Stay Connected with the NETGEAR Zing Mobile Hotspot

Disclosure: I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Sprint. I received a NETGEAR Zing Mobile Hotspot to facilitate my review.

Working from home has it’s perks. Showering is optional, it’s always bring your dog to work day and usually (OK, sometimes) there is a stocked refrigerator nearby. Nobody yells at me to change the radio station and I don’t have to worry about sharing my bathroom with strangers. You would think with all these perks I would never leave home but surprisingly that, that’s not the case. There are times that I need a change of scenery and that’s when my NETGEAR Zing Mobile Hotspot powered by Sprint comes into play.

There are times when staring at the walls in my office (aka living room) are no longer stimulating. I’m an outdoorsy type person and need to have sunlight in my face. With my NETGEAR Zing Mobile Hotspot, I can work from anywhere. The park down the street has served as my second office a few times and if I want to make sure my wireless signal is strong while I’m working from my backyard deck, I connect to my mobile hotspot.

Setting up my mobile hotspot was very simple. All I did was plug in the hotspot (it uses the universal USB plug for Android) and followed the prompts. The most difficult part of setting up my device was figuring out a name for my wireless network! One of my awesome neighbors already took “bacon grease” so I decided to go with Can’t Touch This. After naming my network, I set up a password and that was it. All I had to do was charge the NETGEAR Zing Mobile Hotspot and then connect my devices. Seriously, it was that simple. This non-techy, techy girl figured it all out without reading the instructions.

For you techy peeps, here are the specifics on the hotspot:

• Dimensions: 4.3” L (110 mm) x 2.7” W (69 mm) x 0.6” H (15.2 mm)
• Display: 2.4” / 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA) resistive LCD touchscreen with data usage meter
• Weight: 3.95 Ounces (112 grams)
• Frequency: Tri-band: LTE: B25 (1900MHz), B26 (800MHz) & B41 (2500MHz); CDMA:  BC0/1/10
• Antenna: Internal and External Antenna support – Non-standard adaptor required; 2X2 MIMO (multiple-input and multiple outputs) antenna for LTE
• Compatibility: Windows® 8, 7, Vista®, or XP (32 and 64bit), Mac OS® 10.5 or 10.6 and newer (Snow Leopard), Ubuntu Linux 9.04
• Battery: Removable Li-ion battery (2500 mAh) with up to 10 hours of continuous usage and up to 10 days of standby

It’s all a bit Greek to me but believe me, I love having this thing.

At first, I wasn’t sure how much I would use my hotspot but surprisingly, I use it every day. My daughter’s preschool is 45 minutes away from our house so instead of listening to her complain about the drive, she connects our Samsung tablet to the hotspot and watches Netflix or plays with some the apps we’ve downloaded. It makes the drive more tolerable for both of us. Last weekend when I went Iowa to visit family and friends, instead of trying to tap into the neighborhood “guest” wifi or going to McDonald’s, I used my own personal hotspot. I didn’t have to fight with others for bandwidth or have to buy an extra value meal to get service. I’m able to connect up to 10 wifi enabled devices so that means my laptop, my daughter’s tablet, my printer and even my wireless camera can be used at one time.

Being connected is critical for me. It’s how I earn a living. Now with my NETGEAR Zing Mobile Hotspot, I can be connected as much or as little I want to be, depending on the scenery.