Tag: Netgear 5G mobile router

Netgear Nighthawk M5 5G WiFi Router Test

Netgear Nighthawk M5 is a new 5G mobile WiFi hotspot which is already available in many countries. Regarding the performance for internet connection, we will take a test and you will read the detail in the following.

 

We have already shown what the Netgear 5G router looks like and which accessories are included in our picture unboxing linked above. In the first weeks of testing, the hardware of the Netgear Nighthawk M5 proved to be quite robust. Unfortunately, the touchscreen magically attracts fingerprints, so we had to clean it several times with a cleaning cloth.

However, you shouldn’t expect the Netgear Nighthawk M5 MR5200 to respond as quickly as a smartphone touchscreen. Sometimes the software took a small millisecond in our test before it responded to our input. We encountered a phenomenon with the Nighthawk M5 that owners of previous Netgear 4G routers reported. If the nano-SIM card is blocked with a PIN, a PIN query appears after the 5G WiFi router starts up. However, this screen is visually incorrectly designed. You can enter the PIN easily using the numeric keys, but the confirmation button is partly outside the visible area and must be aimed very precisely with your finger.

 

Otherwise, we did not notice any serious software errors when using the router.

 

 

Firmware: Latest version is required

At this point we still have to go into more detail about the software: If you buy the Netgear Nighthawk M5, you should make sure that you have the latest firmware in the “Settings – Software” menu immediately after booting up and connecting to the Internet the number 10.29.10.00 from November 17th and install it. With the old firmware, the router may only contact LTE networks, which is not the point of a 5G router.

 

We also observed with the Netgear Nighthawk M5 that WiFi modules from Android smartphones, which otherwise find any 5 GHz WiFi without any problems, have problems finding the 5 GHz WiFi set up by the Nighthawk M5 and connecting to it. Even manually entering the SSID and password failed in our test on at least three Android devices.

One device that the 5 GHz WiFi of the Nighthawk M5 could always find and connect to was an iPhone 11 Pro used in the test. The Android smartphones could connect to the 2.4 GHz network of the Nighthawk M5. Due to the regional overload of the 2.4 GHz band and the lower data rates, it is of course quite pointless to use a 5G router in this case if it cannot pass on the high 5G data rates via WLAN.

 

Features of the software

In terms of operation and functions, the software of the Netgear Nighthawk M5 is of course quite sophisticated, as always. On the start page, network information, time and battery charge status are displayed in the status area. This is followed by the SSID and password of the 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi hotspots. With a mobile tariff with a data throttle, you can also see how much data volume is left on the home page. At the bottom you can see how many devices are connected via WLAN and whether new SMS messages have arrived.

In the settings menu the user can configure things like the APN. The brightness of the screen can be regulated or an unlock password can be assigned. The Netgear Nighthawk M5 also supports USB tethering; the function can either be activated at the same time as the WLAN or as an alternative to the WLAN hotspot. The Netgear Nighthawk M5 can also be integrated into an existing WLAN or Ethernet network via the data-saving mode and then only serves as a network bridge for the connected devices.

 

 

Data rates in the test

For our test of the Nighthawk M5, we received 5G-capable SIM cards from CSL and PCCW. After the firmware update, the hotspot immediately logged into the available 5G networks.

 

The measured data rates come close to the values ​​that we measured with the 5G router from HTC: HTC 5G Hub. In CSL’s 5G network, we determined maximum data rates of up to 781 Mbit/s in the downstream and 134 Mbit/s in the upstream. In the PCCW network, the data rates we measured in the downstream were a maximum of 187 Mbit/s in the downstream and 82 Mbit/s in the upstream. The CSL data rates at the locations we measured actually corresponded to a typical LTE value rather than a 5G value.

Of course, we also took measurements with a laptop that was connected to the Nighthawk M5 via the Ethernet interface rather than WLAN. Here we could observe that the measured values ​​were always around 12 to 15 percent above the values ​​measured via WLAN.

 

Netgear has not received any further error messages about the problem with the 5 GHz WLAN under Android.

 

Battery life in the test

The Netgear Nighthawk M5’s 5040 mAh battery is strong, but it doesn’t work miracles either. Even if the router’s display switches off in the meantime, the maximum battery life is around 6 hours. That is a decent value, but not a top performance either. If you really have to work with the Nighthawk M5 all day long, you should have access to a socket again in between – or take a mobile power bank with you.

 

Conclusion

With the current firmware, the Netgear Nighthawk M5 did its job properly and without any real errors. In the 5G network, the router achieved peak values ​​of just below 800 Mbit/s at the locations we tested. We are in contact with Netgear about the 5 GHz WiFi problem. The battery lasted around 6 hours in the test. There was little to criticize about the intuitive operation of the router.

 

 

 

NETGEAR Nighthawk M5 5G Mobile Hotspot Review

The manufacturer NETGEAR has launched the first MiFi 5G with Wi-Fi 6 technology to achieve the best possible wireless performance in all circumstances. The new model is the NETGEAR Nighthawk M5 Mobile Hotspot, and it is designed to offer the best possible experience in the mobile broadband network, and also so that we obtain the maximum speed when we connect devices via Wi-Fi. Do you want to know all the details of this new model?

 

Thanks to this 5G portable router we have the latest mobile and WiFi technologies, with which we can stay connected at home or away from home, while enjoying a connection with fast speed, low latency and improved bandwidth.

 

This year we have seen an increase in teleworking, due to the fact that more and more work is done remotely, and the coronavirus pandemic has also contributed to accelerating the process. Since many work or study from home right now, they need to have a fast and secure Internet connection with WiFi connectivity that meets their needs.

 

 

The Nighthawk M5 Mobile Hotspot Pro will allow us to bring a quality Internet connection to our home with 5G. In small and medium-sized towns especially, we find that cable, DSL or other service is not good enough.

However, thanks to the 5G connectivity offered by this Netgear 5G mobile Hotspot, we will be able to obtain fast speed connections. That’s not all, thanks to WiFi 6 technology it will allow us to deliver those speeds to your connected devices without affecting bandwidth or connectivity when we have many wireless clients. That means we will not have delays or interruptions when working or studying at home. That extra bandwidth that WiFi 6 provides us compared to the previous WiFi 5 technology will allow us to do videoconferences or other activities in a more fluid way.

 

 

 

The Nighthawk M5 Mobile Hotspot Pro comes equipped with the chipset of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 mobile platform to offer us next- generation 5G connectivity . Thanks to this 5G modem, we can achieve high download speeds of up to 7 Gbps and upload speeds of up to 3 Gbps.

 

 

 

In addition, it has WiFi 6 technology that allows us to have more devices connected and transmitting simultaneously without penalizing performance. With a greater capacity compared to WiFi 5, we can rest assured that our smartphones, tablets and computers will have the necessary bandwidth to carry out any task.

 

 

It also allows us the 5G connection in our home or office through the use of its Gigabit Ethernet port. To do this, we can connect the 5G mobile router to our home or work router and thus we can enjoy 5G speeds in our local network from which all devices can also be used.

 

With a secure and reliable network we can avoid the risks of public WiFi networks thanks to the compatibility with VPN Pass-through and password protection. Regarding the capacity of this model, it allows us to connect up to 32 WiFi devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops regardless of where you are.

 

 

This model has a 5,040 mAh rechargeable battery that will provide us with a long duration to use it all day. We can also use it without a battery since it can be connected to a power outlet at home so that it works throughout the day. In that sense, we could keep it connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by removing the battery.

 

As for the Nighthawk M5 Mobile Hotspot Pro, it has a 2.4-inch color LCD touch screen that is intuitively operated. Thanks to it, we can easily control the use of data, see the name and password of WiFi, as well as the strength of the mobile signal. We can also manage device and network settings. On your lock screen it shows important information such as the time, date and the use of data that we have consumed. On the other hand, we have the NETGEAR Mobile app to manage and configure our device.