Aircard 790s Archives – 4G LTE Mall

Netgear Aircard 790 vs Aircard 785s

Netgear AirCard 790 is the natural evolution of the Netgear AirCard 785S, a portable 4G router that our staff has tested in the past. We recently had the opportunity to test the new version and compare it with the previous model, allowing them to assess fully all the improvements in relation to the significant price difference between the two devices.

New looking

Netgear has managed to improve what already presented itself as a great 4G router. In favor of a more rounded and minimal design, the new AirCard 790 abandons the square lines of 785S.

On the front facade stands a much larger display that tells you some information about connection on the touchscreen, where the base is no longer angular. To protect the battery compartment and microSIM, there is a much more rounded shell and comfortable to grip. The frame of aircard 785S was silver in color and visually conflict with the rest of the device, where it is dark gray, amalgamating with the rest body.

On the top side of Netgear Aircard 790, instead of two buttons (on Netgear AC785S are On/Off button and Multifunction), there is only one button for on/off, a yield possible simplification thanks to the adoption of the touchscreen display. On the opposite side we find then the two inputs for connecting the antenna (antenna is sold separately) to enhance signal reception and 9-pin microUSB input.

Regarding the latter, there is no clear explanation why that would have prompted the company in the choice (in the user manual there is no mention about this) of supplying a cable with the best known micro USB 5-pin. It’s clear that the microUSB cable adopted is suitable for almost all electronic devices currently on the market. This can’t connect seamlessly into the wider opening 9-pin, but if you are not careful, it threatens to ruin the port when inserting.

Touchscreen

As anticipated, the main novelty of the aircard 790 is in the display, wider (5 x 3.7 cm against 3.5 x 2.7 centimeters of the 785S) but mostly touchscreen. You can select items with the touch of our finger rather than only using a key to scroll the list as instead we used to do with the previous model. What’s more, there are two capacitive buttons, “Home” and “Back”, respectively, to return to the main board or return to the previous screen.

The main facade just shows a touch on the name or password for WiFi to change this information on the fly, using the keyboard displayed briefly on the screen, as well as by clicking, the usage statistics will be possible to have a quick overview on your data plan, with a lot of data (in GB) used from the start day of the plan, the number of days remaining before renewal and a button to reset the counter at any time.

Finally, there are three additional buttons located on the bottom bar. With WiFi you can access the WiFi network information, enable or disable the 5 GHz network, activate a guest network to temporarily connect a host, manage the connected devices (maximum 15 together), block unwanted ones even if they know the password, give priority on the amount of data used by one rather than others, decide the standby time, increase WiFi coverage at the expense of the autonomy and more.

On the Messages panel, you can only read text messages received in the microSIM in use, being able to eliminate them with a single touch. Finally, the Settings tab, you will have quick access to the display settings (language, brightness LEDs, the display timeout, WiFi info on the screen, etc.), to the mobile broadband (3G/4G, roaming, etc.), mode plane (useful to use the device in Battery Boost mode which will be discussed below), the tethering mode and general information, including the software for upgrade cards, restore factory settings, and little else.

In our tests, we cannot say enough about the touchscreen of aircard 790, as it completely eliminates the need to access the router via web or mobile application panel (both are options still available, but are no longer essential or necessary to start using the router immediately or modify one or more parameters if it is considered necessary). Have everything at your fingertips at any time is one of those features that, after having made a habit, you will find it hard to give up.

Battery Boost Function

Another new offer of Netgear AirCard 790 is the ability to leverage the internal battery (thanks to the supplied cable) to charge a device if needed. Our tests showed that the 2,930 mAh of 790s routers are able to restore about 60% of the energy of an iPhone 6 Plus, this means that if the phone is completely power off, you have the ability to charge roughly 10-20 %.

The battery of aircard 790 has larger capacity than the aircard 785S (2,000 mAh), but we did not find benefits in this difference in everyday use, because we were able to use for more than 8 hours in the whole office with two devices connected via WiFi.

USB tethering

Thanks to the tethering function, another novelty that we find in AirCard 790 is that you can surf the Internet by connecting the router to the computer’s USB socket: in this way you will avoid the WiFi connection and at the same time recharge the internal battery of the router.

This option is useful especially in the home, since in this way a single power outlet will be occupied. Also when you want to quickly connect a computer to the Internet without activating the guest network (just in case a friend), or when the netgear 790’s energy is running low and you need a few more hours for surfing, the only way is to recharge the internal battery by the USB connection.

Same Good Performance

Here, an obvious difference between the two routers is more difficult. Theoretically, the AirCard 790 could in fact provide connections up to 300 Megabits on LTE Advanced (Cat6), but it also support up to 100 Megabits of the LTE Cat4 which is also supported in the AirCard 785S. In reality, we did not notice obvious differences in navigation. At the same location and same time, they provide network connection at similar speed; Aircard 790s didn’t provide much faster speed as described. Perhaps the LTE Advanced network is not available here. Aircard 790s can’t connect the fastest possible network.

Conclusions

Those who are using a 4G router every day, especially those who usually travel abroad, we would recommend Netgear Aircard 790 to buy. Even those who have the need to frequently access the router settings may find useful from the touchscreen in the new model.

However, we believe that the AirCard 785S is still a great 4G router at a budget price, and could provide the best choice for those who simply use a router occasionally, to use perhaps only at weekends.

Netgear AirCard 790 4G Mobile Router Review

Now that most cell phones have features to share the wireless Internet connection, such routes may be convenient if there are multiple users to share a mobile broadband connection.

Many wireless routers for mobile broadband are either locked to a specific carrier, or they have quite a few limitations. Netgear new 4G router Aircard 790 is not locked to any carrier, which supports most frequency bands and could be used around the world, and the Netgear 790S is so packed with features that we have not seen in any of other similar routers that are usually offered from operators themselves.

The router AirCard 790 is slightly smaller but thicker than a mobile phone. Here are our first impressions:

Supports 4G in Category 6

The user interface is easy to use via the touch screen.

Netgear AirCard 790 price is better now than few months ago since the successor Netgear Aircard 810s is available now. Netgear 4G routers are much more advanced than the average router. The Aircard 790 support 4G (LTE) Category 6, thus speeds up to 300/50 Mbps. And when you share mobile network, the WiFi standard is made via dual-band 802.11ac at both 2.4 and 5 GHz simultaneously. Up to 15 devices can connect to the router simultaneously, and you can easily set up a guest network.

Handsome touchscreen

The Netgear AC790S router is very easy to use. After you’ve installed your SIM card and turned on the router, the network name (SSID) and wifi password will show on the screen. You can easily enter and change settings directly from the touch screen of the router. And enter http: //netgear.aircard in the browser on your PC, you can possibly manage the AC790S Router wirelessly.

The touch screen is incredibly handsome, which allows you to do everything you normally need in a browser user interface, and in a very intuitive way. Via the screen, you also have an overview of how much data you’ve used. You can also see which devices are connected to the router, limiting the number of units, and optionally block unwanted devices.

There are two connectors for an external antenna.

Battery life is rated at 11 hours, and you can select the transmitting power of WiFi network so you can save energy if you use the router at a short distance. You can of course use the router by connected with the USB to PC. Otherwise, the router can also be used wireless for your mobile phone.

We mentioned that the router can be connected to an external antenna. Netgear even sells an antenna to increase antenna efficiency by up to 50 percent. We 4gltemall.com also provides suitable budget external antenna for Netgear Aircard 790s which had been used by many users and proved to be reliable: http://www.4gltemall.com/4g-antenna-two-ts-9-connector.html

Conclusion: A super router

In all, we have a very good impression of Netgear AirCard 790. We have used it a little while when commuting by train, and the AC790S router has served impeccable. It does not get much more via the Internet sharing feature in your mobile phone, but with the mobile broadband Netgear 790s, users can do much more than expected. What’s more, it save much power consumption for mobile phone.

Netgear Aircard 790s 4G Mobile Hotspot Review

Netgear has now three different mobile LTE routers for the network providers in Europe, making it become a serious contender for the top dogs Huawei and ZTE. The latest model with the name AirCard 790 dominates LTE Category 6 (CAT6) and can reach speeds of up to 300 MBit/s download. Operation is via a large, color touch screen and the battery is even used for charging other devices. How does the Aircard 790 perform in practice, you will find from 4gltemall.com/blog.

