Best mobile hotspots for 4G LTE and 5G in 2019: portable wireless routers for traveling
Welcome to our pick of the best mobile hotspots for 4G and 5G mobile data connections in 2019. If you do a lot of travelling and don’t want to put your data or information at risk by relying on open Wi-Fi connections, then you’ll want a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot device.
These hubs allow for several devices to connect to one or more data SIMs – usually 4G ones – to surf privately and safely. Much like a smartphone’s SIM card, these data-only deals allow you access to the internet in complete security. You can use a monthly contract, or use a pay-as-you-go SIM, so you know exactly how much data you are paying for.
The best thing about 4G data is that it is incredibly fast, so you’ll be able to browse the internet as if you were connected to a broadband connection. It means it will also often be faster than free or shared Wi-Fi spots, which usually have data limits and a lot of traffic to deal with.
In 2019, we also expect to see more 5G mobile hubs hitting the stores. 5G is the latest generation of mobile internet, offering speeds that are far faster than 4G data connections. While 5G is in its infancy, there are not currently any 5G mobile hotspots, though the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot is coming out later this year. As soon as 5G mobile hotspots are available, they’ll be included in this list – as long as they are good enough.
Mobile hubs range from a simple one SIM solution with a battery to models that can accommodate 10 different SIM cards, or others that even sport a complete Android operating system.
Below are the best mobile Wi-Fi routers you can buy in the UK, catering to all tastes, from frugal surfers to power users and everything in between.
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The HTC 5G Hub is currently the best 5G mobile hotspot money can buy. Sure, there’s not a huge amount of competition out there at the moment, as 5G is still relatively new, but HTC has come out of the gate with a winner. EE, the UK’s biggest network provider, is offering data subscriptions with this hotspot. It’s not cheap – you pay £100 upfront and then £50 a month for 50GB of data – but you are getting a very accomplished bit of kit. It can handle up to 20 wireless devices connected at once, which should be enough for most households, and an Ethernet port for wired devices as well. A powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor powers the device, and there’s a 5-inch HD touchscreen that gives you all the information you need to keep an eye on your 5G network. It also have a large battery life that should keep you going while you’re out and about.
The TP-Link M7350 is an excellent mobile hotspot, supporting both micro and nano SIM cards, which means it’s almost certainly going to be compatible with a SIM card you already own. It has a small display for informing you about your connection, and it supports dual band Wifi on both 2.4 and 5GHz. It can be accessed by up to 10 devices at once, and performance is very good on 4G LTE. Its battery life is also excellent, giving you around 10 hours of 4G connectivity.
The EE 4GEE WiFi Mini is one of the better looking mobile hotspot devices on this list, and its compact design means it can be easily carried around with you. The 1500mAh offers up to 50 hours on standby, and up to six hours when connected to the internet. It can support up to 10 devices at once, but it doesn’t have an LCD screen, like the TP-Link M7350, which means it’s not quite as user friendly. You also need to use the EE network, which isn’t too much of a hardship due to EE’s coverage and fast 4G speeds, and the network offers a range of data plans to go alongside the EE 4GEE WiFi Mini. However, if you want something more future-proof, check out the HTC 5G Hub at the top of this list of best mobile hotspots, which is also offered by EE.
Netgear’s AC810 Aircard is an excellent mobile hotspot that lets you quickly and easily share a fast 4G LTE internet connection with a wide range of devices. Supporting up to 15 devices, this is a very flexible bit of kit, and its 2930 mAh battery is capable of 11 hours operating time and 260 hours when in standby.
An attractive touchscreen gives you all the information you need, and allows you to manage connections and change settings on the fly. It’s put together with a robust build quality we’ve come to expect from Netgear, and in our view this is one of the best Mi-Fi portable hotspots money can buy right now.
The Mobile Wi-Fi Pro from Huawei, otherwise known as the E5770, ticks a lot of boxes for power users. This 4G/LTE model (Cat-4, so only 150Mbps) has one of the biggest batteries we’ve seen on any Mi-Fi device at 5,200mAh. It can even charge another device thanks to a bundled cable that doubles as a stylish strap. Up to 10 devices can be connected with a quoted working time of up to 20 hours.
If that wasn’t good enough, it’s also the only hotspot that we’re aware of that comes with a microSD card slot (sadly taking FAT-formatted cards only) and an Ethernet port. That makes it perfect for small businesses and even, dare we say, a perfect cord-cutting device if paired with the right SIM card.
This is the antithesis of your traditional pocket-sized hotspot and we’re bending the rules to include it in this article. Behold the Netgear Nighthawk R7100LG, a router with a SIM card slot. Technically, it is not portable as the device requires a mains power supply, but there are potential workarounds if you really want to make this happen.
The Nighthawk is a great solution should you want to offer internet access to a massive amount of users, and indeed storage access as well. It offers Cat 6/LTE (300Mbps), AC1900 Wi-Fi, two USB ports, a free app to manage the router (Genie), four Gigabit Ethernet ports plus open source support and a wealth of security features.
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