Pictured is a MiFi from Verizon. It is a device about the size of a deck of cards, but thinner that allows five people to connect for secured wireless. Since I dropped my home Internet access back in the early Spring (the price jumped, I cringed), I was very excited to try* this out so I could browse real estate listings, download podcasts, upload photos and blog from home.

I was given a quick rundown of how to load and activate the device, but the instructions are straight forward, too. I say this because working at a library, most of the people ask question about something they could read and learn on their own but are too lazy. Anyway, I tried it out on both my netbook (2009) and laptop (2005) because they are from different years and I wanted to see if there was any hitch in using it on an older computer. Nope.

This would have been great last year on our family’s beach vacation when a few of us were in need of Internet access, but had no connection (except for the public library!).

I have not inquired about is the price of a data plan for this and how/if it works with an existing Verizon phone plan. Or as a Blackberry user would I be better off tethering my Internet use to my phone’s data plan. These are questions that would be specific to my needs but I am waiting until after I buy a house to evaluate this expense.

If you are looking for an alternative to your current landline phone or cable company’s Internet offerings, check this out.

*Note: Verizon let me borrow the MiFi without payment and I have since returned it. I chose to blog about it because I enjoyed using it.