Sent to you by 周不知 via Google Reader:
原作者：
来源Your Own Hot Spot, and Cheap
译者surestar
Someday, they'll build wireless Internet into every building, just the way they build in running water, heat and electricity today. Someday, we won't have to drive around town looking for a coffee shop when we need to check our e-mail.
总有一天，他们会在每栋建筑里都建起无线互联网，就像今天安装自来水、暖气和电一样。总有一天，当需要检查email时，我们再也用不着开着车满城跑找咖啡店了。
If you want ubiquitous Internet today, though, you have several choices. They're all compromised and all expensive.
如果想要在今天就享用到无所不在的互联网，那你还是有几种选择的，只是它们都是折衷方案，且价格不菲。
You could get online using only a smartphone, but you'll pay at least $80 a month and you'll have to view the Internet through a shrunken keyhole of a screen. You could equip your laptop with one of those cellular air cards or U.S.B. sticks, which cost $60 a month, but you'd be limited to 5 gigabytes of data transfer a month (and how are you supposed to gauge that?). You could use tethering, in which your laptop uses your cellphone as a glorified Internet antenna — but that adds $20 or $30 to your phone bill, has a fixed data limit and eats through your phone's battery charge in an hour.
你可以就用智能手机上网，不过你少说一个月得付80美元，而且你还只能通过锁孔般大小的屏幕浏览互联网。或者你也可以给笔记本配备无线上网卡或USB棒，这样每月要花费60美元，而且每月限制只能传输5G的数据（你该如何测流量呢？）。再或者你也可以采用网络共享的方法，让笔记本使用手机作为增强的互联网天线——但这会给你的手机账单增加20或30美元，数据流量也有限制，而且在一个小时内就会耗尽你手机的电量。
Last year, you could hear minds blowing coast to coast when Novatel introduced a new option: the MiFi. It creates a personal Wi-Fi bubble, a portable, powerful, password-protected wireless hot spot that, because it's the size of a porky credit card, can go with you everywhere. The MiFi gets its Internet signal from a 3G cellphone network and converts it into a Wi-Fi signal that up to five people can share.
去年，当诺瓦泰公司（Novatel）引入一项新的选择——MiFi时，你感到了心神振奋。它打造了一个个人Wi-Fi的泡沫，一个便携式、功能强大且有密码保护的无线热点，由于只有信用卡的大小，因而它能随身携带。MiFi将从3G手机网络获得的互联网信号转换为Wi-Fi信号，最多可供5人共享。
You can just leave the thing in your pocket, your laptop bag or your purse to pump out a fresh Internet signal to everyone within 30 feet, for four hours on a charge of the removable battery. You're instantly online whenever you fire up your laptop, netbook, Wi-Fi camera, game gadget, iPhone or iPod Touch.
你可以直接将这个东东揣进兜里、收入笔记本包或手提包里，它能送出最新的互联网信号给30英尺范围内的每个人，4个小时才需要充一次电。一旦你启动笔记本、上网本、Wi-Fi照相机、游戏小玩意、iPhone或iPod Touch，你就能立马上线。
The MiFi released by Virgin Mobile this week ($150) is almost exactly the same thing as the one offered by Verizon and, until recently, Sprint — but there's a twist that makes it revolutionary all over again.
由维珍移动通讯公司（Virgin Moblie）本周发布的MiFi（价值150美元）与威讯（Verizon）和斯普林特（Sprint）最近提供的产品几乎相同——但是意外变数使其成了革命性的全新体验。
The Virgin MiFi, like its rivals, is still an amazing gizmo to have on long car rides for the family, on woodsy corporate offsite meetings, at disaster sites, at trade show booths or anywhere you can't get Wi-Fi. If you live alone, the MiFi could even be your regular home Internet service, too — one that you can take with you when you head out the door. And it's still insanely useful when you're stuck on a plane on a runway.
维珍的MiFi与其对手类似，都是一个令人惊叹的小玩意，不论是在家庭驾车长途旅行中，还是在森林中的企业非现场会议上，不论是在灾难现场，还是在贸易展销会的货摊上，抑或是不能获得Wi-Fi的任何地方，你都可以配备它。如果你独自生活，MiFi甚至能成为你的日常家庭互联网服务——出门时你可以随身携带。当你陷身于跑道上的飞机时，它居然还能发挥作用。
But three things about the Virgin MiFi are very, very different. First, Virgin's plan is unlimited. You don't have to sweat through the month, hoping you don't exceed the standard 5-gigabyte data limit, as you do with the cellular-modem products from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile. (If you exceed 5 gigabytes, you pay steep per-megabyte overage charges, or in T-Mobile's case, you get your Internet speed slowed down for the rest of the month.)
