The Best Wi- Fi Hotspot . It has been our pick since early 2. Wi- Fi, and can even recharge your phone in a pinch. Those features put it ahead of newer models like the Jetpack Mi. Fi 7. 73. 0L, which gets only about 1. But it’s really the network that matters most here, and Verizon’s is the best for LTE. Find the latest AT&T news, including information on new devices, network services, mobile phones and technology. Network news, trend analysis, product testing and the industry’s most important blogs, all collected at the most popular network watering hole on the Internet. Internet & Network How-Tos. Your router can do more than send a Wi-Fi signal to your phone. You can make guest networks, block certain sites, and make sure bad guys. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T intellectual property and/or. If you’re not on Verizon, it’s worthwhile to open an account if you need a hotspot, since the regions where Verizon is strongest tend to be the same places you can’t easily find free public Wi- Fi. It’s cheaper to add a line to an existing Mobile Share plan than to start a new one with a different carrier, and AT& T’s network is good enough in most places for you to avoid spending extra for a new plan with Verizon. The Unite Explore lasted 2. Verizon hotspot’s network options (it’s a similar model from the same manufacturer), and matches its competitor’s device- charging capability. The current hotspots for T- Mobile and Sprint can’t compete with either the AC7. L or the Unite Explore, even setting aside those services’ weaker networks. Besides, their unmetered- data plans both allow 1. GB of tethering a month at a lower cost than the comparable deals from AT& T and Verizon. Table of contents. Why you should trust us. I’ve been covering the wireless industry since about 1. Washington Post, Discovery News, PCMag, Boing Boing, Venture. Beat, CNN Money, and others, and I now cover telecom policy issues for Yahoo Tech and answer telecom questions in a USA Today Q& A column. I also maintain The Wirecutter’s guide to wireless carriers and prepaid and resold wireless service. I’ve relied on wireless broadband during business travel since at least 2. PCMCIA card into my work laptop—and I’ve alternately praised and cursed Wi- Fi hotspots from all four of the nationwide wireless carriers in the ensuing years. The list of saved wireless networks on my 2. Mac. Book Air features over a dozen different hotspots. Who is this for, and is your smartphone enough? Just about every smartphone available now can act as a hotspot, sharing your data signal over Wi- Fi with your tablet, laptop, or other devices. So if you need a hotspot only for short periods, such as when you’re sending some files from your laptop or browsing a few websites, your phone will suffice. But if you travel a lot and have business income on the line, a dedicated hotspot in your gear bag can help maintain a constant, consistent connection. A dedicated hotspot is more reliable than tethering from your phone, and the device has a much longer- lasting internal battery and lets you keep your phone (and its battery) free for other things. In recent years, more generous tethering options—now up to 1. GB on the unlimited- data plans of all four carriers—have made the case worse for a stand- alone device that you have to buy and manage separately.“Because all smartphones have hotspot options now, and most smartphone plans come with at least some tethering, it’s hard to justify dedicated hotspots for anyone except businesses anymore,” PCMag lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan told us when we quizzed him in November 2. A dedicated hotspot is more reliable than tethering from your phone. But, Segan added, hotspots retain some key technological advantages over smartphone tethering: “Hotspot mode burns battery, dedicated hotspots have better Wi- Fi range than phones do, and they have the option for external antennas to boost their signal quality.”If you already have an AT& T or Verizon hotspot that you purchased within the past two years, such as last year’s pick or runner- up, you’ll be fine skipping this version. Included with qualifying Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone and data plans. Most smartphones offered by AT&T already have built-in Wi-Fi at no additional charge. But if you’re still holding on to a hotspot from 2. Odds are, you’re missing options such as 5 GHz Wi- Fi and the ability to create a guest network, and your hotspot’s battery life is probably a lot worse than what today’s models can offer. How we picked. Reliability is the reason to buy a hotspot, starting with the network behind it. If you don’t have a good, fast connection, you’ve lost the whole point of a hotspot. To that end, Verizon remains the best national network overall for 4. G LTE connectivity and holds our recommendation for the best wireless carrier for most people. PCMag thought so, too, awarding Verizon first place in its 2. Fastest Mobile Networks” reports. Verizon has also taken first place in Root. Metrics’s automated nationwide testing in each of its past six half- year surveys. But the odds are better that Verizon will give you a solid connection wherever you land in the US. You may find that T- Mobile in particular offers a faster connection in some cities than Verizon, but while everybody’s network gets a little weaker outside of urban areas, Verizon’s is least likely to suffer that problem. Meanwhile, it’s easier to find good Wi- Fi in or near a city—at a coffee shop or restaurant, at a library, in a shopping area, and so on—to fill in a coverage gap in your carrier’s network than it is outside those areas. Furthermore, T- Mobile’s and Sprint’s hotspot offerings have shown little progress in the past two years. On a similar note, many prepaid hotspots are cheap because they rely on those second- tier networks for their data connections. If you’re willing to accept slower connections and less reliable networks in trade for a smaller bill, you should just stick with tethering from your phone. Battery life is the second most important spec. Ideally your hotspot should be able to last a full workday and give you plenty of breathing room. While 1. 