There’s a catch, but it’s one that plays in your favor.
We were pretty surprised to find a Verizon MiFi sitting in a Fry’s Electronics store for only $69.95. We thought it was a price mistake, and quickly took it to the register to take advantage of the situation.
After buying, unboxing, charging, and starting to activate the MiFi… we ran into a brick wall. The device claimed to already be on an account. And, as we found out, it was on one of Fry’s MVNO accounts.
Yes, believe it or not, Fry’s Electronics is an MVNO for Verizon now. And, they’re reselling Verizon’s 5 GB aircard plan for $49.99/month without contract.
Yes, you read that right. Fry’s is selling Verizon’s contract plan for less money and no annual commitment. It may lack roaming, but it’s the same EV-DO Rev A service. In addition, they are also reselling the Novatel MC760 aircard for $49.95.
On Frys.com, the devices appear unbranded, but trust us… they arrive Verizon branded. Verizon may be letting Fry’s get away with this blatant branding violation while their orders of unbranded equipment are filled.
But, regardless, this is a must-have gadget for mission-critical mobile users. For $69.99, you can have a MiFi sitting in the glovebox of your car, and it can be activated with one 800-number phonecall to Fry’s ISP customer service. At $49.99 for 5 GB of prepaid data, it blows Verizon’s own mobile broadband prepaid rates out of the water.
This is, as they say, a win-win-win solution. You get a MiFi for emergencies, Fry’s emerges as a viable MVNO, and Verizon resells some service that they wouldn’t have otherwise.
Frys.com – Novatel MiFi with Fry’s ISP Service
Frys.com – Novatel MC760 with Fry’s ISP Service
3GStore.com is offering a similar deal, but Clear seems to be the best of all if you are in a 4G area.
Wow this is a great deal. Is there an activation fee or any other fees?
We don’t have fryes out here but I might have to grab one next time I’m out in Cali.
Clear is horse****. Verizon FTW.
There is no activation fee, and there’s also a 30 day money back guarantee on the first activation. If you cancel within 30 days and ask for a refund, they’ll refund the $49.95 service bill.
If you don’t have Fry’s nearby, you can order online using the links at the bottom of the article.
Wow, nice work Chris. I may have to jump on this one.
Has anyone found out what happens if you go over 5GB? Do you then start paying alacart, slowed down, or just come to a complete stop.
Where do I go if I want to sell the 5GB 3G service for $49.99 per month? Do you go straight to VZW and ask to become an MVNO or do you have to go through an aggregator? If so, who should I contact?
We get asked this a lot. Bottom line is you need a lot of cash to develop the business contacts. There is no carrier MVNO welcome wagon. You need to show you have enough money to pay the carriers in advance for the service you are buying.
Benjamin A,
You pay per megabyte. Just like Verizon. If I recall correctly, the rate is $.20 per megabyte.
Are you able to activate it on a per month basis? Say I need it for the month of June 2010 but not again until October 2010. Can I just shut it off at the end of June?
David, yes, with Fry’s plans you can do that.
What does “no roaming” mean in the article?
anyone know when these will be back in stock?
I just picked one up last week at a Fry’s in Silicon Valley.
However, I did notice that Fry’s had begun taking the MiFi’s out of their Verizon boxes, and putting them in red bubble wrapping packages.
It appears our report may have triggered them to remove Verizon from the outside packaging, though the MiFis and Aircards still have Verizon branding on them inside the packaging.
That may explain the shipping delay, they may be out of stock while Verizon labeling is removed from the boxes. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that Verizon wasn’t happy about that snafu.
Jeffrey, “no roaming” means that with these plans, you only get Verizon home network coverage. Any data roaming that Verizon provides for free on their contract plans is not available on the Fry’s/Global Access plans.
I love the no contract, no activation or cancellation fees. It’s exactly how I dream MiFi on demand would work but honestly I would only use this 2-3 times a year while traveling. With that said,how long before this is obsolete? Isn’t Verizon rolling out “4G” in Fall? Do you think they’ll offer a similar device/plan?
Chris, in response to Jeffrey’s question about roaming you wrote “… you only get Verizon home network coverage.” What does “home” mean in this context? If you’re out of your home area code there is no service? I would use it when traveling in my RV. It’s not much use to me if service is available only near my residence.
@ John
It simply means if you are roaming on Verizon, then you would not have service with this. If you have native Verizon coverage, you would be fine with this.
Hi, does anyone know if this can be unlocked and moved to another provider? Virgin Mobile just introduced a Mifi service which is prepaid and is more reasonable for the usage pattern i have. I don’t want to spend $149 for the Virgin Broadband Mifi when i already have this Fry’s one. Anyone know how to do this?
Virgin Mobile does not allow foreign ESN/MEIDs. It’s highly unlikely that the serial number would even be cleared for use on their network.
After that (likely insurmountable) obstacle, you then have to get a firmware flash for the MiFi that matches Virgin Mobile’s EVDO hashes and settings. No such flash exists (mostly because of the former reason… hence the lack of interest).
Is it impossible? Nothing is impossible. Just don’t hold your breath it will ever happen. And, the day it does, you can rest assured Fry’s will simply raise the price to match VIrgin’s offering, making the entire process moot.
Chris,
It’s now November 2010, and when I called Fry’s in S. CA., they denied they had anything like this for sale. Said the only no-contractual wireless product they were selling was a USB plug-in for ONE (not five on mifi card) computer for 49.95 and then pay-as-you-go for 45.00 for 1gig only, or 75.00 for 2gigs. Is it possible the Fry’s that you purchased the card from was having a one time special? Do you know if the same store is offering this product any longer for the same cost?
thank you