Appearance

The Netgear AirCard 790 router is supplied in a small cardboard box along with a power adapter and a USB cable. The USB cable can be used to charge the battery and to connect to a computer. In addition, there may be a user manual in different language to guide users how to do the simple settings in Netgear AC790 for internet connection.

The body of the Netgear AirCard 790 is made entirely of plastic in order to achieve the best possible optical outputs and inputs. The surface of the body is matt and feels high-quality, the workmanship is very good. The flaps on the side antenna connectors (TS-9) make a good impression. The back can be easily removed to change the battery and the SIM card. This feature is better than other brand models such as Huawei E5786 and ZTE MF970, whose batteries are built-in, user can’t remove them for change.

First LTE Cat6 hotspot with touchscreen

Many mobile LTE routers have a small display on the front, which shows the most important information clearly. On AirCard 790 Hotspot, the manufacturer Netgear has gone one step further and has integrated a large touch screen in the unit, the operation can be done via the scrren like on a smartphone. The display is 2.4 inches in size, bright and easy to read.

Thanks to the large icons and clear labels, it’s simple to operate the 790 Aircard for everyone. The functions are quite extensive: There are statistics about data usage and online time, and as needed user can setup the volume limit of its own tariff and be alerted at certain boundaries. Of course there is also the on or off option for data roaming abroad and if necessary, user can link data by entering the APN and password, if the Netgear 790 does not automatically detect.

Regarding the operation via touch scrren, it is an improvement over devices which can also be controlled via web interface; users can do more deep settings from the web interface.

LTE Cat. 6 with 300 MBit/s

The Netgear AirCard 790 Router achieved at speeds up to 300 Mbit/s downstream and up to 50 Mbit/s upstream in LTE network in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This is made possible by the integrated LTE Advanced Cat. 6 modem from Qualcomm, which additionally supports UMTS with DC-HSPA+. GSM and EDGE cannot be reached by Netgear AirCard 790, which is still a bit strange, since all the other hotspots on the market support the 2G network. On the other hand, it did not bother the test because stable and fast surfing anyway are possible only with UMTS and LTE and the network extension by now is quite good.

In the test, we use the SIM cards from Vodafone and Telekom, which were released in each case for the fastest speed. The Netgear AirCard 790 Router reaching speeds of just over 200 Mbit/s in download and up to 44 Mbit/s upstream. But the usual data rates were between 50 and 120 Mbit/s. The latency times were between 20 and 40 milliseconds (depending on the test server).

Dual Band Wireless AC

Up to 15 devices could connect with Netgear AC790 router via wireless internet; the maximum unit number can also be set lower in the settings. Thus, the high LTE speeds can also be used at the connected devices, and the latest WLAN AC standard available. This delivers speeds up to 1200 Mbit/s in the frequency ranges of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. On request it is also possible to open a guest network, which is then provided with its own name and its own password and is separate from the main Wi-Fi. A wireless extender or wireless repeater is installed in some Huawei LTE hotspots such as similar model E5786, but this function is not available in Netgear AirCard 790, which is one of the few weaknesses compared to the competition.

Connectors for external antenna

If reception is poor and slow speeds, it may be useful to an external LTE antenna to connect to the Netgear AirCard 790 hotspot. These are two sides of TS-9 connectors are available, which are protected by a flap against dust. An LTE antenna was tested with the Aircard 790 and the speeds is even double in rural areas sometimes, for example, in caravans or campers, an external antenna may be necessary to connect stable and quickly. Below is the tested 4G/3G antenna and easy to take with the device:

4G LTE Indoor Antenna (2 x TS-9 Connectors) for Huawei/ZTE 4G LTE Modems/dongles/mobile hotspots

You can buy the antenna above from here: http://www.4gltemall.com/4g-antenna-two-ts-9-connector.html

Strong Battery with Power Bank Function

The battery in the Netgear AirCard 790 router is about 3,000 mAh strong and can be easily exchanged by the user, which is a positive exception compared to similar models. The operating time is lasting approximately 10 to 11 hours, taking into account factors such as reception level, frequency of cell change and number of connected devices, which can significantly affect battery life. A special feature is the so-called Power Bank Function: With the supplied USB cable, other devices such as Smartphones can be charged via the Netgear AirCard 790 Battery. This is ideal, for example, when the phone battery is empty, you would like to make a call and needs only to reload short.

