NETGEAR Nighthawk M1 MR1100 LTE Mobile Router

I have used several Netgear mobile routers in the past, the last one I used before this being the NETGEAR AC790-100EUS Aircard Wi-Fi Mobile Broadband Hotspot. This new model, NETGEAR MR1100, is a significant advance over the earlier models but at £299 is more than twice the price and this may be a step too far for most potential users.

In the attractive upmarket box was the router itself, Removable 5040mAh Lithium Ion Battery, UK/EU Mains Charger and USB Type-C cable, User Guide. The router is larger and heavier than the previous models, is square in shape with rounded edges and about the size of a small home router. On the front is a large colour LCD information screen and on one side are sockets for Ethernet, USB-C and USB 2 and TS-9 external antennas. Inside are micro SIM and Micro-USB card slots. Build quality is first rate as can be expected from Netgear.

Setting the device up is easy enough although inserting the tiny SIM card be a little tricky. When powering the device on and connecting to the User Interface with your computer a walkthrough guide makes this straightforward enough. My tests with three MVNO cards, TalkTalk, ASDA and FreedomPop all worked well although it may be necessary to select the MVNO parent (ie Vodafone for TalkTalk) from the options offered although it will soon display the correct name. The device can be controlled and configured through the Netgear Genie app for Android and iOS.

This router offers a maximum speed of CAT16 1Gbps downstream and 150MB upstream but I was unable to get anywhere near this due to the limitations of my mobile network. Few users will be able to find a connection fast enough to fully utilise the potential of this device. It can connect up to twenty devices to the network it generates and offers Gigabit LAN with full Dual-Band/Dual-Concurrent WiFi at 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz and 802.11 a/n/ac 5GHz. It also has a built-in NAS feature so you can stream your downloaded movies and music from the internal SD card or external USB device. You can also use it as a power bank to charge external devices from the USB port. All this may test the battery but I got a full day of normal use from it. Expect less when streaming video or powering external devices.

This is a superb device but if all you need is a mobile hotspot you can carry around with you it may be more than you need.

The Good
High-speed connections
Good User Interface
Great Build quality
Easy to configure
Good battery life
NAS feature
Powerbank feature
Up to 20 devices may connect

The Bad
Expensive
Large size
May offer more than many users need

More info and purchase