Side by Side Comparison of: Netgear vs USA Gear

Is working very well,as I expected. The price was high but this item was very difficult to find. I don't understand why Virgin mobile can't sell it direct to their customers.

Ordered this for my son because he doesn't have WiFi. This works great!

This is my second one because I could not find the first one I purchased from Virgin Mobile....then I found the first one so I have two of them now but they really work when you don't have internet available.

This is a great to take on the road so you always have some sort of wifi. It just might save your life one day :) Great reception even in the mountains

It works very well with windows 7 and windows 8. Data is great not slow but good for web browsing and gaming on steam. The plan for the mobile broadband unit is good but it can go up fast if your not careful.

Great mobile hot spot! It's not real fast but it allows me to have Internet access on my laptop as long as I have a cell phone signal.

Works well, connecting at 4G LTE, only ocassionaly dropping to 3G. I'm sort of on the fringe of 4G. That of course depends on your locallity, check out the coverage maps at VirginMobile.Only complaint has been that recently they have been redoing their web site and the default link in the device for managing account no longer works. I pay month-to-month, with top-up cards, and had to call support to activate the next month. Supposedly will be corrected soon.

I like the size of this and the fact that it can be password protected. I don't like that the MB used doesn't reset each new billing cycle which forces me to get online to look it up. But I only use it when I'm in an airport or hotel with bad WIFI. Battery life is long.

working fine - just getting it up, with an auto pay was a slight problem - now fine -

Had a few bumps first starting out, but now everything is working fine. Love the speed at which I can excess the internet.

Replacing my Overdrive Pro. Haven't had it long, but it works great! Delivered on time, as described and at a fair price.

This review is being written 5/28/2014 for the Netgear Mingle Mobile WiFi Hotspot (Virgin Mobile) by Netgear, advertised and sold by Amazon on their website.This is a self-contained WiFi hotspot that connects to the Virgin Mobile (Sprint) 3G and 4G (LTE not Wimax) networks. Using this device, you can provide Internet access for up to 10 devices simultaneously. However, given the highly restrictive nature of the available data plans, this is not practical.The Mingle has a small, color LCD display that provides status including signal strength, connection (3G or LTE), Wireless access point name (SSID) and password, and an estimate of the data usage. A rechargeable battery is included as well as the micro-USB cable and AC wall charger. The micro-USB cable can alternatively be connected to a PC for "tethering" (Internet connection via the cable not WiFi), but additional drivers must be downloaded to use this feature. The battery lasts 1/2 a day of fairly constant use in my experience. The Mingle also has connections for external antennas, although I did not test this feature. I found that the battery cover is rather loose and not a very secure design. The Mingle has the features of a regular WiFi home router which are accessible via a web page. I recommend changing the administrative password even if you don't change anything else. You can also change the SSID (it has Mingle in the name otherwise and it's usually not a good idea to advertise to the area the manufacturer of your access point), stop the SSID from broadcasting to stop non-hacker users from attempting to connect to your device, limit the number of devices that may attach (default of 10), and set various other networking parameters. All of these are optional and the device will work without setting them.Activation as advertised by the service provider did not work for me (connect to the WiFi via a web browser and follow the instructions). A call to Virgin Mobile customer service was required to activate.After activation, you must select a service plan. One cannot ignore the service plan aspect of the Mingle if you are planning on purchasing the device. Virgin Mobile does not currently offer unlimited data plans for their broadband access points such as the Mingle. In my case, I use at least 250 Mb/day in my work which involves extensive email but no gaming or movie streaming services. Service plans are likely to change, so check on the Virgin Mobile website for the latest. None of the service plans that Virgin Mobile offers would work for me if I were using it each and every day for work. Neither would they work if I were watching even one movie per day via a movie streaming service.One might also want to check the coverage area in advance if you plan on using this in common locations such as your home, school, or work. Check on the Virgin Mobile website for the latest coverage maps.Once activated and a service plan is paid for on the Virgin Mobile website (using credit cards or top-off cards purchased at various places), the Mingle is live and will provide Internet access to any device that connects to the WiFi hotspot (using the password). One needs to monitor this carefully as all Internet access counts against your data limit.My conclusion is that the Mingle is a good cellular-based Internet access device for casual use but not as a primary Internet connectivity option due to the capped data plans offered by the service provider. Examples that come to mind are traveling (many airports don't have free WiFi) or an emergency backup at home when your primary Internet Service Provider has an outage.

it's okay

very slow

Worked ok after replacing battery ( battery cost $28).

Arrived intact, easy to get the battery installed, except the battery is unable to charge or hold a charge. Apparently a bad battery from the start. Replacement on the way, will update once I see if the next one works.Update: The second one works, speeds are acceptable, not really what I expected for 4G given what the phone can move in 4G, but it does the job, I only needed it for a brief time, so no contract was the main draw.

Got this for my parents... they are not tech savy but needed a way to connect their laptop to the internet on vacation. Once set up, seems easy to connect. However, the billing at Virgin mobile seems to be screwed up... unable to set this to auto-renew... which was a pain in the neck for my parents who had to keep calling me to renew this item once a month. The connection speeds seem good ... but don't watch a movie or skype... you will eat up your data minutes quickly. This is a great device for occasional web browsing, checking your stocks, doing online bills and payments, and checking email. For much more, you will need more data minutes.

