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Hey folks... FINALLY got around (and, er, got Mom's permission...) to crack open our old MiFi2200 (the new model is a MiFi4620L). Lots of interesting insides... along with the revelation that the circuitry is ONE THIRD of the case. (The rest is battery. Seriously.)
The damn thing is glued together, but it comes apart with a little help from an "exacto" knife. Inside is an unexpectedly tiny circuit board, a couple of antennas, and (relatively speaking) a rather large battery space, as previously mentioned.
What you won't see here is the pink "pigeonshit" (thermal crap) that I peeled off the parts that get warm. The "exacto" knife I used to do that left a few marks, though
Since right under the battery is the gigantic label full of useful-but-techy numbers (ESN and MAC address) I've edited that photo to block out the numbers. You don't need to see those unless you're trying to do something unsavory -- in which case you REALLY don't need to see them!
I've also labeled two of the photos with (mostly) meaningful captions as to what stuff is. It's worth noting that there are two LEDs on this -- the one under the power switch is a red/green LED that can also be yellow (when both red and green sides are on).
I suspect that the wire antenna (there's only one) is the 3G antenna -- which means it's the one that is responsible for (not) picking up the 1900MHz EVDO Rev.A signal from the tower. There is also a sheet-metal antenna that connects via spring-terminal (!) built into the top cover of the MiFi. I suspect, since it's larger, thicker, and cruder, that it's the antenna for the backup network, what Verizon calls "1xRTT" -- which I'm told is very similar to WAP (it puts the MiFi into voice-modem mode, from what I understand).
Enough yap. Here's pix... clickable thumbnails as always...
Hope you folks are as intrigued as I am... feel free to ask questions as well, although I can't guarantee useful answers
The damn thing is glued together, but it comes apart with a little help from an "exacto" knife. Inside is an unexpectedly tiny circuit board, a couple of antennas, and (relatively speaking) a rather large battery space, as previously mentioned.
What you won't see here is the pink "pigeonshit" (thermal crap) that I peeled off the parts that get warm. The "exacto" knife I used to do that left a few marks, though
Since right under the battery is the gigantic label full of useful-but-techy numbers (ESN and MAC address) I've edited that photo to block out the numbers. You don't need to see those unless you're trying to do something unsavory -- in which case you REALLY don't need to see them!
I've also labeled two of the photos with (mostly) meaningful captions as to what stuff is. It's worth noting that there are two LEDs on this -- the one under the power switch is a red/green LED that can also be yellow (when both red and green sides are on).
I suspect that the wire antenna (there's only one) is the 3G antenna -- which means it's the one that is responsible for (not) picking up the 1900MHz EVDO Rev.A signal from the tower. There is also a sheet-metal antenna that connects via spring-terminal (!) built into the top cover of the MiFi. I suspect, since it's larger, thicker, and cruder, that it's the antenna for the backup network, what Verizon calls "1xRTT" -- which I'm told is very similar to WAP (it puts the MiFi into voice-modem mode, from what I understand).
Enough yap. Here's pix... clickable thumbnails as always...
Hope you folks are as intrigued as I am... feel free to ask questions as well, although I can't guarantee useful answers