Conclusion

In our opinion, the Netgear AirCard 790 LTE Hotspot currently is one of the best mobile routers in 2016. The device offers all important functions, has a fast LTE Advanced Cat. 6 Modem and can be operated comfortably via touch screen. The battery life is very good and can connect, if required, an external LTE antenna to improve the speed. With around 280 USD (as of April 2016), you will definitely get a future-proof device. Here now, there is unlocked Aircard AC790S available on www.4gltemall.com. With the unlocked aircard 790S, you can use any network providers’ SIM without any limit. So it’s a good partner to take for overseas travelling or business.

Netgear AirCard 790s Mobile LTE Hotspot

Since early 2016, the Netgear AirCard 790 Mobile Hotspot with LTE Advanced Cat6 and large touch screen display is available in the market. The device is priced settled in direct comparison with the competitors of Huawei E5786 and Alcatel One Touch Y900. In LTE network, the router can reach up to 300 Mbit/s, the connection to the connected devices runs through MicroUSB 3.0 or Dual Band WLAN ac. We will check the detailed features of Aircard 790s.

The Netgear AirCard 790 router is supplied in a small cardboard box. In addition to the device itself, you will find a power supply with an output of 5 volts at 1 amp and a USB to Micro-USB 3.0 cable included. The power supply has a modular design and is supplied with an “adapter” for the common use in Europe socket. This of course is useful if you want to make even a holiday or a business trip. Besides the normal USB cable, another short “Jump Boost Cable” can also be found yet in the package. This allows you to connect an ordinary USB charging cable and thus the use of the Netgear AirCard 790 for charging other devices ( “Power Bank”).

Holding the Netgear AirCard 790 hotspot for the first time in his hand, this feels good. The workmanship is good and the weight of 136 grams including battery is completely pocket-fit. Also the large display is on the front, which is easy to read. But more on that later.

LTE Advanced Cat6

The Netgear AC790 Hotspot has a current LTE multimode modem Qualcomm MDM9230 that for LTE Advanced category 6 ( “Cat6”) with up to 300 Mbit/s supported in the downlink. In the uplink up to 50 Mbit/s are possible. In the test with a mobile data plan, around 200 Mbit/s can be achieved, the ping time was on average about 25 milliseconds. The data rates fluctuated quite widely depending on the radio cell and the time of day, but this is quite normal.

The reception at the LTE network on 800 and 1800 MHz was good, better than many smartphones. If necessary, you can receive and data rates with an external antenna optimized to stand side of the AirCard 790 Router (two TS-9 connectors). The terminals are protected by a small sliding mechanism from dust.

Of course, the Netgear AC790 is also the 3G/UMTS network backward compatible, here are DC-HSPA+ up to 42.2 Mbit/s in the downlink and up to 5.76 Mbit/s in the uplink possible. 2G and the GSM network is not supported, although Netgear advertises on its homepage partially. This is unusual for a mobile hotspot. But since 4G is now the mainstream and 3G is now widely used, 2G may not be necessary now in most areas.

WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS

Up to 15 devices can be powered wirelessly over WLAN with an Internet connection at the same time from Netgear AirCard 790s router. The connection is made either in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz range, thanks to the 2 × 2 MIMO antenna technology and Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, speeds of up to 1,200 Mbit/s. Fast enough to see the full LTE speed to use Cat6. The WLAN range was in the test quite well, the data rates increase – particularly in the 5 GHz band – but very quickly, as soon as a wall is between the router and the terminal. On request, you can also use USB ( “USB Tethering”) for connection and the WLAN can be optionally completely disable.

The Netgear AC790 supports both multi-SSID as well as a guest-Fi function. So you can, for example, separate the private network from another shared WiFi network. On the maximum number of connected devices that are not altered, the number of 15 devices refers to all wireless networks simultaneously.

Operation and Software

While many mobile LTE routers provide a small display for displaying important information, but the setup and configuration of the device usually requires a computer or at least a smartphone app. When Netgear AirCard 790 hotspot that is different, the router has a large touchscreen display on the front, so that the web interface normally is not required. Operation is self-explanatory thanks to large icons and clear labels, the capacitive display reacts quickly and properly. At the side of the display, there is “back” two soft-touch buttons and “Home”, which are also self-explanatory. The display switches off after a short delay and without actuation independently, so that the energy consumption is not too high. A bright LED above the display then informs about the operating status.

