Happy Valentine's Day! Hope your day is chock full of cupcakes and chocolate and candy heart things. I am spending Valentine's Day in an airport, so the kids and I had to exchange cards and gifts yesterday, and my husband and I did our V-Day dinner on tuesday (hey, we beat the crowds and didn't have to suffer through prix-fixe).
I've been traveling a lot lately, which means I'm working from all kinds of planes, trains and automobiles. So a personal Wi-Fi hot spot has now become a luxury-turned-necessity. Having a personal hot spot, however, doesn't mean I have to hog it all to myself. I wouldn't win friends that way, now would I?
Thankfully Karma, a new take on personal wi-fi, let's me be the giver that I am. I can share my wi-fi connection and earn data for being so nice.
How it works: Purchase the cookie-sized device for $79, and start with 100MB of data— pay $14 for 1GB as you need it. No monthly fees or contracts. Civilized.
Then the fun starts: Use it anywhere to get online, and if another person (or 5) hop on to your connection, they each get 100MB of data for free and YOU get a whopping 500MB just for sharing.
I am using it for the first time today, and while it's a new service and I was skeptical as to whether or not it would catch on, I was happy to get this email in my Inbox right before I boarded my plane.
I don't know who Mandy is, but she just gifted me a bunch of data. Now that's good Karma.
For now, Karma works in 80 cities— check if they've got you covered here.
9 Comments
Marianne says:
Is your computer secure when using this? Or is it like using public wifi?
CKnobloch says:
Marianne— It's much safer, in my opinion. Here's what Karma says about it: https://yourkarma.com/help/71-is-using-an-open-wi-fi-signal-safe
Marianne says:
Thank you!
Meghan Wilker says:
What an awesome idea. Just ordered one as a gift for a friend who travels a ton!
And I hope Karma sees this so they give you some extra karma for my purchase.
CKnobloch says:
Meghan— I've been using it while traveling and it works really well. Thanks!!
The Nerdy Nurse says:
This is when I wished I lived in a big city. Living 45 minutes outside of Atlanta still doesn't get me close enough to use great things like this.
CKnobloch says:
Awww... sorry girl. Maybe soon they'll have more coverage by you.
TusaRebecca says:
It's been a while since this post. Are you still happy with Karma? I have wi-fi at work, so do you think Karma could replace a home Internet provider or no?
CKnobloch says:
Rebecca— Yep, I still love Karma! But no, I don't think it could replace a home internet provider. It's a personal hot-spot, designed to keep you connected while on the go. So it won't give you the broadband speeds of home internet... it's akin to cellphone data speeds). Also, make sure you enter your zipcode to see if it's available in your area before you get too excited. They're expanding their service every day but it's still unavailable in some places.