Nighthawk LTE Mobile Hotspot Router (AT&T) Review - Review 2022

The starting time gigabit LTE hotspot is here, on AT&T. The Nighthawk LTE from Netgear ($199.99, or $89.99 with a 2-year contract) is the finest mobile hotspot in all the land. It's likewise a travel router and a backup battery. Information technology's an easy Editors' Pick for mobile hotspots if you've chosen AT&T equally your carrier.

Design and Features

Bridging the gap between hotspot and travel router, the Nighthawk is pretty large. Information technology's a 4.fourteen-past-4.fourteen-by-0.75-inch square (HWD), weighing a hefty 8.five ounces. That allows for a big, removable five,040mAh bombardment, a small 1.4-inch, 320-by-240 color screen, and an unusual selection of ports: a USB-C port for charging and laptop tethering, a USB-A port for storage and for charging other devices, and an Ethernet port.

Let's talk about that Ethernet port, considering information technology's kind of confusing. It's basically input only. You utilise it in travel router mode, then you can create Wi-Fi from a wired connection. Y'all can't apply it to connect a PC or a bridge to AT&T's network via Ethernet; for that, you need to utilize the USB port.

Kicking up the hotspot for the get-go fourth dimension, and it asks you to log into its web interface for configuration. The interface is clean and easy to use, and it gets you setting up passwords and SSIDs speedily. You can also configure the hotspot with Netgear's Android or iOS app.

We but take one criticism nigh the blueprint: In that location's no touch on screen. Instead, you tap the power button to bicycle between status/data usage and password display screens, and you lot log into the spider web portal to change settings. A touch on screen would streamline things nicely.

The Best Hotspot Router

Mobile hotspots tend to have crippled configuration options, as compared with mod routers. That'south not the case with the Nighthawk.

You lot can blacklist or whitelist devices and sites, and flag some devices as able to avoid your site blacklist. You can block the unabridged internet on a time schedule. Yous can do port forwarding or filtering, UPnP, DLNA, or a DMZ. You can ready split up two.4GHz and 5GHz networks, and a invitee network.

You can use the microSD card slot nether the cover or a USB stick to turn the hotspot into a media server. The My Media role shares media files to either PCs through the hotspot's web interface, or phones with Netgear'south mobile app. You lot can play the media on phones, and as well download it on PCs. Unlike other hotspots I've seen with this role, it isn't deadening.

The router supports dual-band 802.11ac. It can use AT&T's LTE network as backhaul, an Ethernet connection, or another Wi-Fi network, although if y'all're using it equally a Wi-Fi extender, information technology's single-band merely. Wi-Fi range is splendid; at 5GHz, I didn't meet much deposition at 100 feet.

AT&T's Network and Plans

The Nighthawk pulls the best possible performance out of AT&T's network. The problem is that AT&T's network isn't doing too well at the moment. According to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, AT&T is now in quaternary place on network speeds, in office considering its wireless spectrum is often assigned in many narrow channels rather than a few wide ones. (Editor's Note: Ookla is owned by PCMag parent company Ziff Davis.)

That varies from city to city, of form. AT&T is peculiarly weak in New York, where we tested, which fabricated it difficult for the states to button the hotspot's capabilities. Simply if y'all go to Indianapolis or Austin, you'll find much better operation. Since we take to brand a nationwide recommendation, our current choice is Verizon equally the top hotspot carrier, due in part to our ain tests for the Fastest Mobile Network.

AT&T's hotspot plans are less expensive than Verizon's, and more than expensive than Sprint'southward or T-Mobile'southward. Its best deal is a $95 unlimited programme that deprioritizes yous after 22GB. There's too a $l, 5GB prepaid plan where each additional GB costs $ten, or a $75, 8GB prepaid plan where each additional GB costs $5. Verizon's all-time deals are all for limited bucket rather than unlimited plans: 10GB for $80, 14GB for $100, or 20GB for $120, for instance. Dart's 23GB unlimited plan costs $70, simply also throttles video to standard definition at all times. T-Mobile charges $75 for 50GB if you likewise have another line of service, simply it as well throttles video, and T-Mobile's Alcatel Linkzone hotspot hardware isn't very good.

