I would guess that the reason there is a monthly fee even if you are using plan minutes is that they are subsidizing the Airave box. The cheapest WiFi routers are manufactured in valumes that range into the tens, possibly hundreds, of millions and they cost $50+ per unit. I would guess that the unit volumes for the Airaves are pretty low at this point so the unit costs would be much higher than for a WiFi router.
Actually, your right and wrong at the same time...
The ONLY plan that you don't have to add the airave package is if you're on the Simply Everything Plan... This device does NOT give you EVDO, just 1X... I'm sure they have one that does EVDO sitting in a warehouse somewhere waiting to launch at Christmas... My question is, if you're going to be able to take this with you when you travel so you can get unlimited calling and good cell service while you're on the go.. I mean, obviously it's going to be a big thing to carry with you on a trip, but i mean if you're going to be somewhere that doesn't get good cell service then it might be worth taking with you!
I think we're going to start seeing airave monthly fees dicipate once other providers come out with their own version of this... i mean, TMO's UMA is a joke! I had TMO for a while and it was AWFUL! I had better reception/call clarity just using their towers, which was just as bad!
I'm optimistic about the outcome of this device for Sprint
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I would guess that the reason there is a monthly fee even if you are using plan minutes is that they are subsidizing the Airave box. The cheapest WiFi routers are manufactured in valumes that range into the tens, possibly hundreds, of millions and they cost $50+ per unit. I would guess that the unit volumes for the Airaves are pretty low at this point so the unit costs would be much higher than for a WiFi router.
They are 100$
Actually, your right and wrong at the same time...
The ONLY plan that you don't have to add the airave package is if you're on the Simply Everything Plan... This device does NOT give you EVDO, just 1X... I'm sure they have one that does EVDO sitting in a warehouse somewhere waiting to launch at Christmas... My question is, if you're going to be able to take this with you when you travel so you can get unlimited calling and good cell service while you're on the go.. I mean, obviously it's going to be a big thing to carry with you on a trip, but i mean if you're going to be somewhere that doesn't get good cell service then it might be worth taking with you!
I think we're going to start seeing airave monthly fees dicipate once other providers come out with their own version of this... i mean, TMO's UMA is a joke! I had TMO for a while and it was AWFUL! I had better reception/call clarity just using their towers, which was just as bad!
I'm optimistic about the outcome of this device for Sprint