LONG AGO, before I first
left Maximum PC, I
looked at Netgear’s
portable 4 G mobile
modem/hotspot. That
thing was awesome—
if you couldn’t get a
decent internet speed from the local Wi-Fi
or your ISP, you’d simply pop in a sim for
an easy and convenient way to get running
at 4G speeds.
When I left the mag, I actually pinched
it from Alan, much to his disdain. The
reason was that, before I moved to Tom’s
Hardware in January 2019 , I bought my
first home, and boy did it need some work.
It’s fine, I’m a bricklayer’s son, so working
around building sites is sort of my thing.
The problem was, the internet at the time
was a mess and I had to wait two months
to be connected. The house was out in the
sticks, so there was a chance the network
could go down if we had a bad storm. I was
nervous, especially approaching my first
day at the new job, and it being the start of
CES. So I grabbed the Nighthawk M 1 4G,
popped my sim in, and was good to go.
Since then, it’s been all over the world
with me, from London to Singapore to
Taiwan to New Zealand. It’s just a handy
device that gives me the freedom of a solid
connection for my laptop, without having
to go through a dodgy local Wi-Fi or worse.
So, when Netgear said it was releasing
the next generation of Nighthawk hotspot
modem, my interest was piqued once
more. Of course, this uses the 5 G standard
and, as I’ve just upgraded to the S2 1 Ultra,
it looked like an intriguing thing to review.
On the surface, it is an incredible device.
It’s an SFF router complete with WiFi 6 for
up to 32 devices. It comes with a 1 3-hour
battery life as standard but you can plug it
into a wall, like the last-gen version, and,
Aside from the crazy name, this is pretty cool
Nighthawk 5G WiFi 6
Mobile Hotspot Pro
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The touchscreen display tells you your
bandwidth limits, the network’s name, and
the Wi-Fi password, along with battery
and network stats at a glance, and it packs
a ton of security on top. Heck, it even
comes with a gigabit ethernet port and
USB Type-C port too.
However, I have two problems with it.
Firstly, the price. Oh boy, is it expensive. To
put it into context, the original 4G version I
used came in at $350. That’s a lot of cash,
but not unreasonable, and if you’re on
the go and need a secure network, it’s an
expense you can justify. But the 5G version
costs $700! There’s a lot of new tech and
features here, but seriously? Double the
price?! That is, of course, an unlocked
variant. I have been told you can pick these
up with service providers as well, locked,
for far cheaper on contract, but even so.
My second problem, perhaps a bit more
obscure, is with 5G. It’s not what you think,
though. My issue with 5G is how poor the
signal strength can be. As a connection
standard, it’s not very good. I’ve read
numerous reports of devices requiring
a direct line of sight to a 5 G antenna to
get full speeds and even a report from
one meteorological service saying that
raindrops can block 5 G signals. Raindrops!
I live in a wet part of the world already,
but one day, I want to move to Bergen in
Norway, where it rains 239 days a year.
That limits 5 G to sidewalks and roads,
meaning this device might not be worth it
compared to the 4G version I already have.
That’s a shame because, on paper, it’s
a fantastic piece of kit—a compact WiFi 6
router with top-notch speeds. If you live
in wetter climes, you should consider
grabbing its older sibling instead – ZS
$700, http://www.netgear.com