不过维珍的MiFi在三个方面有很大很大的不同。第一，维珍的方案没有流量限制。你用不着像使用威讯、斯普林特、AT&T和T-Mobile的无线Modem产品那样，在一个月里担惊受怕，老想着不逾越标准的5G数据限制。（如果超出了5G，你将为超出部分按每M流量支付高得多的费用，或者按T-Mobile的方案，在该月的剩下时间里你将"享用"低速互联网。）
If you hadn't noticed, unlimited-data plans are fast disappearing — but here's Virgin, offering up an unlimited Internet plan as if it never got the memo.
在你尚未注意之时，不受限数据方案就正在迅速消失中——不过维珍提供的无限制互联网方案，好似这事就压根不用担心了。
Second, Virgin requires no contract. You can sign up for service only when you need it. In other words, it's totally O.K. with Virgin if you leave the thing in your drawer all year, and activate it only for, say, the two summer months when you'll be away. That's a huge, huge deal in this era when every flavor of Internet service, portable or not, requires a two-year commitment.
其次，维珍没有合约的要求。你仅当需要时签约使用服务就行。换句话说，如果你将MiFi整年都放在抽屉里，只在夏天两个月外出期间才激活它，维珍都完全没有问题。在今天这个时代，每项互联网服务，无论便携与否，都要求两年的合约，而这真的是特大实惠。
Third, the service price for this no-commitment, unlimited, portable hot spot is — are you sitting down? — $40 a month.
第三，不用承诺、没有限制、便携的无线热点的服务价格不过是——你是否坐稳当了？——40美元一个月。
That's no typo. It's $40 a month. Compare that with the cheapest cellular modems from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint: $60 a month. T-Mobile also charges $40 a month for its cellular modems. But all four of those big companies require a two-year contract, and come with those scary 5-gigabyte monthly data limits.
我可没有打错字，就是每月40美元。将这与AT&T、威讯和斯普林特最便宜的无线Modem（60美元一月）比较比较。虽然T-Mobile也将其无线Modem定价为40美元一月，但是所有这些大公司都要求两年的合约，而且每月还有恐怖的5G数据限制。
(There's actually another Virgin plan available, too: you can pay $10 for a 100-megabyte chunk of Internet use that expires in 10 days. It's intended for people who are heading out for the weekend and just want to keep in touch with e-mail without having to fork over a whole month's worth of money — and without paying $15 or $25 for each night of overpriced hotel Wi-Fi. And speaking of options, Virgin also offers a standard U.S.B. plug-in cellular modem with exactly the same pricing details.)
（实际上维珍还有另一方案：你可以花10美元购买100M的互联网流量，在10天内消费完。这是特意为那些周末外出和只通过email联系而不想支付整月费用的人准备的——不再为高价的旅馆Wi-Fi支付每晚15至20美元的费用。谈到选择，维珍也提供一种标准的USB接口无线Modem，其定价细节也完全一样。）
I've pounded my head against the fine print, grilled the product managers and researched the heck out of this, and I simply cannot find the catch.
我挤破脑袋想要给这项优惠唱些反调，想要盘问产品经理，还想要探究下内里的名堂，可是我偏偏无的放矢。
Is it the speed? No. You're getting exactly the same 3G speed you'd get on rival cellular modems and MiFi's. That is, about as fast as a DSL modem. A cell modem doesn't give you cable-modem speed, but you'll have no problem watching online videos and, where you have a decent Sprint signal, even doing video chats.
是速度吗？不是。你获得的是3G的速度，这与你从对手的无线Modem和MiFi中获得的速度并无二致。也即，和DSL Modem的速度不相上下。无线Modem当然给你提供不了Cable Modem一般的速度，但是你看在线视频没有问题，倘若你那儿有很好的Sprint信号，甚至还可以进行视频聊天。
Is it the coverage? Not really; Virgin uses Sprint's 3G cellular Internet network, which is excellent. You're getting exactly the same battery life and convenience of Verizon's MiFi — for two-thirds the monthly price.
是覆盖范围吗？也不像；维珍使用的是相当出色的斯普林特的3G移动互联网。你可以获得与威讯的MiFi几乎一样的电池寿命和便捷性——而每月价格却只有三分之二。
(Why would Sprint allow Virgin to use its data network but undercut its own pricing in such a brazen way? Because Sprint is focused on promoting its 4G phones and portable hot spots — even faster Internet, available so far only in a few cities. For example, its Overdrive portable hot spot is $100 after rebate, with a two-year commitment. The service is $60 a month for 5 gigabytes of 3G data and unlimited 4G data.)
