MiFi tips up on a Vodafone tariff

TELCO GIANT Vodafone has released mobile Wifi, otherwise known as MiFi, in Blighty.

The brilliantly named *how long did it take marketing to come up with that?* R201 service can connect up to five people simultaneously over a single mobile broadband connection.

R201, or Vodafone Mobile WiFi, is a pretty small portable device and can be used to connect anyone using mobile Internet connected devices and WiFi accessibly. So that's the usual suspects of smartphones, laptops, and tablets if you really must.

The R201 is a re-badged piece of Huawei kit weighing only 90g with 256MB flash memory and an SD card slot. It will run over several GSM bands and supports 3G, HSDPA 7.2Mbps and HSUPA 5.76Mbps. It also has a rechargeable lithium battery and power adapter for charging.

Vodafone reckons it is simple to set up with a display listing information on the type and strength of signal available, WiFi connectivity and battery life. Punters also get a choice of connecting via USB or WiFi to get online and the R201 supports SD cards with up to 32GB capacity.

It is available free for anyone willing to part with £25 a month for an 18 months contract. For your money you'll get 5GB of mobile data a month to play with. Vodafone isn't offering the R201 on pay as you go.

This is one of the first MiFi devices on a price tariff in the UK, but Three has already beaten Vodafone to the punch with another re-badged MiFi from Huawei. And on pay as you go to boot. µ