When your phone and the telco work together, there’s a good chance you’re going to get a reasonable speed, handy if you need something fast and capable at a moment’s notice. But that’s your phone, and while you can hotspot and share a connection, it’s not necessarily the same as having a connection made for your computer.
At home, it’s probably your NBN connection, or maybe something fixed and wireless, but head out and about, and you’ll probably need a fast modem to keep you connected. That could also be your phone, but there’s another option if you need speed on the run, with a mobile router.
Netgear’s latest appears to push what we know of high-speed mobile connectivity, theoretically capable of pushing through the 2 Gbps mark we’ve long associated with the fastest 5G can offer, and now approaching 4 Gbps, also known as half a gigabyte per second. Yikes.
Australian telcos haven’t officially been tested to hit those speeds, but the Netgear Nighthawk M7 mobile router supports them, able to use SIM and eSIM, making it handle for use both in Australia and travelling abroad, as you could jump SIMs rather easily.
We’re told there will be a Telstra-specific version of the Nighthawk M7, but there’s also an outright model that should work with all carriers, and is even certified for US with American telcos, if you’re planning to travel over there.
That being said, the technology aims to deliver high-speed coverage regardless of who you connect through, offering WiFi 7 speeds of up to 3.6 Gbps to phones, tablets, laptops, and whatever else you’re carrying with you, plus support for USB-C and a battery life of up to 10 hours.
Netgear’s Nighthawk M7 is available at select stockists, priced from $799 locally.
