Best Buy Offers Free MiFi (On Contract) with iPad Purchase

Attention all last-minute holiday shoppers contemplating an iPad: Best Buy is adding extra incentive by offering a free mobile hotspot from the carrier of your choice (options are AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless). The free mobile hotspot comes with a two-year contract, and Best Buy’s offer extends till January 2, 2011.

Just how good is this offer? Well, since mobile hotspots often run as much $300 without a contract, you’ll be saving big bucks on the device itself. But, because you must sign up for a two-year contract with the carrier of your choice, you’ll have to pay a monthly data fee.

As the iPad with 3G is available with data plans as low as $14.99 (through AT&T), there’s no guarantee that Best Buy’s free MiFi will end up costing less in the long run (in fact, the lowest data plan we could find from the big carriers was $29.99 per month for 2GB from Sprint). Still, mobile hotspots can provide connectivity for up to five devices, meaning that the free MiFi device could come in handy for those who travel (and work online) en masse.

However, of these hotspots, only Sprint’s is 4G. Will you really be happy with a 3G MiFi from AT&T or Verizon six months from now when 4G models offering more than twice the speed are commonplace. You might be better off waiting.

Source: 9to5Mac