20 Best 4G Lte Home Internet (Jan 2023 Update)

Does not have a good wifi. Unable to go 30' through 2 walls or 2 windows. Larger battery does not last much longer then the v890l which has no trouble with the wifi going that distance. Verizon said i needed to upgrade to get the 4g to work. Did not work any better. Went back to the LTE V890l which is more user friendly and no lights flashing on it. The lights can be turned off on the 6620 when you find stealth mode.chalesl

The MiFi 6620L is a reliable way to bring Verizon Wireless service into a house, and for use on the road when travelling between two homes — winter and summer. It eliminates the need to put service in one location on 'vacation' when travelling and/or staying in another home. Just take it with you between houses and pay one bill year-round.st-plus

This is the best router we’ve ever owned, it’s lightning fast, keeps the Internet speeds consistent, has a whole range of functions and options that most of the other high-end routers do not offer. I am a truck driver, and I am gone a lot. The router does security scans on all of the devices in my network, I get those updates real time to my phone no matter where I’m at in the country. I’m glad we got it. My network is more secure, and I get a notification of any new device that connects to it. So I have security, speed, and real network monitoring are important to you for your home network, then definitely get one of these. It’s sports up to 20 devices streaming simultaneously, with no lag that we’ve experienced before with other routers. We are going to buy another one as a back up in case anything ever happens to this one. Thank you for reading this, and thank you to Netgear for bringing all of us this awesome Nighthawk router.Jeff

We live in a area with no internet, none! So I Purchased this router because it said it worked with ATT Sim cards. It does not! Twice went to the ATT store and they activated 2 different sim cards for me and neither worked to give us a hotspot. Finally one ATT agent attempted to set up router manually and it came up requesting a TMobile login. The app for Nighthawk is terrible! You can’t do anything on the app until you have internet connection, well what about the people who have no internet and trying to set it up?!? Frustrating! No paperwork or manual in the box, had to go back to website and look up PDF for manual to find out that you needed LTE antennas. Oh, which you have to order 3rd party, because Netgear doesn’t sell them. Overall this was a terrible experience! Equipment didn’t work, wasn’t provided with everything needed to use with LTE only. The to top it all off and weeks of trying to get this thing to work and it didn’t, I called to return it and they tried to tell me that I only had 14 days! They did finally let me return it, but only because I told them how it says compatible with ATT and it clearly isn’t. Why don’t you make a simple router that works for hotspots for all us rural people who don’t have WiFi of fiber.JB2010

GL.iNet GL-E750 (Mudi) 4G LTE OpenWrt VPN Router is a great router. Easy to set up and use. It's pretty fast. Can only use in North America. So it's not ideal to travel with unless you stay in that area.Dolphincrazy88

You have to have T-Mobile service or SIM card to use this device. It has good connection and I use it in place of a hotspot on my phone. This was I preserve battery and have more of it using the router!Freda

I got this Mudi EC25-AFFA Module GL.iNet GL-E750 4G LTE OpenWrt VPN Router for travel to have a secure wi-if connection. It’s AC750 wireless, Tor, OpenWrt and dual band wi-fi. It has a 7000mAh battery with a 5V/2A power adapter, Ethernet cable, USB-C port replica, USB-C cables, and it’s own carrying bag. You can install a 128GB Max MicroSD and this router is a programmable one that can be used with public wi-if or you can install a T-Mobile card for your own personal hotspot. It’s only to be used in North America so if you’re traveling overseas it’s not gonna work. Now to the usefulness of it- granted I’m not the most tech-savvy but I can manage, so I connected this Mudi to my home wi-if and went through all the set up on the 192 home page, using my IPad9 and my connection through the Mudi was great! I even looked through all the security aspects of the home page and even though I didn’t mess with them, just by what I saw I felt like if I were to travel, I would be secure using public wi-fi. So yesterday I had a meeting that included a presentation at Chic-Fil-A and I decided to use the same IPad and the Mudi for it. I could not for the life of me to get the Mudi to connect! The wi-fi signal was perfect and it showed on the Mudi’s screen but it wouldn’t show up in the 192 home page and it wouldn’t even let me scan for any wi-fi. So nothing that I previously did at home using my personal wi-fi worked, the Mudi showed up on my wi-fi options and that’s what I chose but it wouldn’t let me even open a page. So after 5-10 minutes trying to get it to connect, I had to scrap that idea and just go with the chick-fil-a guest connection against my better judgment. I’m sure if I would’ve installed the T-Mobile card and went with the personal hotspot, it would have worked but I don’t want to pay for what I can use for free. We have a personal trip planned in a few months and it will be on my-time and I do plan on taking the Mudi with me, so fingers crossed I can get it to work.Bwamof1

Tthis is no knock on Walmart or this seller. I want to try to help people not have the same problems I went through. I have been through 3 of these and cannot get one to work consistently. I could get it to work for a few hours then the SSID would disappear from my device, and I would lose service. I tried T-Mobile thinking that it could be a Verizon problem, no, T-Mobile did not work at all, at least Verizon worked for a few hours. If I removed the power and let it reboot, it would work again for a few hours. I want to be able to control my RV remotely with this device and it does not do the job. The first unit I returned for a refund. Then second 2 I bought directly from Winegard thinking that I could eliminate the middleman. Winegard did send me a replacement, but it had the same symptoms. I asked them for a refund, but they would not refund because it was beyond the 30-day limit. My 2022 Keystone Fuzion is parked 250 miles away from home so I would have to communicate with Winegard during the week and try to trouble shoot on the weekends. Winegard had me test voltage, I must have tested it 20 times and it was always 13.3 volts, then they hade me hook it up to a battery, which I did at 13.1 volts (Golf cart battery), the same thing happened to it on the battery. Any way, if you want something that will give you headaches and not be reliable buy this gateway. Luckily this seller gave me a refund. I donated 300.00 to Winegard.Jon

I ordered this online suppose to be new. The box came today clearly it is a used device. There is grass statically stuck on the router and someone’s ATT SIM card already inserted. Now I’m concerned I might have received a faulty one that was returned for issues. I hate that I paid new price for a used product that is iffy on quality. As it is winter our RV is in storage and we intended to install this and not use it until spring. Now how am I suppose to know of it works or if I just wasted all that money.E.Deal

Installed the Winegard GW1000 and been nothing but a hassle for the last 30 days. I have tried to get it hooked up to the ATT prepaid data only plan I purchased specifically for this unit. It can pickup the 4G/LTE fine but it gets rejected by the att network every time. I ended up going to a att store and buying a new SIM card that the store activated while I was watching and it still gets rejected. I’m going to try it on T-Mobile next and if it doesn’t work on that I’m sending it back via Amazon as I’ve spent way to much time on this thing.rod golding

Took a little bit to understand how to activate my ATT data account on it (check Youtube videos), but once I got there has worked wonderfully! It's a great solution when you need temporary internet. The speed is not as fast as traditional internet providers but is adequate for streaming TV.cphilipd

I ordered this devise from ATT for my mom in senior care so she could have an inexpensive phone. After waiting for 2 months to get one that was on back order, ATT cancelled my order since they could not provide the equipment. In hopes of finding one I called over 6 stores in NoCal. One kind woman at an ATT store told me I could buy a refurbished one at Walmart. So I did and when I received it quickly from Walmart I brought it in to the ATT store and they set it up for me. I saved $70 over buying a new devise, and now pay only $20 a month for an unlimited land line for my mom. A big success!Peaches

We steam off of it and everything. The only issue is that I dont have the best att service in my house so if its really overcast outside it seams to kick the kids off of their zoom classes. To be fair its 3 Children in 3 different classes at the same time. It works great with Rokubebu-fbc-hpm5fxpq

