America’s only unlocked 5G hotspot, the Netgear Nighthawk M5, works on all the major US and Canadian networks and gives you unparalleled flexibility to access the internet wherever you go. It’s also the first C-Band hotspot in the US, ready for the fast new networks that AT&T and Verizon will install over the next few years. While the $699.99 Nighthawk M5 is pricey, there’s simply nothing else like it on the market, earning it our Editors’ Choice award for unlocked hotspots.
Why Use a Hotspot?
With a hotspot mode now available on most phones, it’s always worth explaining why standalone hotspots are still important.
A dedicated hotspot’s major advantages are that it generally provides better wireless range, longer battery life, and supports more connected devices than a phone in hotspot mode. If you’re using a hotspot as the main form of internet access for a space, it can stay in place while phones move in and out of the room. For businesses, a company can pay for separate hotspot plans, even if it doesn’t pay for, or support, employees’ phone plans.
And with the M5 specifically, you can use low-cost, short-duration service plans when you just need a hit of hotspot data. Then, you can put the hotspot away until your next trip, without messing with your main monthly phone plan.
The benefit of an unlocked hotspot is that it lets you switch between carriers easily. It isn’t just about AT&T and T-Mobile; it’s also about being able to choose from the many low-cost, virtual carriers that use those networks, such as US Mobile (T-Mobile), H2O (AT&T), and Google Fi (T-Mobile). Those brands typically offer snack-sized, prepaid data options for weekends at your lake house or that two-day company retreat.
The Nighthawk M5’s flexibility comes at a cost: specifically, $699.99. That is much more expensive than carrier-locked hotspots such as the $336 T-Mobile Inseego M2000 or the $399 Verizon Inseego M2100. AT&T sells an older version of this hotspot, the Netgear MR5100, for $509.99. Note that the Inseego M2100 and the Netgear MR5100 don’t support C-band, which AT&T and Verizon will increasingly rely on for improved 5G speeds and capacity over the next few years. But I suspect that AT&T will start selling a carrier-locked version of the M5 hotspot early next year at a discount.
Oh Say, Can You C
Let’s be clear about what C-Band means in the context of the Nighthawk M5. Right now, AT&T’s and Verizon’s nationwide 5G networks are not noticeably faster than their 4G networks according to our Fastest Mobile Networks test results. But that will change over the next few years, and you’ll need a C-Band device to take advantage of the added capacity. Verizon says 100 million Americans in 46 metro areas will have access to C-Band by next March.
C-Band is in the iPhone 12 and 13 lineups, in the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, and in the Google Pixel 5 and 6. But up until now, no hotspot has supported C-Band: The Nighthawk M5 is the first one. C-Band won’t improve overall cellular network coverage—if your problem is LTE dead zones, it’s not relevant to you. (This hotspot has another feature, easily accessible antenna ports, to help with that.) But if speed and performance in urban areas are important to you, C-Band is likely to greatly improve those metrics on AT&T’s and Verizon’s networks.
The Usual Size, With Excellent Controls
The M5 is a sizable brick at 4.14 by 4.14 by 0.85 inches (HWD) and 8.64 ounces. It won’t be going in a pocket; it goes from bag to table. On the front, there’s a 2.4-inch touch screen for network monitoring and management. The bottom edge has two TS-9 antenna ports, a USB-C port, and a full-sized Ethernet port. The battery is removable, and there’s a single nanoSIM slot under it. The hotspot broadcasts Wi-Fi 6, and you can tether using the USB-C or Ethernet ports.
By default, the front panel screen shows you the time, date, signal strength, and battery capacity. From this screen, you can check or change Wi-Fi network names or passwords, see what devices are connected, and change some settings. For example, you can disable 5G or Wi-Fi (if you’re mostly using wired tethering.)
A web-based management screen gives you more controls. You can set up separate 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and guest networks, as well as configure network channel selections and sizes too, up to 80MHz for Wi-Fi 6. Additional options for device and site-based blacklists and whitelists, a time-based lockout function, and port forwarding, filtering, and VPN passthrough round out the list.
The Bands, All Here
I tested the M5 on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon using either Wi-Fi 6 or a direct Ethernet connection, and got speeds similar to leading smartphones. While the M5’s Qualcomm X55 modem is a year behind the X60 modem in 2021 smartphones, US networks don’t appear to be using the X60’s new features yet.
The US model of the M5 supports 5G bands 2/5/25/41/66/71/77 and 4G bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/12/13/14/25/29/30/38/41/48/66/71. That means it will support AT&T’s and Verizon’s “nationwide” 5G (primarily band 5), as well as their upcoming C-band 5G (band 77); T-Mobile’s “nationwide” low-band (71) and “ultra capacity” mid-band 5G (41); all three of the Canadian 5G networks (2, 41, 66 and 77); and 4G networks for all US and many foreign carriers.
