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Tool Kit: Keeping Wi-Fi Always Within Range

An important business report could go unfinished. Access to a customer list could be cut off. And any number of items you’re accustomed to using on a laptop computer could be rendered unreachable.

But there is a growing list of options, including turning your cellphone into a Wi-Fi hot spot or buying small independent devices, to ensure a constant link to the Web.

Start with the basics. Before buying a hot spot device or paying for a plan that adds this sort of capability to a cellphone, consider the coverage area for data. Review a map that shows how well the services provided by, say, the Clearwire network, which is owned by Sprint, work in certain areas.

This map is usually on the carrier’s Web site or at its store. Network speed is important, too: a 4G network is faster than 3G, for example, and while 4G is about the fastest available, some 4G networks are faster than others. This is important, as the Wi-Fi options can be dizzying.

One of the newer and more novel options is a mobile hot spot from Karma. As the name suggests, owners of a Karma device are encouraged to share their Wi-Fi hot spot with anyone within range, including strangers. There is a reward for this generosity: 100 megabytes of free data if someone else logs in and signs up.

“Any new customer that buys our hot spot is also immediately an evangelist of our service by emitting an open Wi-Fi signal,” said Robert Gaal, Karma’s chief executive.

The Karma service uses the Clearwire data network. It offers coverage in 80 cities and provides a 4G connection. The Karma device ($79) is compact, and the first gigabyte of data is free. After that, each gigabyte costs $14, on a pay-as-you-go plan, with no time limit for using the data. That gigabyte can accommodate the downloading of about 170 music files of typical size.

FreedomPop also takes an unusual approach. After buying the FreedomPop Photon mobile hot spot ($99), users get up to 500 megabytes of data a month. While that’s not enough for downloading lots of videos, it’s plenty for basic e-mail and simple Web browsing. After that, monthly plans cost $18 for two gigabytes of data and $29 for four gigabytes. There is no contract and users can switch among plans as needed. The device gets six to eight hours on a battery charge.

As with Karma, the FreedomPop device provides a 4G connection from the Clearwire network. For $4 a month extra, the network’s full speed is unlocked. Otherwise, downloads are capped at about half speed.

The company recently began offering a device called the FreedomPop Overdrive Pro ($40), which provides a larger area of coverage by using both 4G and 3G networks. The 3G network coverage is provided by Sprint, and a plan with two gigabytes of data is $20 a month.

Chances are, smartphone owners already have a hot spot in their pockets. Most newer models of the iPhone, Android phones, BlackBerrys and Windows phones have built-in hot spots. Enabling the feature, known as tethering, is straightforward; on an iPhone 5, for example, select Settings, then General, then Cellular. To wall off interlopers, you can secure the connection with encryption and a password. But a word of warning: using the hot spot feature puts additional strain on the battery, so don’t stray too far from the charger.

The major carriers offer the hot spot feature in their smartphone plans. T-Mobile includes it at no extra cost in its Simple Choice offering. Plans start at $50 a month and include 500 megabytes of high-speed data use on the phone or in tethering. That also includes the phone’s talk and texting services. The data can be increased for an extra $10 a month for each additional two gigabytes, to a maximum of 12.

Verizon includes the hot spot feature in its Share Everything plan at no extra cost. A plan with one gigabyte of data costs $50 a month, plus $40 for the phone’s other services, like talking and texting. It provides access to Verizon’s 4G LTE network for both the phone and tethering. Users can move up to two gigabytes for an extra $10, or four gigabytes for $20.

AT&T’s Mobile Share plans include the hot spot feature, starting at $40 for a gigabyte of data plus $45 for the phone’s talk and text services. A $70 option, with four gigabytes of data, and several others are also available.

Sprint charges an add-on fee to use the phone for tethering; $20 a month for two gigabytes of data, or $50 for six gigabytes. That’s in addition to the data plan and other services for the phone. The same plans are available for tablets, allowing users to turn an iPad or Android tablet into a hot spot. Other carriers also offer the hot spot feature for tablets.

Stand-alone devices are another option from the major carriers. Some have a contract while others are month-to-month or pay-as-you-go. Verizon offers the Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 5510L at no cost with a two-year contract (four gigabytes for $50; 10 gigabytes for $80).

Unlike the Karma and FreedomPop Photon devices, it has a screen that shows information like remaining battery life, connection speeds and number of devices attached. AT&T and Sprint also offer MiFi devices with different features and pricing.

T-Mobile offers the Sonic 2.0 Mobile HotSpot LTE, the company’s first mobile hot spot for its 4G LTE network. It has a screen, supports up to eight Wi-Fi-capable devices and costs $150 (or a $30 down payment with $5 monthly payments for 24 months). Data plans start at 500 megabytes for $20, or two gigabytes for $30, and other increments up to 12 gigabytes for $80.