I bought this as a replacement for my Telstra router and despite some initial hiccups I'm glad I did. Pros: * Speeds, WiFi 6 and WPA3 support are great. * Can actually change the DNS settings to whatever you like. * Has support for static routes and WPA2-Enterprise which is a nice bonus. * Has a decent advanced config page with a good amount of settings to mess around with * Has an app that lets you configure your network from your phone, however I haven't used it Cons: * Setup OOTB was a bit of a pain. It pays to read the manual even if you're technically inclined as the settings required for a HFC NBN connection are different than FTTN and FTTP. Namely I had to set the MAC address to "Clone current device address" for a connection to a cable modem (i.e HFC NBN) to work. I wish this was documented in the setup wizard as well. * IPv6 support: Furthermore, this was also difficult. TP-Link's terminology doesn't seem match up with the documentation that most Aussie ISPs provide for v6 support. In particular on my HFC setup I had to set the IPv6 WAN to Dynamic with the "Get IPv6 Address" set to "Non-address" and the LAN set to "SLAAC+RDNSS" for it to work. Failing to do the former would seem to generate IPv6 addresses on the LAN side but prevent routing out to the internet. * WiFi range is a bit less than I'd like, however this may the result of "Smart Connect" (band steering) being enabled. Overall I'm extremely satisfied with this router even with the above issues.redquasar

I have other TP-Link products that I have been satisfied with, so I bought this router to upgrade the speed from an older Netgear router I was using. It is pretty much an upgrade on every level. The range is much farther. I can now get wi-fi signal out in my detached garage. It can handle network demand of three TVs, two gaming PCs and half a dozen other phones and tablets. My work PC's wireless connection speed went up 157 Mbps after upgrading from a wireless N adapter (Wi-Fi 4). And it cost me about $70 as of Feb. 2022, so it definitely didn't break the bank. The reason I didn't give it five stars, despite being a pretty great upgrade, is the fact that it just would not work well with a previously 100% reliable and working TP-Link Wireless N USB adapter. All the other devices in my house use 5 GHz, but this older adapter could only connect at 2.4 GHz. On Win10 64, it would connect and say it had internet, but then pages wouldn't load and apps that needed internet wouldn't work. Sometimes it would reconnect itself somehow, other times I had to manually disconnect and reconnect to get it working again. This would happen every two to five minutes. The adapter was for my work computer, so I need consistent and reliable connection, and this was obviously unacceptable. Router has latest firmware, turned on/off OneMesh, changed 2.4 GHz channel, relocated router and adapter… nothing would stop the adapter from losing connection every two to five minutes. A quick google search shows that it's not just me with this problem… pretty common issue with their 2.4 GHz support with newer routers. The next day I went out and bought an ASUS AC1200 USB Wi-Fi adapter (another $30) that has 5 GHz support. It works great and it's way faster, but I was mainly concerned about a reliable connection, which it also has no problems. I'm just a little ticked because it feels like I was "forced" into upgrading because something that previously worked fine with LESSER hardware was made non-functional because of this "upgrade." So my main point is that if you are planning on upgrading to this router from a wireless N or older model router, you might have to plan on upgrading your wireless adapters, too, if they can't use 5 GHz. Otherwise, a very good value for the upgrade to Wi-Fi 6.Nathan D.

I got this router so I can link my pico 4 vr headset & PC on the same wifi 6 network to play games on steam vr. Thus router does that & instantly boosted my sitting room wifi from 80mbps to 300mbps on a 5ghz network. It's a good mid range router ideal for gaming. Set up is easy as you can imagine via the tether app. Scan the qr code & your away. Power down your main router then connect through ethernet cable preferably cat6 or above & what your wifi speeds & deadzones change drastically. Not the best by far but for the price & my indoor needs it is absolutely fine. I wish there were more security features & I don't like you have to pay for wifi protection. The cpu is pretty basic & it does get hot under heavy load but thanks to the usb port I connected my small desk fan & raised the router slightly with four bits of plastic at each corner for maximum ventilation. I'm happy with my purchase & will upgrade when I feel necessary.Annoyed

I bought this at wal-mart, and it works great. no problems at all, cheaper than some of the others I seen. And above all. I would highly recommend this device to anyone needing wi-fi. I had Cox internet, and I am not on internet alot and Cox told me that they was going to raise my internet $20. So I called Cox to tell them to cancel service, and they did not like that at all. So go AT&T………………………………….Ronald

Bought this hot spot 2 days ago. Spent over 1 hour on the phone with 8 phone calls later to try to get service on the hot spot. Still have 2 pending charges for 75.00 for the 8GB of service on my one credit card that I tried to apply to the hotspot online through their website and the payment FINALLY went through after speaking to the 10th person on the phone to try to get service and answering security questions so that the 75.00 payment would go through using another 2nd credit card. Now I have to make sure I didn't get triple charged. All 8 GB was burned through in less than 48 hours and the hot spot was not heavily used. Will be returning this money sucker device due to the difficulty of getting service and the speed of burning through the entire 8 GB in less than 48 hours (it lasted about 36 hours and wasn't even on the entire time). Better to save your money and go with a different mobile hotspot. I've had a T-mobile hot spot in the past and it lasted for weeks with heavier use, but this one, is no good.DrSW

