The theoretical maximum of 5G is staggeringly fast, but not something most phones can do. But Netgear’s latest mobile router can. Theoretically.
Ever since 5G turned up a good five or six years ago, our definition of “fast” has seen some changes.
Mobile 4G internet could reach fast speeds, provided you had the right category modem. Most 4G phones tended to max out at between 150 and 450Mbps, while 5G can go beyond this, pushing into the thousand megabit or “gigabit” territory. What’s more, 5G can be found in a whole lot of devices, from high-priced to much more modest mid-range mobiles, effectively bringing high speeds to more hands and users around the world.
Telcos have responded, too, though in a slightly different way. Now that we’re all chewing through data, mobile speeds tend to be capped on a variety of plans, maxing out at 150 or 250Mbps for a bunch of providers, giving you 4G-like maximums on 5G connections.
But if you subscribe to one of the majors — Optus, Telstra, or Vodafone — you don’t necessarily need that maximum. You can typically get the full speed until you run out of data.
To get the full speed, you typically need the best hardware and the best connection you can at the time. Mobile connections tend to fluctuate based on a variety of factors, such as where you are and how popular the network is at the time, but the best modem will certainly get you some of the way there.
For business users, there may actually be a new breed of “best modem”, with Netgear releasing its latest mobile hotspot with a new high-speed modem inside.
Available in the Nighthawk M7 Ultra MR7500, Netgear has a mobile hotspot capable of supporting up to 64 devices over a WiFi 7 connection, with speeds of up to 10Gbps on offer. That is more than the 5.8Gbps available on the WiFi 7 connection for the router. If you can reach the 10Gbps, to get the full connection, you’d likely need to share it between devices.
“We’re raising the bar once again by packing secure, cutting-edge performance, based on our decades of experience, into an elegant pocket-sized package with the M7 Ultra,” said David Henry, President and General Manager of Connected Home Products and Services for Netgear.
Of course, knowing you can technically hit 10Gbps and physically achieving the full 10 are two entirely different things, but that could be why Netgear is connecting up with Telstra for this release.
The M7 Ultra will work with both sub-6 and mmWave 5G, as well as Category 20 4G LTE, making it possible to hit those fabled speeds provided all the stars align for every possible aspect. Locally, mmWave isn’t as easily found, but patches of the technology can be found, improving speeds when it’s found and supported.
If all the stars do align, and every thing works, you might see speeds as high as 10Gbps, but will probably be a little lower.
There’s a 5185mAh battery to work with there, which should provide up to 10 hours of portable 5G, though that will be dependent on how much activity the mobile router has.
Australians can find the Netgear Nighthawk M7 Ultra outside of a plan, available locally for $949.