On the home page or the “home screen” all relevant information are clearly displayed, for example, the battery level, the number of connected devices, the used data volume and the network operator. Even the SMS function is easily available on the touch screen display, even if the keyboard is of course advised quite small.

Battery with Power Bank Function

The battery of the Netgear AirCard 790 hotspots has a capacity of 2,930 mAh and is easily replaceable by the user. The Aircard 790s can be charged via USB cable, including power supply, but also easy to charge with a possibly existing smartphone PSU including microUSB port. The operating time is about 11 hours according to Netgear. In the test, this figure could be reached fairly accurate.

With the included “Jump Boost cable”, the Netgear AirCard 790 hotspot can be also used for charging other devices, such as smartphones. Although this is not very efficient, a full battery charge may not be possible in most smartphones, but the Jump Boost function definitely interesting for a short “recharging”.

Optional Docking Station

Netgear provides for the AirCard Hotspot series of two docks that extend the mobile hotspot to a “real” stationary LTE router. The two devices are called DC112A and DC113A, where currently only the DC113A is available. The Cradle DC112A is significantly better equipped than the DC113A dock, so you get the DC112A as four Gigabit LAN ports, one Gigabit WAN port, two high-performance WLAN antennas and an improved WLAN module. The connections for an external mobile antenna are “looped through”, so that one also can connect an external antenna LTE (2x TS-9 connector) at DC112A.

Conclusion: Netgear AirCard 790

The Netgear AirCard AC790S Hotspot could convince in the test with a large variety of functions and the latest technology. The modem is fast and the Internet connection even with frequent cell Jump stable, the WLAN module scores with good data rates and many setting options. Some prospective customers will also complain about the lack of WiFi Extender function. The Aircard 790s is offered at good price than its competitors. It’s a recommended 4G pocket router with aggressive price!

Netgear AirCard 790S 4G LTE Cat6 Mobile Hotspot

Netgear has introduced its newest member of the AirCard 790s to the router family. The Netgear AirCard 790S is the first mobile hotspot in Aircard 7X0s who supports the LTE Cat6 with up to 300 Mbit/s in the download. Actually, Netgear 790S is not the first LTE cat6 mobile hotspot because Huawei had presented the Huawei E5786, which is the first one.

Telstra WiFi 4G Advanced II screen

Technical Features

The AirCard 790s is equipped with a 2.4-inch, color LCD touch screen. The screen displays the network icon, signal strength, the network name, the wireless status, battery status or data usage. And the touch icons takes you to the Settings and other menu items. The router can also be configured on the PC or via an app on your smartphone or tablet and use. The AirCard app is available for iOS, Android and Kindle. Here you can retrieve all possible information.

Telstra WiFi 4G Advanced II antenna ports

LTE-Advanced with 300 Mbit/s

The AirCard 790S Netgear supports LTE Category 6, backward with both 2G and 3G networks, including DC-HSPA+. If you live in an area covered with LTE-A field and has a micro-SIM card with an appropriate data plan, using Carrier Aggregation, two 20 MHz bands are combined into a 40-MHz band in downlink, so as to allow download speeds of up to 300 Mbit/s. Carrier aggregation of 2 x LTE2600 is supported as well as the pooling of 2.600 and 1.800 MHz.

Additionally, the AirCard 790S also widespread in the US 700 MHz band used for LTE-A: The router is thus prepared. In upload, up to 50 Mbit/s are possible with the hotspot. If the wireless coverage at home or on the go too weak, user can connect two external antennas for 3G/4G to the router.

Features and characteristics of the AirCard 790S
Manufacturer and Model Number	Netgear AirCard 790S
Chipset	Qualcomm MDM9230
LTE Category	CAT6
Download rate	300 Mbps
Upload rate	50 Mbps
Supported LTE Bands:	700 MHz / 1800 MHz / 2600 MHz
Backwards compatible with	LTE CAT4 / DC-HSPA + / UMTS / GSM
Support from LTE-Advanced	Yes
MIMO Support:	2×2
Connection for external antenna:	Dual TS-9 for 4G / 3G
Telephone
With integrated telephone system	No
Connection for ISDN phones:	No
Connection for analogue phones:	No
DECT:	No
integrator answering machine:	No
Network \| LAN & WLAN
LAN ports:	No
WLAN standards:	WLAN 802.11 b/g/n/ac
5 GHz WLAN support:	Yes
encryption:	WPS, WEP, WPA, WPA2
WLAN hotspot function:	yes, for up to 15 devices
Others
Battery pack:	2,930 mAh, changeable
Dimension:	110 x 68 x 15 mm
USB:	Micro-USB 3.0
Memory card expansion:	No
release:	Nov-15
Price:	about 229.00USD
available at:	www.4gltemall.com
Documents download
Datasheet	» Netgear AC790S Datasheet
Read review	» Netgear Aircard 790s Review
Manual as PDF	» Netgear Aircard 790s manual(PDF)

Supply 15 devices with fast Wi-Fi

The Netgear 790S supports the standard Wi-Fi ac on 2.4 and 5 GHz. As a hotspot, the router can support up to 15 devices with wireless Internet while other competing models supports maximum devices to 10 units. The network can be encrypted with WPA2, which is set by WPS. If you connect the router via USB 3.0 to a computer, it can be charged at the same time and provide the PC with high speed internet.

Telstra WiFi 4G Advanced II Aircard 790s battery

Strong and Replaceable Battery

Netgear has his latest AirCard model a strong power source: The battery has capacity of 2,930 mAh, which should be enough for up to 10 hours in operation and 350 hours in standby according to the manufacturer. The router can be charged via the included Micro-USB cable, the 790S also can be used as a charging station for a smartphone itself. The battery is fortunately interchangeable; Netgear offers optional at an even stronger battery with up to 16 hours of run time.

Availability

The AirCard 790S Netgear is available on www.4gltemall.com . And it’s the unlocked version, which means it can work well in North American, Asia and European countries.

Conclusion

The AirCard 790S Mobile Hotspot Netgear has a high-speed router at the start, which is not only fast, but also future-proof. LTE Cat6 and WLAN ac plus support for the 700 MHz band and supply of 15 devices with Wi-Fi, users do not have to provide a lot of competitors. What’s more, the 790S is quite handy and provides an informative color touch display. It’s a real practical and cool 4G pocket router!

Netgear AC790S 4G LTE Cat6 Mobile Hotspot Review

Netgear AC790s LTE hotspot was presented in September 2014 and has since been introduced by Telstra to its product range in Australia. Comparing with other mobile LTE routers, the main difference is the large battery with touchscreen display and support for LTE-Advanced Cat6. In Europe area, the Netgear AC790s is not yet available, and it is doubtful that we will get the device in near future because the successor with LTE CAT9 is already waiting in the wings. Actually, the predecessor of AC790s model is the Netgear AC785s, which was very good. Luckily, we have seen the Netgear AC790s closely at MWC.

Netgear AC790s, which was exhibited at the exhibition booth of Netgear, was provided with a small branding by Australian operators Telstra. Till now, Telstra is the only provider with whom the Netgear AC790s is available. But the rest of the devices are no branding and with original Netgear, for example the software. The unit is operated by a large colorful touch screen, although a web interface is still available, but not required for operation. The touch screen is not as fast as you would expect from a smartphone, but for a mobile hotspot, it is sufficient in any case completely.

Much more important than the touch screen is the integrated modem in AC790s. This could support LTE (Cat6) with peak download speed up to 300 Mbit/s for the downlink and 50 Mbit/s for uplink. Of course the device is also backward compatible with 3G and 2G along with various data accelerator. The connection to the computer is via WiFi 802.11 ac, ie to 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. It is possible to enhance the speed and the signal strength with an external antenna(Buy Netgear AC790S antenna from here: http://www.4gltemall.com/4g-antenna-two-ts-9-connector.html ). There are two connectors for the external antenna and they are protected with a sliding mechanism from dust and dirt. On the other side, it’s the power button.

A very interesting accessories for the Netgear AC790s hotspot is available, the DC112A SmartCradle. It is a docking station that not only strengthen the router signal through USB and thus charging the battery, but also has other functions. Thus, the wireless signal is amplified and there is a Gigabit LAN port on the back of DC112A. In addition, the mobile radio is improved signal over the external antenna connections.