Looking at the hotspot’s band capabilities, it’s well positioned for the carriers’ major upgrades over the next year or two, which will focus on bands 41 for T-Mobile, and 48 and 77 for AT&T and Verizon. It’s missing band 46, however, which is used in some high-congestion areas. The hotspot also support have millimeter-wave, the super-high-speed system used by all the carriers that has extremely limited coverage.
A year or two ago, I would have dinged this unit for not supporting mmWave, but the newer mid-bands (41 and 77) are going to offer plenty of performance as they roll out across the US. Stick with me here: There’s actually a big advantage to this hotspot not supporting mmWave in that mmWave systems currently don’t allow for easy third-party extender antennas. So, by giving up mmWave, you get TS9 ports that give you lots of options for improving signal strength.
The US model doesn’t appear to support the 5G bands used outside of North America, so it would function as a 4G hotspot overseas. Netgear also offers an international model that supports a different set of 5G bands: 1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/77/78. If you get a hold of that model, it would work fine on Verizon and AT&T, but won’t support T-Mobile’s 5G bands.
Netgear says the hotspot works best with AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon doesn’t want to give its official blessing to any hotspot that doesn’t have its “ultra wideband” millimeter-wave technology, but the M5’s support of C-band 5G means it will get Verizon “ultra wideband” speeds in the future.
If you want to use this hotspot on Verizon, though, you need to be a little sneaky. I couldn’t find my hotspot’s IMEI in Verizon’s database of compatible devices, so you’ll need a SIM card that was previously activated in another Verizon device (a tablet would be ideal, because those devices use the same kind of service plan).
More Speed Than Stamina
Compared with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 on T-Mobile’s “ultra capacity” 5G network, I got up to 653Mbps with the hotspot and up to 670Mbps with the phone. Compared with an iPhone 13 Pro Max on Verizon’s “nationwide” 5G, I saw speeds between 220Mbps and 240Mbps on both the phone and the hotspot. On AT&T’s “nationwide” 5G and on its 4G, once again, I reached similar speeds of 130 to 150Mbps between the hotspot and phones.
On the other hand, I only got a Wi-Fi range of about 50 feet (line of sight) when I tested the hotspot with a Wi-Fi 6-capable Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, regardless of whether I turned on the hotspot’s Extended Range mode. I’ve seen other hotspots reach up to between about 100 and 120 feet. Given those results, this hotspot is best for use in a single room, RV, or cabin; it might struggle to reach the edges of a large ballroom or conference room.
5G also takes a toll on battery life. On both AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s 5G networks in New York, I got in the vicinity of nine hours of continuous streaming, shorter than I’d expect on 4G hotspots with a similar 5,040mAh battery.
As I discovered in this year’s iPhone 13 reviews, the X55 is less power-efficient than the new X60, which may be contributing to the hotspot’s so-so stamina. The Inseego M2100, with the same modem, has similar battery life.
A Hotspot for Home?
The M5 has the right hardware to be a hotspot for primary home internet access, but the problem is getting hold of an appropriate service plan.
In its favor, the hotspot’s two TS9 antenna ports and Ethernet port let it connect with sizable outdoor antennas and in-home mesh Wi-Fi systems. But although AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all offer unlimited wireless home internet plans, they often tie these plans to specific pieces of home hardware and offer them only to people in select areas.
Chris Dunphy at RVMobileInternet.com has a rundown of all the service plans to use with your M5 hotspot. However, none of those plans allow for the 356GB of monthly data usage that Comcast says its median US home subscriber consumes. Some of the best plans, such as T-Mobile’s 100GB plan, don’t allow you to use unlocked hotspots.
A Real Standout
On paper, the Nighthawk M5’s average battery life and short-ish Wi-Fi range seem like notable drawbacks, but I don’t think they’re a huge deal when I consider how this hotspot is likely to be used: For primary home, hotel room, or RV internet access, a router will probably be plugged in and used to connect nearby devices. And the M5 has the appropriate room for expansion. A full-fledged Ethernet port can either power an additional router to extend the hotspot’s range, or take in a wired internet connection so you don’t have to use cellular data if something else is available. And the hotspot has two easily accessible TS9 ports for external antennas to improve reception.
If you’re looking for an unlocked 4G home solution and you can’t afford this hotspot, the $199.99 Netgear LAX20 is intriguing; it’s a regular home router that uses 4G for backhaul. But the 4G connection in the LAX20 is very slow—I’d expect speeds between about 20 to 25Mbps based on its specs, so you won’t get anywhere near the performance you will with the M5. Unlocked hotspots from Alcatel and ZTE are also much less expensive, but have the same problem—slow modems that will feel sluggish once you connect more than one or two devices. Other unlocked hotspots available abroad generally don’t pack US frequency bands at all.
For now, the M5 stands alone as the most flexible and powerful way to get your gadgets online, anywhere. That makes it our Editors’ Choice award winner for unlocked hotspots.