Device arrived ready to go. 30ms ping and 26mbps with only 1-2 bars! Very handy internet access. If att 4g lte has a decent signal in your area this att hotspot will provide useful internet speeds for up to 10 wifi devices. I'd buy it again, no regrets.convolve

Bought this as too many people at home are on video calls making me unable to do my work. It’s easy to set up and use. So far it has worked fine, I used about 1gb of data for three hours worth of Zoom calls. For one month of data in the US it’s $50/month so it’s comparable to buying network to your home without a contract. They also have day passes or by gb. Also, looking forward to using this device on International travel in the future.Jmc650

I like my Solis mobile wifi device because it was very simple to set up. Immediately after set up, I connected my Ring doorbell, my PC, and my iPhone. I always have a connection for all three devices and I am loving it. I have had interruptions involving Internet issues. My only regret is that I did not try this much earlier. I live in a very rural area where Internet access is limited, so I thought my only option was the one satellite Internet company that serviced my area. Needless to say, the service was extremely inadequate. I work at home and there was always a problem with uploading and downloading information. I do not have that problem any longer with my Skyroam Solis device!!Denise

Bought a refurb Skyroam with promotional 2 month unlimited usage for $98.00. Used one month and my charge card was to be charged monthly $49.00! I canceled the unsuspecting subscription and lost my second promotional month of service. I tried their chat service to explain the problem and that was dismal fail. Well I got this orange hockey puck now and they lost a customer.John Washburn

I purchased this Jetpack 8800L to provide internet access at a residence that is two hours away. Unfortunately, it will not stay connected. It will randomly stop working after a few weeks (sometimes a few days) and the display will say "No internet access. No data connection". It will never recover from this state on its own. I have to power cycle or reboot it to get it to work again. Being two hours away, it is not very convenient to do this. It would be helpful if the firmware was smart enough to retry connecting when it loses its connection and gets into this state. Inseego should also add a setting/option in the firmware to force a reboot on a schedule (ie reboot every night or every week at a specified time). Very unhappy with this device.Mark8800L

I would highly recommend the Jetpack MiFi8800L! I live in a rural area where only HughesNet is available which is horrible! I barely was able to access the internet on my computer let alone other devices! HughesNet does not offer unlimited access. You have to buy tokens. If I didn't, the speeds slowed down which made it impossible to use. I tried MiFi and I have never looked back. I can stream on demands movies, work on my computer, and connect my smartphone, and other devices at the same time. I pay for a plan that practically is unlimited access, and if I need more, I just change my plan. Which I have never had to do. Oh, and I now can connect my PS4 to the internet!Nana

I purchased this as a backup internet connection in case my company's wifi or my home's internet goes down. The battery life is great for 1-2 devices. It will consume more power as more data passes through it. It will also use more power and slow down if it's in a bag, so keep it cool in the open. If you're using multiple devices on it, keep it plugged in (It will prompt you to disconnect it when the battery's at 100%). This device can be throttled by the user and has the option of splitting into a guest and main hotspot. Specific MAC addresses can be blocked for unwanted devices, and it has features most of today's routers and firewalls have. The touchscreen sometimes does not register finger contact, and the processor may be slow to process commands. I had to keep at it for a few presses to shut it down or switch on/off the wifi. Be aware this hotspot requires a different data plan from your phone, and is also subject to throttling by Verizon if the network is congested or you are over your data limit. Now that 5g hotspots are available, I recommend choosing this hotspot for its reliability, durability, and low-cost (It should be at a discount.).Malicious Toes

The router I purchased from Stalion Products was received in excellent condition, earlier than anticipated and at a lower price than any other vendor. When I contacted Stalion Products about an issue I had with the router, even though the issue was due to my own inexperience, not anything that Stalion had done, their support technician was patient, knowledgeable and pointed me in the right direction in order to resolve my issue. I would definitely make other purchases from Stalion Products and would highly recommend them to others.Pamela

