A little long. I'll preface this by saying YMMV. Anyone with experience feel free to chip in. Mods if not appropriate please remove. Figured this may be an alternative for those of you who can't get internet or the speed sucks. In one of the Facebook groups someone mentioned using a hot spot with AT&T's unlimited data plan as their home internet source. Through PMs I asked more questions and decided to check it out. I currently get 20Mbps through CenturyStink. Once fiber is out here I'll drop CenturyStink. Currently averaging 20Mbps downloads with the hot spot. Sometimes faster. Sometimes slower. Have a couple of more antennas on the way to try out to see if they make a difference. I've seen people post speeds of 50's to the 100's. I'm pretty sure they were in a more populated area and closer to a tower. What I bought:
-Ordered a Netgear Nighthawk M1 AT&T hotspot online on sale at Best Buy- $213 with tax. Around $233 not on sale.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/at-t-nighthawk-lte-mobile-hotspot-router/6212403.p?skuId=6212403
https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Nigh...=nighthawk+m1&qid=1560290806&s=gateway&sr=8-2
-AT&T prepaid SIM card at Best Buy $9.99.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/at-t-prepaid-sim-kit/6235500.p?skuId=6235500
-Netgear MIMO antenna on Amazon $29.99
https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-6000...=netgear+mimo&qid=1560290913&s=gateway&sr=8-2
A little more about antennas later.
-$22 to an Ebayer for setting it up. You can do this yourself but I didn't have an IMEI (although apparently there are IMEI number generators). I figured by the time I buy a broken AT&T tablet off of Ebay with a valid IMEI number, it was easier for me to just pay the Ebayer. Have done this twice now with no problem what so ever.
- Anker Quick Charge 3.0 $12.99 on Amazon. From reading different forums, a lot of people of use this as their home internet source recommend upgrading to this as the original one may turn off and restart when it is used a lot.
https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerPort-Compatible-Qualcomm-Certified/dp/B077HFFLMS/ref=sr_1_10?crid=1OPEVX9EOR2SR&keywords=anker+wall+charger&qid=1560290716&s=wireless&sprefix=anker+,mobile,167&sr=1-10
Video on how to do it yourself. He is using an LB1120 hotspot, not a Nighthawk:
Under the video he states: Update-- It is recommended to use IMEI's of LTE Devices, since some users report using non LTE imei's causes them to get only 3G or 4G connections instead of 4G LTE.
Cost= $34.99/month if you let them automatically draft it each month (I use a prepaid card). $40 if you don't let them draft it. Before I purchased anything I borrowed a friends AT&T phone to see what type of reception I would get. I got 2-3 bars so I knew I could get a signal.
Antennas- I will not use this as my permanent internet. Will use it on vacations,when the kids are hogging the interent, etc. so indoor antennas are fine for me. From my reading, people who do use this as their only source on internet tend to buy a pair of the outdoor yagi type antennas for better reception. You'll want one that starts out at the 700mhz range, not 800mhz. Ones like this:
https://ltefix.com/shop/antennas/4g...radome-9dbi-11dbi-4g-lte-directional-antenna/
I was getting upper 20's at my cousins and lower 30's at a friends house. My mother can only get 1.5Mbps from Centurylink (she doesn't have internet). I was getting 18-20Mbps at her house with 2 bars on the signal meter.
Caveats: You'll notice that under the Unlimited data plan it says you may be deprioritized at 22GB. It could happen. I have only read where one person said his speed was slowed down once he reached 22GB. You'll read on different forums/sites where a lot of people say they have went over that with no problem. They guy I spoke on the phone with from the Facebook forum helped me set my settings for better performance. At that time he had used 500GB and and his speed was not slowed down. I'm currently at 24GB and no decrease in speed. Is this for everyone? Absolutely not. But for those who don't have internet, have HughesNet, or can only get 1.5-10Mbps from CenturyStink or another provider it may be an alternative.
-Ordered a Netgear Nighthawk M1 AT&T hotspot online on sale at Best Buy- $213 with tax. Around $233 not on sale.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/at-t-nighthawk-lte-mobile-hotspot-router/6212403.p?skuId=6212403
https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Nigh...=nighthawk+m1&qid=1560290806&s=gateway&sr=8-2
-AT&T prepaid SIM card at Best Buy $9.99.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/at-t-prepaid-sim-kit/6235500.p?skuId=6235500
-Netgear MIMO antenna on Amazon $29.99
https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-6000...=netgear+mimo&qid=1560290913&s=gateway&sr=8-2
A little more about antennas later.
-$22 to an Ebayer for setting it up. You can do this yourself but I didn't have an IMEI (although apparently there are IMEI number generators). I figured by the time I buy a broken AT&T tablet off of Ebay with a valid IMEI number, it was easier for me to just pay the Ebayer. Have done this twice now with no problem what so ever.
- Anker Quick Charge 3.0 $12.99 on Amazon. From reading different forums, a lot of people of use this as their home internet source recommend upgrading to this as the original one may turn off and restart when it is used a lot.
https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerPort-Compatible-Qualcomm-Certified/dp/B077HFFLMS/ref=sr_1_10?crid=1OPEVX9EOR2SR&keywords=anker+wall+charger&qid=1560290716&s=wireless&sprefix=anker+,mobile,167&sr=1-10
Video on how to do it yourself. He is using an LB1120 hotspot, not a Nighthawk:
Under the video he states: Update-- It is recommended to use IMEI's of LTE Devices, since some users report using non LTE imei's causes them to get only 3G or 4G connections instead of 4G LTE.
Cost= $34.99/month if you let them automatically draft it each month (I use a prepaid card). $40 if you don't let them draft it. Before I purchased anything I borrowed a friends AT&T phone to see what type of reception I would get. I got 2-3 bars so I knew I could get a signal.
Antennas- I will not use this as my permanent internet. Will use it on vacations,when the kids are hogging the interent, etc. so indoor antennas are fine for me. From my reading, people who do use this as their only source on internet tend to buy a pair of the outdoor yagi type antennas for better reception. You'll want one that starts out at the 700mhz range, not 800mhz. Ones like this:
https://ltefix.com/shop/antennas/4g...radome-9dbi-11dbi-4g-lte-directional-antenna/
I was getting upper 20's at my cousins and lower 30's at a friends house. My mother can only get 1.5Mbps from Centurylink (she doesn't have internet). I was getting 18-20Mbps at her house with 2 bars on the signal meter.
Caveats: You'll notice that under the Unlimited data plan it says you may be deprioritized at 22GB. It could happen. I have only read where one person said his speed was slowed down once he reached 22GB. You'll read on different forums/sites where a lot of people say they have went over that with no problem. They guy I spoke on the phone with from the Facebook forum helped me set my settings for better performance. At that time he had used 500GB and and his speed was not slowed down. I'm currently at 24GB and no decrease in speed. Is this for everyone? Absolutely not. But for those who don't have internet, have HughesNet, or can only get 1.5-10Mbps from CenturyStink or another provider it may be an alternative.
Last edited:
