Blazing-Fast 4G MiFi Could Replace Your Home Connection

The MiFi mobile wireless hotspot is set to get a 4G makeover. Novatel Wireless, the company behind the MiFi, has just completed testing of the WiMAX version of the MiFi.

The tiny MiFi box, which has proven very popular, does one very simple thing: It takes an incoming 3G signal and turns it into a pocket-sized, battery-powered Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing up to five devices to share a single data connection. Up until now, the bottleneck has been the network speed of the 3G connection.

In testing, Novatel’s new 4G WiMAX box has achieved actual, sustained throughput of 18Mbps. The theoretical maximum speed for the new 4G modem is 30Mbps down and 10Mbps up.

There are two ways to look at this, and at 4G in general. It could be a huge breakthrough in mobile connectivity, freeing us from home internet connections in the same way cellphones freed us from the landline. Or it could just be a way to hit your monthly 5GB bandwidth-cap that much quicker. Price and availability to be announced.