The other option is to hunt down public access points. If no free option is within range, Boingo, with more than 600,000 hot spots worldwide, may have one nearby.

The company offers a variety of plans at boingo.com/wifi-plans. Customers of Comcast, Cablevision and other providers of home Internet access can use more than 100,000 public hot spots in many major cities. Subscribers of most Comcast Xfinity plans can use the hot spots at no additional cost (more information is at cablewifi.com).

AT&T offers free access at Starbucks and other locations. And apps like JiWire’s Wi-Fi Finder, which can find both free and fee-based hot spots, can also display the locations of hot spots while a phone or tablet is offline.

So don’t fret. With the correct tools and planning, you’ll never have to be in a wireless desert.

Special Report: Technology & Innovation: Robotic Gadgets Are Becoming Within Reach of Average Consumer

His creation, the Hexy, is a six-legged, crablike creature that can navigate its own environment and respond to humans with a hand wave or other programmable gesture. Mr. Schlesinger said he had been able to lower production costs by using free software and by molding a lot of the plastic parts locally in Massachusetts, not in China.

Since setting up his company, ArcBotics, in suburban Somerville, Massachusetts, Mr. Schlesinger has built a backlog of more than 1,000 orders. His goal, he said, was to become “the Ikea of robotics.”

“I think the market for consumer robotics is poised to explode,” said Mr. Schlesinger, a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. “We are only at the beginning.”

Since the 1960s, robots have assumed major roles in industrial manufacturing and assembly, the remote detonation of explosives, search and rescue, and academic research. But the devices have remained out of reach, in affordability and practicality, to most consumers.

That, according to Professor Andrew Ng, the director of the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stanford University in California, is about to change. One big reason, Mr. Ng said, is the mass production of smartphones and game consoles, which has driven down the size and price of robotic building blocks like accelerometers, gyroscopes and sensors.

On the edges of consumer consciousness, the first generation of devices with rudimentary artificial intelligence are beginning to appear: entertainment and educational robots like the Hexy, and a line of tireless household drones that can mow lawns, sweep floors, clean swimming pools and even enhance golf games.

“I’m seeing a huge explosion of robotic toys and believe that there will be one soon in industry,” said Mr. Ng, an associated professor of computer science at Stanford.

The most advanced robots remain exotic workhorses like NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover, which cost $2.5 billion, and the LS3, a doglike robot being developed for the U.S. military that can carry a 400-pound, or 180-kilogram load more than 20 miles, or about 30 kilometers. The mechanical beast of burden, whose price is not public, is being made by a consortium led by Boston Dynamics. In Menlo Park, California, engineers at Willow Garage, a robotics firm, are selling the two-armed, 5-foot-4 inch (1.63-meter) rolling robot called the PR2 for $400,000.

A video on Willow Garage’s Web site shows the PR2 fetching beer from a refrigerator, which while an engineering and programming feat, is an expensive way to get beer.

“I think we’re still some years away from useful personal robots making pervasive appearances in our homes,” Mr. Ng said.

Right now, for the masses, there is the CaddyTrek, a robotic golf club carrier that follows a player from tee to fairway to green through tall grass, up 30-degree slopes and in snow, for as many as 27 holes on a single charge. Players wear a remote control on their belts, which acts as a homing beacon for the self-propelled cart, which trails six paces behind the player.

Golfers can also navigate the robotic cart, which is made by FTR Systems, to the next tee while they finish putting.

“Someone ran up to me last week and said that my golf cart had broken free and was rolling through the parking lot,” said Richard Nagle, the sales manager for CaddyTrek in North America and Europe. “Most people just stop and stare. They’re not used to this.”

FTR Systems does not disclose the proprietary technology it uses to power the CaddyTrek, which sells for $1,595, but Mr. Nagle said sales of the robot carriers had been strong, and the company had been rushing to meet orders in the United States and Europe.

PlanetSide 2 Beta Due "Within the Next Month"

PlanetSide 2 will begin beta testing "within the next month" according to executive producer Josh Hackney.

He made the announcement in the debut episode of Sony Online Entertainment's new developer diary series, Command Center.

The beta will be available to "hardcore players" of the original Planetside first, as the team wants feedback from veterans used to dealing with the different mechanics the series employs. Those who applied for beta keys won't be forgotten though, as Hackney explained others will be let in over time.

PlanetSide 2 is a science fiction MMOFPS that focuses on the struggle between three unique empires vying for control over limited resources, and is the sequel to 2003's PlanetSide.

For more PlanetSide 2 info, including details on upcoming events, the infiltrator class and costumes, check out the debut episode of Command Center below as well as our E3 preview of the game.