I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier, but instead of going month-to-month with a Verizon MiFi, I can simply set up a family plan and add my Palm Pre Plus as a second line (it has the free HotSpot feature). Total cost over my existing plan should be about $20/month. The MiFi account is $60/month; seems like a no-brainer.

It would also give me an easy way to get another subsidized device, like a BlackBerry Bold (that will support OS 6 with a real web browser). Or I could wait until January to see if I should use the subsidy on an iPhone and wait to see what BlackBerry models come out in the next generation.

I’ve been surprisingly happy for the last few months with a simple BlackBerry Curve for communications (phone, email, SMS) and PIM (calendar, contacts) operations. A low-res screen for reading email doesn’t matter much.

Still waiting for that perfect device…