My short-lived experiences with a Verizon 3G Novatel Wireless MiFi2200
mobile hotspot.

Tuesday, daytime, at work, 5 bars: Acceptable

Tuesday, late afternoon, at home, 5 bars: Acceptable

Tuesday, evening, at home, 5 bars: Unusable

Wednesday, morning, at home, 5 bars: Acceptable

Wednesday, daytime, at work, 5 bars: Acceptable

Thursday, daytime, Troy, Ohio, ?? bars: Acceptable

Thursday, late afternoon, Kentucky mountain-top, 3-5 bars: Acceptable

Thursday, evening, Kentucky mountain-top, 2-5 bars: Unusable

Friday, morning, Kentucky mountain-top, 2-5 bars: Acceptable-to-marginal

Friday, evening, Kentucky mountain-top, 2-5 bars: Marginally usable,
                                                  then unusable

Saturday, morning, Kentucky mountain-top, 2-5 bars: Unusable


With those performance patterns: After my experiences Friday evening
and Saturday morning: Gave up after that.

"Unusable" is defined as "Extended periods of ping times in excess
of one second and packet loss rates in excess of 35%."  Simple,
relatively graphics-free web pages would (slowly) eventually load,
but email (IMAP) was essentially unusable.

Sometimes, on that eastern-central Kentucky mountain-top, I'd see
zero bars.  Usually, it was 2-3 bars.  Sometimes five.  Oddly: There
seemed to be little performance difference between 2-3 bars and five.

Summary: May be fine for use during off-peak hours in high-
population-density areas and along major transportation routes.  But
off the beaten path and *especially* during peak hours: Essentially
worthless.