0 hours advertised run time is the absolute minimum worth considering, the best hotspots can last over 2. Beyond those basic requirements, anything you consider should have dual- band 8. Wi- Fi, USB hardwired tethering for crowded areas, and support for the latest LTE technologies. Some lesser features that you should consider, but aren’t absolutely necessary, include a touchscreen interface, guest- network options for sharing your connection, and the ability to double as a USB battery pack for your phone in a pinch. We don’t endorse trying to save on costs by going with a lower- end device. Despite eliminating two- year contracts for phones, AT& T and Verizon still oddly insist on your committing for two years with a hotspot. Going cheap means losing important future- proofing specs such as support for faster LTE Advanced service, guest networking, and dual- band 8. How we tested. We’ve tested three rounds of hotspots since 2. We tested our main recommendation in late 2. Washington, DC, in the San Francisco Bay Area, and elsewhere, and we tested two other models in early 2. Washington, DC, as well as in Houston and Austin, Texas. Measurements with the Speedtest. We tested each model with a 2. Mac. Book Air, an i. Pad mini 4, a Nexus 5. X, and a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (in earlier rounds of testing, our Windows 1. Lenovo Think. Pad X1. Our pick: Verizon Jetpack AC7. L. Verizon Wireless’s Jetpack 4. G LTE Mobile Hotspot AC7. L. This pocket- sized device has long battery life, fast performance, and exceptional coverage. It’s not Verizon’s newest hotspot, but it’s still the best. LTE Advanced allows a device to use multiple frequency ranges simultaneously, which can dramatically increase throughput and reliability. The AC7. 91. L is the carrier’s first hotspot to support LTE Advanced, the next evolution in LTE networking. The technology allows a device to use multiple frequency ranges simultaneously, which can dramatically increase throughput and reliability. Our runner- up from AT& T also supports LTE Advanced, but Verizon is rolling out the new technology faster, which could allow its network to outpace AT& T’s in comparable locations for some time. However, the default Wi- Fi setting is as a 2. GHz–only network, with WPA2 personal encryption and the option of a password- free Wi- Fi Protected Setup (WPS) login, so be sure to activate both bands (or even 5 GHz only) to take full advantage of its capabilities. That said, you’ll probably notice the AC7. L’s faster Wi- Fi only when you’re passing large files between connected devices, or when you’re using it in an area with lots of competing signals. It also performs better at longer distances compared with older protocols. Otherwise, you’re constrained by the speed of the LTE connection. In our tests, the AC7. L connected instantly almost all the time, but in a few cases it failed to set up an Internet connection with our test Mac. Book Air until a second or third try. Download and upload speeds ranged from 1. Mbps in most tested locations, although in two spots in Los Angeles they fell below 5 Mbps. In 1. 0 direct comparisons between this hotspot and AT& T’s Unite Pro (the previous version of our runner- up pick) around the San Francisco Bay Area, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, we saw Verizon’s tested download speeds exceed AT& T’s seven times, while its upload speeds bested AT& T’s six times. This hotspot also offers USB tethering, which worked on our Think. Pad but not on our Mac, and a guest- network mode that can reduce the anxiety of giving your wireless password to somebody you just met. While it didn’t match Verizon’s advertised battery life of “up to 2. LTE connection for 1. Mac laptop checked email and auto- refreshed Web pages. In this regard it ranked behind only the newer AT& T Unite Explore, which lasted 2. Battery life sank Verizon’s newest hotspot, the 7. L, which survived for just 1. The AC7. 91. L can also share power as well as bandwidth, a feature found on some other units we tested, but because it doesn’t have a USB Type- A port, the experience isn’t as simple as on the older 6. L or the newer 7. L. Instead, you need to attach a Micro- USB–to–female- USB- A patch cable and then plug your device’s charging cable into that. Fortunately, this cable comes in the box, but it’s another item to carry and potentially lose. The screen then invites you to start 3. Ah battery, which offers more than double the rated capacity of an i. AT& T News, Wireless and Network Information. Registration Now Open for AT& T SHAPE, a Tech and Entertainment Expo. Registration Now Open for AT& T SHAPE, a Tech and Entertainment Expo. Entertainment / 5 days ago. Interested creators, developers, and tech and entertainment professionals and enthusiasts can now register for AT& T SHAPE, a tech and entertainment expo from July 1. Los Angeles. Read Story.
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