The Best Modem

The Nighthawk's Qualcomm X16 modem is the best in the concern correct at present. It's certified for gigabit functioning on AT&T's network, which AT&T calls "5G Development." (Information technology isn't 5G, that'southward just marketing.) Gigabit LTE combines upward to four unlike channels of spectrum, with 4x4 MIMO antennas on ii of them and 256 QAM encoding on all of them.

The X16 is one generation newer than the X12 modem, which is in the AT&T Unite Explore equally well as Verizon's Jetpack AC791L and 7730L. The newer modem moves from three-aqueduct to 4-aqueduct aggregation, and increases the 4x4 MIMO flexibility from one frequency band to 2.

AT&T's network in New York has been getting meliorate over the past yr, just not at the rate the other carriers take. When we tested the AT&T Unite Explore final year, nosotros rarely got over 10Mbps; now nosotros're getting upwards to 40Mbps. But that still falls short of speeds we've seen on the other iii carriers.

Because AT&T'due south network isn't at its all-time in New York, we had problem pushing the Nighthawk to its limits. At 7 locations, compared with a Samsung Galaxy Note viii phone, the phone and the hotspot traded winning speeds back and forth, equally you'd expect with equally specced devices. Sometimes i was faster, sometimes the other was. We never saw a speed higher than 40Mbps on the hotspot, simply over again, we haven't seen slap-up speeds on AT&T in New York all year.

But the specs here bring rut. Starting time, there'due south LTE bands 1/2/iii/4/5/7/12/29/30/66. That covers everything AT&T uses right at present, as well equally European roaming bands. It too covers T-Mobile's key bands, although the hotspot is sold locked and won't have a T-Mobile SIM without an unlock lawmaking provided past AT&T. There'due south also tri-band HSPA+, with global roaming on 2100MHz. Finally, there's that gigabit modem.

RF bespeak is very good, just if information technology isn't good enough, there are 2 standard TS9 connector ports for an boosted antenna.

Battery life is excellent, at 19 hours, 49 minutes of solid LTE streaming. Yous can likewise use the battery to accuse phones or other devices through the USB-A port.

Comparisons and Conclusions

The Velocity and Unite Explore hotspots are cheaper, smaller, and easier to use because of their touch screens. But they don't have the Nighthawk'southward gigabit LTE prowess. The Velocity is several steps behind. The Unite Explore, with its X12 modem, has all of the Nighthawk's AT&T bands and can come quite close on performance. If you trade in an older hotspot for the Nighthawk, you're likely to see a big leap in functioning, but that isn't the instance for the Unite Explore.

On AT&T, the Nighthawk'south connectivity advantages over the Unite Explore are largely in the future. The difference betwixt the X12 and X16 modems comes with iv-carrier aggregation and 4x4 MIMO on multiple carriers, technologies AT&T generally hasn't turned on still. The carrier has previously said it would be introducing 4xCA at the cease of 2022, so the Nighthawk volition probably open up upwardly some operation differences with the Unite Explore in the future.

Without a contract, the Unite Explore is selling for the same $199.99 as the Nighthawk. And much equally I like the Unite Explore's compact build and rugged nature, the Nighthawk takes the modem to the next level, and hotspots are all about connectivity. That makes the Nighthawk our new Editors' Choice for mobile hotspots on AT&T.

Nighthawk LTE Mobile Hotspot Router (AT&T) Specs

Service Provider	AT&T
Wireless Specification	802.eleven b/thousand/due north/air conditioning
Number of Devices Supported	20
Battery Life	19 hours, 49 minutes

Best Modem & Hotspot Picks

• The All-time Mobile Hotspots for 2022
• More Modem & Hotspot Reviews
• More from Netgear

Farther Reading

• This Company Is Fix for Home Broadband Contest, if Carriers Play Along
• How We Exam Cellular Modems and Hotspots
• Can Dart, HTC Replace Your Dwelling house Internet With the 5G Hub?
• Fuel Pump Carte du jour Skimmer Steals Your Data Via SMS
• AT&T's First 5G Speed Tests Look Uninspiring

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/migrated-25565-modems-hotspots/18831/nighthawk-lte-mobile-hotspot-router-att-review

Posted by: shannontherfull00.blogspot.com

Share this post