Novatel has a new portable wireless wifi device that allows you to jump on the internet and share the signal with up to 5 friends within 30 feet. The gadget will be available from Verizon in mid-May ($100 with 2-year contract, after rebate) and gives you 4 hours of internet service (rechargeable batteries). Based on Verizon’s 3G high-speed cellular data network it’s $40 a month (250mb of data transfer / 10 cents per mb over).

Battery last 4 hours and standby is 40 hours so perfect for a trade show, student or business trip.

Note - If you watch videos and move lots of data, the $60 plan is the way to go (5 gigabytes). Or try the one-day pass: $15 for 24 hours and the MiFi costs $270.

Obvious Question? Why doesn’t my Apple iphone do this??? I could tether my blackberry but not the iPhone on At&T so hopefully this will make AT&T and Apple take notice.