（为什么斯普林特会允许维珍使用其数据网络，却厚颜无耻地不降低自己的价格？这是因为斯普林特现在专注于发展其4G电话和便携式热点——这是快得多的互联网，迄今只在少数城市可提供。例如，它的两年合约制Overdrive便携式热点折扣后价格是100美元，该服务包含5G的3G数据和无限制的4G数据的价格是60美元一月。）
That's not to say that there's no fine print whatsoever.
这也并不是说真的就无懈可击了。
First, the Virgin plan doesn't include roaming off Sprint's network; the old Sprint MiFi plans did. According to Virgin, that's not a big deal — the regular Sprint network covers 262 million people, whereas roaming would cover 12 million more — but it means that you might be out of luck in smaller towns.
首先，维珍的方案未包括斯普林特网络的漫游服务；而老的斯普林特的MiFi项目可以做到。据维珍称，这不是什么大问题——正规的斯普林特网络覆盖了2.62亿人，而漫游只能多覆盖1200万人——不过这意味着你要是在较小的城镇里就倒霉了。
Second, the Virgin MiFi can't plug directly into your computer's U.S.B. port to act as a wired cellular modem, like other carriers' MiFi units. You can connect to it only wirelessly, if you care. (You can still charge it from your computer's U.S.B. jack, but very slowly. A wall outlet or car adapter is a much better bet.)
其次，与其他运营商的MiFi组件一样，维珍的MiFi不能直接插入电脑的USB端口来充作有线移动Modem。你只能将它无线接入，如果你在乎这个的话。（你仍然可以插到USB接口里给它充电，但这会很慢。墙插或车载充电器显然要好用得多。）
Finally, remember that the Virgin MiFi is still a MiFi, so it's a bit uncommunicative. It has only a single, illuminated button that serves as the on-off switch and an indicator light that blinks cryptically in different colors. You have to press that button and wait about 20 seconds before you can get online.
最后，别忘了维珍的MiFi仍然是一种MiFi，所以它有点"不善交流"。它只有单个的发光按键来作为通断开关，而且只有一个指示灯含糊不清地闪烁着不同颜色。你必须按这个键并等待大约20秒后才能上网。
But come on: $40 a month? With no commitment or contract?
不过话说回来：40美元一月？不用承诺，也没有合约？
I did a little survey of broadband Internet prices among my Twitter followers. Turns out $40 a month is not only a great price for cellular (portable) Internet service — it's among the lowest broadband prices in America, period. In some areas you can pay $35 a month for DSL service. But most people pay $50 to $60 for high-speed Internet, which makes the Virgin deal seem even more incredible.
我就宽带互联网的价格在我的推友中做了一个小小的调查。结果发现40美元一月不仅是无线（便携）互联网服务中的好价格——它目前也是美国最低的宽带价格之一。在某些地区，DSL服务只需要支付35美元一月，但是绝大多数人为高速互联网支付了50到60美元，这让维珍的买卖看起来更加令人难以置信。
And unlike those plans, Virgin lets you turn on service only when you want it. You can buy service — as with a prepaid phone —either by calling an 800 number or visiting a Web site. Handily enough, you can get onto the Virgin Web site to re-activate your MiFi, even if you'd previously stopped paying for service.
不同于其他方案，维珍让你仅当需要时才开通服务。你可以购买服务——就如预付费电话那样——可以拨打800电话或访问Web网站开通。足够便利的是，即便之前停止了服务付费，你也可以登录维珍的Web站点来重新激活MiFi。
The MiFi's portability has always made it an exceptionally flexible and useful little gadget — and Virgin's prepaid model, unlimited data plan and dirt-cheap pricing just multiply that flexibility. And if Virgin can make money with a plan like this, the mind boggles at just how overpriced the similar offerings from its rivals must really be.
MiFi的便携性注定了它是特别灵活又特别实用的小玩意——而维珍的预付费模式、无限制的数据方案和非常便宜的定价更是使其灵活性倍增。如果维珍能够从这类方案中赢利，我们真不敢想象其对手们的相似产品的定价有多离谱了。
相关文章：
克里斯托弗·克鲁格尔（Christopher Kruegel） 研发关闭僵尸网络的软件
卡蒂·伦敦（Kati London） 以游戏来教授现实世界的技能
尼克·菲姆斯特（Nick Feamster） 观察垃圾邮件的可疑行为
Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to 译言-电脑/网络/数码科技 using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
博文
没有评论:
发表评论