What if hotspots became harder to find?

As this Wall Street Journal story pointed out recently, some coffee shops and  restaurants that once welcomed laptop-toting “customers” to use their hot spots are becoming less hospitable. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal earlier when these visitors lingered for hours over a cup of coffee while they worked on their computers. But the recession changed all that, and now store owners are fretting that they’re hoarding tables that could be used for the revenue-producing lunch crowd.

This makes Sprint's announcement of a new make-your-own-hotspot solution extremely timely

It's one cool product--a pair of Mobile Broadband Routers that offer high-speed connectivity to Wi-Fi users without any need to track down a hospitable Wi-Fi hotspot.

The Mobile Broadband Routers are powerful and affordable. They’re used with Sprint mobile broadband devices such as the 3G/4G USB Modem U300, and link Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones, laptops, and personal entertainment devices to the 3G and 4G networks. The result is a secure and fast connection.

The two newest devices – the Sprint Personal Hotspot PHS300S and the Cradlepoint MBR-1000 Broadband router – link up to four or up to 32 simultaneous Wi-Fi connections respectively, supporting all Sprint 3G and 4G mobile broadband USB devices.

The modest cost of these products, which are used along with a Sprint 3G or 4G data plan, makes setting up your own hotspot a low-cost, high-return approach—and you don’t even have to buy coffee or biscotti to use them.

Good enough, you can cut your coffee consumption. But what about the reach of these networks?

You’ll be happy to hear that our 3G networks are widespread; in fact, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a place where these routers won’t work.

And the much faster 4G is rolling out to a number of major cities yet this year. Those key markets are Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland, and Seattle. The rollout will continue in 2010 with many more cities to be announced.

This should appeal to the coffee shop crowd and beyond. If you thought pumping your own gasoline or online flight check-ins were empowering, you’ll love setting up your own hotspot.