Verizon Recalls 2.5 Million Hotspot Devices Due To Fire Hazard

Verizon is recalling 2.5 million hotspot devices after discovering that the lithium ion battery can overheat, creating a fire and burning hazard. CNBC reports: The recall impacts Ellipsis Jetpack mobile hotspots imported by Franklin Wireless Corp and sold between April 2017 and March 2021. The affected models are labeled: MHS900L, MHS900LS and MHS900LPP. Verizon disclosed the recall Thursday alongside a notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). A Verizon spokesperson said just over 1 million of the recalled devices are currently in use, meaning currently or recently used by customers.

According to the recall notice posted by the CPSC, Verizon had received 15 reports of the hotspots overheating. Six of those reports included incidents of fire damage to bedding or flooring and two involved minor burn injuries. Some of the hotspots were supplied to students by their schools to continue remote learning, according to the recall notice. Parents who received hotspots from their children's schools are advised to contact the schools about receiving a replacement. Other customers can request a replacement by going to ellipsisjetpackrecall.expertinquiry.com or calling 855-205-2627.

Seen this happen before

[monkeyxpress]

I had a friend who worked for a company making a handheld electronics device. They basically outsourced all the manufacturing to a company they found on Alibaba. He wanted them to be more thorough with their engineering design - writing proper requirements, environment testing, acceptance testing etc. But they just wanted something cheap and fast.

It cost them a fortune to deal with the resulting recalls over the exploding batteries they ended up with.

You can get decent quality manufacturing in China, but you can't get both cheap and high quality design/manufacturing anywhere.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

This. China can produce excellent products. And they do!

But, if all the American market demands is cheap, it seems a little silly to lay that at the feet of the Chinese as their failing, when it was our request they filled.

Re:

[iserlohn]

It's called a race to the bottom and it's a failure of regulation (both in China and in the importing markets).

Re:Seen this happen before

[tlhIngan]

More correctly, you get the quality you pay for. The Chinese are wonderful in that they can take a product and make it cost what you want it to cost.

If it's too expensive, they can find a way to make it cheaper to the price you want. Of course, that can mean cutting a lot of corners, but if you want the thing to cost half as much, they can do it.

Likewise, if you wanted the same product to be built to a higher quality - better materials, certifications, etc., they can do that as well, and it will cost you,

The same factory can produce the same product that falls apart if you look at it funny, to one that's practically mil-spec indestructible and passes every damn certification test you throw at it.

Of course, the real problem is, you don't know what they cut, which makes them perfect for the likes of say, Wal-Mart who wants a cheaper version of a thing. China will produce it, even while making a more expensive version of the same thing for someone else.

Jetpack burns

[Fworg64]

At least they named them appropriately.

Great.

[waspleg]

We have about 1200 of these in use at work.

Re:

[The-Ixian]

Hopefully you aren't in the fireworks business...

Battery hotspots have always seemed sketchy

[jacks smirking reven]

I have used some in the age before hotspotting was common on phones and they have always seemed short lived and wonky in my experience. The brands are almost always provider "house" brands that only ever seem to be offered from the carriers (Alcatel, Novatel etc) with kinda non-existent support. Nowadays you can get some models from Netgear, Huawei, GLinet) but selection is slim and most people if they have this specific use case are going to get the one that costs $50 from their provider with, as we see

Re:

[tlhIngan]

I have used some in the age before hotspotting was common on phones and they have always seemed short lived and wonky in my experience. The brands are almost always provider "house" brands that only ever seem to be offered from the carriers (Alcatel, Novatel etc) with kinda non-existent support. Nowadays you can get some models from Netgear, Huawei, GLinet) but selection is slim and most people if they have this specific use case are going to get the one that costs $50 from their provider with, as we see he