AT&T - Nighthawk LTE Mobile Hotspot Router

I live in a very rural part of Lehigh Acres and generally get little connection in the area. I get around -104 to -108 dbm on my phone in the house so signal quality isnt the best but I speedtest this on my laptop and got 31mbs DL and like 4mbs upload on the AT&T network with 2-3 bar reception. Works playing netflix without a hitch even at 1 bar reception. Note that if you are buying this for the reason I did though, which is to game online on Xbox One, then you might be a bit disappointed. Currently I havn't found a way to get around the problem of having both a Strict NAT and double NAT concurrently. I would recommend that if you buy this product for gaming on the go or need this to have internet that you research how to fix this issue.

I purchased this bad boy to connect my dash cam (BlackVue DR900S 2CH) over the cloud when I’m in parking mode. I am able to have live view of my vehicle’s front and rear cameras plus auto event upload if my vehicle is struck while parked. My cellular service provider on this device is TMobile (2gigs $10, must have voice plan plus auto pay for this pricing). Becareful Watching video over the cloud. This will use up your data quickly. You must consider the settings you will enable on your dash cam in correspondence to the data plan you purchase. Please note this device is locked to ATT. The unlock process was very simple. No need to call ATT Tier 2/3 support. Simply use the following website and within 48 hours you will receive a response with specific instructions on how to enter the provided unlock code. https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/#/. Your device must be paid for in full of course (no financing) and no you don’t have to be an ATT customer. Over all I am please with my purchase. Any questions feel free to ask.

Easy setup on my unlimited plan, purchased full price. Get consistent LTE speeds and battery is impressive.

Battery lasts long and great connectivity. Able to drop from 4G to lower Gen and up again..great device

I recently bought this for a few reasons. #1 I run a business and I’m always on the go and I need internet constantly #2 I have kids I take in long car rides #3 I have an RV. I needed an internet solution that wasn’t going to break my pocket and be portable. This has been an excellent solution, reliable and battery last all day, some things to take note of, if it’s hot and charging the battery it will overheat. Didn’t notice any overheating issues when not charging in hot temperatures. Keep this in the open when using so it can get good air flow. Get an external antenna it will help in some areas with poor signal.

This is one of two hotspots in my connected home arsenal, the other being an Inseego 8800L with Verizon. I live in a rural area without access to DSL, cable Internet, or fiber. Satellite would be my only alternative to cellular, and satellite is garbage for VoIP, Zoom, MS Teams, and work VPN due to the extreme latency. And if you live out in the boonies or are using this in an RV/boat, you know that carrier redundancy is important to maintaining an always on capability. Fortunately, I’ve got AT&T and Verizon towers in close proximity to home. I’m using a T-Mobile SIM in this hotspot, but the plan actually hits an AT&T tower due to their roaming agreements. The hotspot does come locked to AT&T, so I needed to pay a vendor for the unlock code. Having a device that leverages the AT&T LTE bands was optimal since I’m hitting against their tower. At best, I achieve 80Mbps down/20Mbps up, meets my needs. When it gets hot, it does stop charging automatically. I make it a point to unplug the USB-C cable periodically to allow for the battery to drain and then recharge, and provide for a cooling opportunity. However, I have read that you can remove the battery and power this thing dedicated on high powered USB-C. I am going to try that out to avoid battery swell and overheating. It gets the job done. I’m always on with work VPN and connected devices. When the network slows down between 10 AM and 2 PM each weekday due to network congestion, I move my traffic over to the Verizon jetpack I mentioned earlier. I do appreciate that it has an ethernet cable which I have directly plugged into the WAN port on my router. This shaves a tiny bit of latency off the journey. My Inseego on Verizon does not have Ethernet; score for the Netgear Nighthawk. This hotspot will continue to be useful for most users for years to come. It has a category 16 modem (look up the specs - you can theoretically hit 1Gbps down, 150Mbps up in the real world that’ll never happen, but it looks great on paper). LTE networks will not be decommissioned simply because 5G is being brought online. Just think, the carriers are just getting around to sunset their 3G networks end of this year, beginning of next. LTE will probably be operational until 2030. If you need a hotspot to operate on the AT&T network or you have a use case similar to mine, this is a reliable device. I recommend it.

I own a powerful gaming laptop and I also have several other devices that also need a good internet connection. My main one being my new smart TV. This HotSpot is like a wireless internet router on steroids and it’s Portable! When I’m at home I can simply turn on my TV to watch movies and it automatically connects to the Hotspot. Then when I grab my laptop and go on a road trip I just grab the HotSpot , throw it in my laptop case and forget about it. It auto connects to my laptop when I get ready to use it. The battery last 24 hours just like the advertisement claims. This hotspot also has several other cool features that I just can’t explain here. Just do a YouTube search and you’ll see just how awesome this baby is. As far at the actual internet used, well that all depends on the type of service you decide to get for your Hotspot. I personally use an ATT unlimited data plan but you can buy these Hotspots unlocked and that will allow you to use and carrier you wish. Hope this helps!

I purchased this not on a whim but after careful consideration and research. I am glad I did but it was really not necessary. I was able to get it up and running in no time at all. I am not super close to a tower but I still get 3 bars. I am happy with the performance so far. What I have not tried yet is attaching it to a wireless router. We live in an old house and the built in wireless does not over enough of the house.