Apparently the device is very fragile. In hindsight, I should've never purchased it, but I was desperate, and wouldn't recommend it. I'm not sure if the device was partially damaged or just a lemon … but I just wrote it off as a bad experience, and cut my losses!rgb30b

love to add one more awi-ifwa-40. but No specs listed here. is it new. remanufactured. locked/unlocked. unlocked. they double certain perimeters.Charles

So far this item has worked flawlessly in our home(as a back-up) and camping experiences. Set-up was pretty straight and with the documentation provided advanced features were easily identified. The Parsec Doberman 5n1 Antenna that accompanied this bundle purchase definitely increases our reach in some of our rural camping adventures. Being this is a must as the misses works while we travel. I can already see us upgrading our router in the future to the dual modem for greater usability and security in our work/road travels. "MobileMustHave" was suggested to us by a fellow camper we met in our travels, who spoke raves of the company and equipment. So far…. great experience with equipment and company!Jim M.

We full time in our RV, I am not retired (yet). I work from our coach and have for 7 years now. I have spent so much money on the weboost, wireless hotspots and Wi-Fi extenders I wish I would have found peplink and mobile must haves the first year. I do video meetings, networking, software installation, streaming TV, lots of emails, video and photo downloads all for work. This unit is awesome and was the perfect bundle for my needs. I haven’t installed the prosec roof antenna yet but my speeds are perfect for my bandwidth/speed needs. No latency always connected. I currently am only using one SIM and set up a 2.5 and 5.0 ghz Wi-Fi network to use park Wi-Fi as a fail over. Spend the money up front don’t waste it over time to find the right product. If you work from your coach this is the product!Scott D.

I purchased the Ultimate Road Warrior bundle (Max Transit Duo with Parsec Husky roof antenna) plus I was convinced to add in the $99 class and remote config option… Even with a 38yr career in IT and InfoSec, I decided to pay for the class, not being familiar with PepWave / Peplink routers. Dave from MMH did a great job answering my pre-sales questions and getting me set up. The personalized Q & A session was great (it was myself and one other customer in this particular session – so we both were able to pick Dave’s brain about potential use issues), and I’m hoping for many years of good use out of my system before I need to upgrade. In addition to the bundle, I also went with an additional internal use WiFi access point since the paddle antennas on the back of the Transit Duo will be not used and the only WiFi antennas would’ve been outside up on the roof. So with the POE-enabled indoor Wireless AP One Mini unit I’ll have great WiFi coverage both up on top and inside my rig. I also bit the bullet and signed up for MMH’s B300 AT&T monthly $150 data plan for 300gb of data. We shall see. But so far, a good setup and configuration experience. Tom RogersThomas R.

I bought the unit to replace one that I already have. Its portable and easy to use. Giving me freedom to have a dependable internet service anywhere.jull5531

Using it to replace a miserably slow internet provider out here n the woods. Receiving 9 to 20 Mbps w/ only 1-2 bars of reception. Going to try antenna to see if I can improve the reception some. Has already cut out the buffering on movies. Using the ATT service plan from blacktie_electronics for $35/ mo. Love it so far.rumin8

Great hotspot. Esp. like that you change change all setting from the touch screen. Great battery life. Tried some portable antennas and none worked, but I blame that on the cheap China antennasmlollc

Denne fungerer alltid. Bare bruk valget "ikke gå i dvale ved inaktivitet" så er den alltid tilgjengelig. Jeg synes batterikapasiteten er bedre enn forespeilet også, det kommer nok an på hvor heftig den brukes men for meg varer den hele dagen og mere til.Frodo

It came just like new with also new charger it worked perfectly on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks and Im planning to use this out the country. I Highly recommend this!busineswireles-0

No manual. Can't find one on the internet. How do you change the wifi/cable login code? What things are there that this thing provides????lomviking

I received the device as promised, but it only worked on 3g in the US and didn't work internationally. I have gotten no support for this.Stephen

Reasonably easy to set up and works fine. One reviewer said it doesn't come with a simcard – which is the point. It's unlocked and can be activated on any 4G network.Aditya

