plans, since you don’t have them tied to a contract.

    However, because we are tied to contracts, we have to pay more for data??? This is where the logic doesn’t make sense. Since we all have a contract, we should be getting better deals since we are long time clients, paying Rogers for continual service. From what I’m getting from your data pricing, is that you are charging us more for data because we are on a contract, so Rogers can do this.

    Data is data, plain and simple. Some devices take up more bandwidth on the network, and should be charged accordingly. But giving 5GB of data for cheap to an iPad user, just because they are not on a contract is not fair to other smartphone users, such as a similar iPhone user, or even a BlackBerry user(which doesn’t use as much bandwidth). I don’t think its fair just because we’re on a contract that Rogers can charge us higher data plans, because we have no choice but to accept them, but offer a cheaper data plan to an iPad user which takes up more bandwidth then other smartphones.

    Thankfully, I still got my 6GB plan, the best deal Rogers ever came out with. ;) But I do feel sorry for my fellow Rogers clients paying more for their data. I also have the HP Mini notebook too, but thankfully I use WIFI more then I use the Rogers service, keeping my bill small. Those rocket plans really do need to be more fair in my opinion.

  10. manpreet says: July 21st, 2010 a 4:57pm

    hiiiiiiiiii
    i just want to say that this technique is really great…………now i dnt have to look for wifi connection to run internet service on my phone ……..now with mifi i can take internet service at anywhere……i just love this idea….great rogers…..all the best for future

  11. pc says: July 26th, 2010 a 3:13am

    here’s an idea. if people know you are away, they wont try to get a hold of you unless it is a matter of life or death. so put your internet stick and computer / cell phone away and go and enjoy your vacation.

  12. snorlax says: August 3rd, 2010 a 11:24am

    I currently have the rocket stick and the $30, 500MB plan. Can I upgrade to the $30, 6 Gig currently being offered?

  13. javatyger says: August 3rd, 2010 a 12:05pm

    @snorlax

    The 6GB data plan is for smartphone users only, so Rogers won’t let you add the 6GB to a Rocket Stick. If you had a BlackBerry or iPhone as an example, you could add the plan to it and then tether as tethering is included in the plan

  14. snorlax says: August 3rd, 2010 a 5:27pm

    Thanks for the quick reply. I can see no reason why a Rocket Stick is not allowed to have the 6 gig plan if you can do the same thing with a smartphone. Too bad, it would have eliminated the need to constantly monitor my usage.

  15. kman says: August 10th, 2010 a 4:41pm

    Still waiting for the ability to pool my plan (blackberry data/ipad/rocketstick)

    I have a blackberry but don’t see any sense in getting an iPad / rocketstick unless I can put them on my same data plan. I only use a fraction of the 6GB I’m paying for now, so paying more more data plans that I also get fractional use of mean I’m paying a lot of money for capicity that I don’t use.

    Lame.