Have you heard of Karma?
The ancient Indian philosophy?
Ha! No, in this case we’re talking Karma 4G, a recently launched mobile Wi-Fi hotspot service.
Backup for second! A what now?
A mobile hotspot device is a cross between a Wi-Fi router (like the one you have at home) and your cell phone.
It’s like a router in that it broadcasts a wireless Internet signal in its vicinity that other Wi-Fi enabled devices like iPads and laptops can connect to.
The device is comparable to a cell phone in size and weight, and the way it connects to the internet wirelessly over a 4G network (cellular phone-style network).
[box]It’s worth adding that some smartphones (iPhone included) can be set to act as a mobile hotspot.
Given this, could such technology become obsolete before it even takes off, we wonder?
Only time will tell. We’ll observe with interest.[/box]
Might I benefit from signing up?
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I always on the move?
- Do I need a high-speed, reliable connection when I’m on the move?
- Do I find it difficult to find such a connection when I’m not at home or work?
- Would I like to help total strangers connect to the Internet and get rewarded for it?
If you answered yes to all four questions, then you’re the kind of person the Karma service is aimed at.
Hit me with some of the technical details…
- There is network coverage in more than 70 U.S. cities including New York, San Francisco, LA, Washington, Chicago and Houston
The device:
- has six to eight hours of battery life
- runs at six megabits per second (Mbps)
- facilitates up to eight connections at once
- weighs a little more than two ounces and fits in the palm of your hand
So, what makes Karma different?
The clue’s in the name. Karma’s big idea is ‘social bandwidth’. Essentially, the more bandwidth a device owner shares, the more s/he earns.
Any new user can log on to a Karma device (if the eight connections aren’t already full) using their Facebook account. The moment they do, the owner of the device gets 100 megabytes of data credited to their account.
As far as we understand it, people who connect to the internet via another user’s device pay nothing for the privilege.
How much does it cost?
Signing up requires a one-off $79 payment. That includes a Karma hotspot device and one gigabyte of bandwidth.
Karma isn’t a subscription service, so there’s no obligation to pay any further charges, something that distinguishes it from many of the other similar services out there.
Users only pay for the bandwidth they use. Additional bandwidth costs $14 per gigabyte and never expires. But of course, most users will hope by sharing their connection, they rarely, if ever, need to top up.
Sounds good. Where’s the catch?
Well, as far as we can tell there isn’t one. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that a user could have an unlimited mobile 4G connection for a one-off payment of 79 bucks.
Having said that, we will leave you with one cautionary tale.
Imagine for a second your flight is delayed. You’re in an airport terminal with no public Wi-Fi access. ‘No problem’ you think, as you fire up your Karma device in the waiting lounge. You check your Facebook, emails…maybe stream a little music…boredom averted.
Within ten minutes or so seven of your fellow passengers have noticed your personalized Wi-Fi signal (each Karma device has a name unique to its user) and logged onto your device’s remaining open connections.
Sure, you’re instantly credited with 700 MB of data, but what if all seven on those users decide to download a movie…or Skype their loved ones…or stream a television show…or hit up a playlist on Spotify…or all of the above? All of a sudden, that Facebook album you were looking at loads as fast as coastal erosion.
Thing is, the way the service is setup right now, you wouldn’t be able to kick those other users off your connection. You’d just have to put up with the situation (you could turn the device off and on again we guess, but we suspect people would jump right back on).
We love the idea of social bandwidth – it’s a lovely idea. But we can’t help but think fully paid-up users will get seriously frustrated when they can’t make full use of the service they’re paying for, because strangers are enjoying a free ride on it.
If you own a Karma device, or if you’ve managed to log on to someone else’s Karma connection, we’d love to hear about your experience. Tweet us, or comment below.
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Image: Karma)