The title comes from a Tolstoy short story, "How Much Land?" as in, how much land (bandwidth) is enough for a man?Purchased for $99 at Best Buy. I guess you can buy the Netgear Mingle device directly from Virgin Mobile for $79. I asked the sales person at Best Buy if she could set it up, she said "yes". An hour later my friend was thinking about going to Barnes & Noble without me. Finally the sales person had it set up. I even connected to the device right there using my phone.At home, I connected the device to my laptop using the USB cable. Immediate connection, with a browser-based dashboard, After disconnecting and moving the nicely designed, lightweight hotspot to the window where I could increase the bars, I easily connected. The mobile hotspot performs very well. After a couple days, I noticed it would "go to sleep", and I'd have to remove the battery (very easy to do, as the back battery cover snaps out and snaps back into place very easily, no tools involved). You put the battery back in, and the device "wakes up".Technologically, I think the Virgin Mobile (I guess they are really owned by Sprint) Mingle works fairly well. I would even give it 5 stars.Now to start subtracting stars.Broadband2Go, Virgin Mobile's data plan options: On day 1, my usage hit 1G. I have no idea what was happening on my computer that sucked up so much bandwidth in the first few hours. Was it a background process like Windows update? I don't know, but the real-time Mingle dashboard manager usage indicator kept climbing. At this rate, my data usage would hit the brick wall in just a few days. This was last Saturday, 5 days ago. I am already at 4 out of 6GB of usage. Beginning from Saturday afternoon, I realized I would have to be very discriminating in my internet use if I didn't want to cap out at 6G before the month is out. That's probably not possible.Yesterday I video Skyped with a friend for one hour....1G! Never again. YouTube? Huh, be very careful. Movies? Forget about it, better to go to a Starbucks or your local municipal library and download them there.I believed ("belief" being a set of conclusions based on ignorance) that 6 gigabytes was more than enough for a month. It is actually very little. While Virgin Mobile buries their customer support phone number making it hard to call them, getting to the payment plans page is very easy. They don't really offer many choices. Somewhere on another site I saw a "13G for $60" option, but that simply doesn't exist on the official Virgin Mobile accounts page. If you choose another plan (let's say, 6G / $55 recurring payment as opposed to non-recurring) you will lose your non-recurring plan permanently.Virgin Mobile needs (consumer need, I suppose, not theirs) to provide a significantly more robust bandwidth allotment, but not at a 1:1 charge (let's say 24G for $99). As it is, this Broadband2Go solution is kind of like sipping from that expensive bottle of 15-year old scotch. You know that when it's gone, you will probably not get another one any time soon.

not a fan...... only 1 bar, and yet I live 35 miles nwest of chgo. continually getting website not responding, .or no internet connection... .. doesn't always shut down even when screen says it is, have to recharge. had stick, less monthly charge. it broke, so had to buy mingle, and was told my 40dollar plan wasn't available anymore, so now its 55 month and not worth the aggravation or the price increase. .....

At least I got it to connect after four calls to virginmobile. Bought the device off ebay. Picked up a top up card at Target to test it. Apparently the device had been puchased then returned. It was still registered to another user. All I wanted to do was spend some money with virginmobile but there didn't seem to be a contingency in the script for someone buying a used device. It took about two hours, finally they setup an account for me over the phone. Couldn't be done through the web admin interface.After the account was setup I logged in and browsed my data options. I chose a Walmart special of $20 for 1gb, 30 days, non-recurring. If you choose a recurring option you lose the non-recurring options. After completing payment the device prompted me for a software upgrade. Approximately ten minutes later my device was ready to use, 118 MB burned. What!?I'm not even 30 minutes into 30 days and it looks like 20% of my data allotment is gone. I was thinking I'd use this device for an occasional jaunt to the coffee shop where wifi may not be available, or some similar scenario.This is not going to be a viable option at $55 for 6gb a month. And 1gb will be gone before I know it. Doesn't seem like this was a very smart purchase.

Did not function as instructions indicated out of the box. Real pain to get working.

The seller was great but the piece isn't. More complicated bc of virgin mobile company not the seller. Virgin mobile wouldn't let me use this after buying it

Wouldn't sustain any sort of reliable connection for any device.

Battery would not charge and unit won't come on without battery.

Do not buy this! There is a common issue that causes the device to fail and give a "no battery" error message. My device failed outside of the one year warranty period, so I couldn't get Virgin Mobile or Netgear to replace it. I used this as a back-up internet source, so I didn't use it heavily or give it excessive wear and tear. When it worked, it was fine, but failing within 18 months is a huge flaw.

THIS DOES NOT WORK! Virgin Mobile has been great for many years, but I purchased this device online as it was not available locally. There was NO WAY that the Virgin Mobile tech support could help and believe me, they tried. I am now left with no chance to get 4G speeds. Sadly, I think I will have to go with another carrier. RATS!

Works fine if you are in town. I wouldn't buy it if you are even a mile from a downtown area. It might have worked better if a housing development hadn't moved in next door. I occasionally get one bar, but it doesn't last very long. Not enough to do anything. Waiting for a signal booster antenna. Maybe that will help.

The worst hotspot I've ever used. It's suppose to be able to use the 4G LTE, but every single time I've connected to the 4G LTE in my area the device just starts to freak out! I get only 1 bar of 4G LTE in my area (I'm guessing this device is picking up the signal correctly? possible defective antenna or buggy firmware?), anyway within a minute of it switching to the LTE signal it will force reboot the hotspot over and over and over again, numerous times. I took it outside to test the signal strength of the LTE signal and it just started rebooting at least 10 times in a row. I've called and complained to Virgin Mobile that something is not right with this hotspot unit, and they've sent me 3 replacement units, one after another. All 3 of them displayed the same 4G LTE reboot bug. Just to use the device without it freaking out when it encounters a 4G LTE signal, I've had to force it in the settings to stay on 3G only. It seems stable and does not do the weird reboot bug if you set it to 3G only. But as soon as I set it to Automatic (default 3G/4G LTE detection setting) or LTE only setting, as soon as it detects that 1 bar of 4G LTE it will crap itself and start rebooting repeatedly within seconds, minutes, of switching to the 4G LTE signal. Buyer beware.