By Gareth Butterfield
For plenty of years now, smartphones have had the capability of creating a “mobile hotspot”. It effectively turns them into mobile routers, creating a small WiFi connection around them for other devices to piggyback off.
And it works pretty well. If you’re away with your laptop, for example, you can do most of the things you can do through your home router, and your phone takes the strain.
There are limitations to this system though, lots of them. Firstly, it’ll absolutely clobber your smartphone’s battery. Sure, you can plug it in, but wait and see how hot it gets. Your phone will be working very hard, and that’s not good for it in the long run.
You’ll also notice the data speed will be strangled a little, especially if you connect more than one device. That’s not a problem if you’re in an area with fabulous 5G, but if you’re rural and you like streaming video or gaming, it’ll soon cause issues. And if you get a phone call while you’re streaming? Bye bye internet.
Even for just general home office work, mobile phone hotspots can use up huge amounts of data very quickly. And carriers often place limits on hotspot use, so you might quickly run out of your allocation.
Smartphones also aren’t always the best devices for securing and maintaining a weak signal. So using a hotspot might work for most people but, in just the same way you can slice off a knob of butter with a hedge trimmer, you’d be much better off using a butter knife.
Smartphone hotspots are like hedge trimmers, then, whereas mobile hotspot routers – dedicated devices with their own connection – are the bone-handled, Sheffield Steel, butter knife.
Mobile hotspot routers vary in price enormously. From the sub-£100 devices that perform only a little better than your smartphone to the high end kit that can cost north of £1,000, there’s a lot of choice out there. Which one to go for? It rather depends on your needs.
Consumer Technology Writer Gareth Butterfield on why he uses a mobile hotspot router
I’m a classic user of mobile hotspot routers, and I’ve been using them for years. I have a motorhome and a boat and a wife that works long hours, remotely.
We’re in a world now where it’s possible for her to work from either the motorhome or the boat, but to do that she needs a stable internet connection. A smartphone hotspot just won’t cut the mustard.
We might often be in an area with a weak signal, and insulated vehicles and vessels might be fine for keeping warm in, but they’re famously good at blocking cellular signal, too.
With a mobile hotspot router we know that we can draw signal in from the most advantageous position, perhaps a dashboard, skylight, or window, and we can still get a strong signal from several metres away.
We also occasionally use the mobile hotspot router at home. If our internet goes down – and we had a tumultuous time with a dodgy connection a few months back – it’s a backup plan. One router easily covers the whole house and gives a 5G WiFi signal to all the devices.
More importantly, though, while my wife is conducting an online training session, if the data speed where we are is fast enough, I can be streaming Netflix or gaming on my Meta Quest 3 at the same time. And the router doesn’t break a sweat. This simply isn’t possible with a smartphone. Not without melting it, at least.
The latest mobile hotpsot routers from Netgear – tried and tested
Netgear Nighthawk M3
If you’ve ever done any research into mobile hotspot routers you’ll have stumbled across Netgear’s Nighthawk range. From a simplicity and price perspective, they’re about as good as it gets.
The base model in the current 5G range is the £449 Nighthawk M3. It offers up to 2.5 GB/s of network data transfer speed when connected to a full 5G network, which is faster than my house, and it can connect up to 32 devices.
Unlike older variants of the Nighthawk family, many of which I’ve tested, this router can tap into a 5G cellular network and transmit WiFi 6, which unlocks the potential for some frankly absurd speeds and provides a far more stable connection.
The Nighthawk M3 has a removable, swappable battery which lasts up to 13 hours on a charge, it tops up from a USB-C port, and offers coverage out to 1,000sq ft.
In practical terms, out in the field – or on a canal or campsite in our case, this means you’ve got an absolutely incredible data output that will feel no different to your home WiFi.
That is, of course, if you’ve got a strong signal. We’ve used the latest Nighthawk routers in deepest, darkest Snowdonia, and that was what it took to find its limits.
They’re great for drawing in a weak cellular signal and capitalising on it, but if there isn’t a signal at all, they’re basically a posh coaster.
The M3 has a 2.4-inch colour touchscreen, which gives you access to plenty of useful information and controls. You can track data use, monitor who’s connected, and alter security settings. All from the device.
It’s compact enough to slip into a pocket, and has a nice, robust feel about it. It is by no means flimsy.
The Nighthawk M3 costs £449, and it’s available from all the usual places, including Amazon.
It’s a product that simply won’t be needed by everyone, but there are plenty of people who rely on a stable internet connection wherever they are – and that’s the target market.
It might be the base model, but the Nighthawk M3 is an incredibly powerful performer, and should be on your shopping list.
Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro
This is the other end of the Nighthawk spectrum. It’s the £899 flagship, and it has some serious power.
I took one away on a recent boating trip on the Trent and Mersey Canal, and it’s notoriously terrible for patchy mobile signal, but the M6 Pro made a massive difference.
My wife and I know this stretch of the inland waterways very well, and we know where to moor up and where not to moor up if we’re planning on some night-time binge-watching. But using such a powerful router really increased the flexibility.
Let me give you some stats on the M6 Pro. It has WiFi 6E technology, which means it can tap into the lovely new 6GHz band. This is much, much faster, less congested, and paves the way for some absolutely stratospheric download and upload speeds. Up to 4Gbps is possible, but I’ll come back to that.
Of course, in the pretty but sleepy inland port village of Shardlow, it’s a bit wasted, but at home, on a decent 5G network, the difference is staggering. I don’t have fibre broadband where I live, but fibre speeds – and then some – are a walk in the park when you’re on a connection like this.
There is another caveat, of course. You’ll need to own a WiFi 6E device to capitalise on this wireless wonder, and there aren’t many about yet. Plenty will come, but it’s an exercise in future-proofing, at the very least.
The range of the 6GHz band also isn’t amazing. While it is very fast, its performance tails off if it needs to go through walls. I guess that’s the joy of a mobile 5G router though, you place it where you need it.
In most other aspects, the M6 Pro looks and feels similar to the M3. Battery life is about the same, the display is slightly bigger and therefore easier to use on the M6, and the ports and plugs are the same.
If I didn’t lose you in the first paragraph when you read the price, you might be in the M6 Pro’s target market.
This is a device for power users who want the very best. If you can afford it, you will absolutely love it, and you’ll be set up for many years with that 6GHz capability.
If you’re just a general user, though, and you can’t quite make the mental leap of spending nearly £1,000 on a mobile hotspot router, the M3 will suffice.
You’d buy the M6 Pro for the same reason you’d buy a Bentley over a BMW. The Bentley is more polished, and a better performer, but the BMW is still a fine car and still something to be admired.
It’s hard to fault either of these devices, and I’d recommend a Nighthawk router to anyone. Especially if you can get the best out of them.
A word about data and sim cards
Bear in mind that mobile hotspot routers will need their own data sim. These can cost anything from a few pounds a month to £30 or £40 per month, depending on your needs. But speak to your existing mobile phone provider, because they might be able to sort you out a deal.
I’m with EE and they charge me just under £10 per month for my extra sim, with 30gb per month to play with. That’s not always enough, but if it runs out, I can then “gift” up to 100gb of my phone’s unlimited data every month. And that’s never been inadequate.