Ayant une sim neuve avec code PIN, il n' a pas été simple de réussir à connecter le 192……… ,adresse ne répond pas je ne sais plus combien de fois avant d'avoir la connexion. Un fois que le site est ouvert la connexion est facile (je ne suis pas certain de me souvenire comment j'ai fait mais ça y est ça fonstionne).hdetahiti

Petit routeur wifi avec carte sim, avec batterie donc super pratique. Pas facile à configurer. Il faut passer par 192.168.0.1 pour mette le code pin de la carte sim. .. ce n'est pas indiqué dans la notice. L'appareil fonctionne bien.tres Petit, pas encombrantjeepford56

Je suis très satisfait de mon achat, ça fonctionne très bien pour mon appartement de T2 sachant que j'en ai le wifi du coup je l'ai acheté pour wifi appartement, ça marche très bien pour mon télé , 2 ordinateur 2 smartphone, au niveau de prix je suis très satisfait , pas cher , Au niveau de vitesse je suis satisfait , En gros c'est un bon troc pour mon appartement. Ça marche avec un carte Sim, facile à utiliser. Je le recommandeTabish

These are very very limited in their configuration options and the interface looks like it comes straight out of the 90s. I appreciate a functional interface without too many bells and whistles but this is just bad. If you just want a basic 4G modem that supports a very crude failover then this will do the trick but for the price, I just don't think they represent good value. D-Link support is pretty average also, as I found out when our's stopped working for 4G all together. Before you buy this, take a look at a dedicated LTE modem that you can run into a dual WAN router, if you're after something with redundancy.asford80

Somehow seems to work fine with the PS4 and TV but basically useless for Zoom meetings and my iPad only plays video at the lowest quality, if it even plays. Speaking to my company's IT Support worker I was told the smart phone antennas are much better than something like this. Looking into the Huawei modems that Optus re-brand instead.Zoom Nogo

This product – the Harman Spark 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot – is the second generation Spark made for the AT&T network. The Spark is made to plug into your car’s OBD2 port (usually located under the dash below the steering wheel) – a port common on cars made after 1996. I tested the Spark out on several cars over the last month and a half. I want to note that I do not have a phone with AT&T – my plan is through T-Mobile and my partner’s is through Verizon. To start the main difference I can see between the 1st gen Spark and the V2 is the use of a removable SIM card. Apparently, the 1st gen had an imbedded SIM – if it became corrupted or needing replacement the entire device would be taken offline. With the V2 to SIM card is removable so if you ever encounter SIM issues its as easy as swapping the SIM out on your phone. The Harman Spark is carrier locked to AT&T, so it will only work on their network under an AT&T mobile hotspot device plan. This can be under its own standalone plan or added to an existing plan. The Spark plugs into your car’s diagnostic port, which powers the hotspot and provides a Wi-Fi connection for up to 8 devices. The Spark remains active 15 min after your car has been turned off or after 30 min of your vehicle being stationary. You have no way to change these times. The Spark offers features like vehicle status and diagnostics, telematics (GPS location, speed), trip tracking, geofencing/boundary areas, and some physical alerts (car getting bumped or moved while parked). I tried the Spark out in 4 different vehicles: 2014 Mazda CX-5, 2020 Nissan Armada, 2004 Ford Ranger, and 2021 Nissan Altima. As you can see I tried it across a range of years and manufacturers with half of the vehicles having manual transmissions – I wanted to see if this changed any of the info the Spark reported, but it didn’t. I had no issue installing the Spark into any one of these cars. The Armada was the only vehicle with any onboard GPS and remote services already built into the vehicle – no built in hot spot though. I live in the St. Louis metro area which has pretty good AT&T coverage throughout. I had no issue getting signal on the Spark and maintaining a solid data connection with fast speeds. This is what I expected to a certain extent. I made sure to travel outside of the metro area where historically AT&T gets a little spotty. I traveled up to Chicago (I-55 and I-57) for a little trip as well as to Kansas City (I-70). On both trips the Spark held a consistent connection with only a few spotty areas in each. In both cases my partner and I had better thoughput on our respective networks in those areas – just the way it goes sometimes. The trip to Chicago also included our kids and their devices. We had a couple of tablets, a Chromebook, and a Nintendo DS connected to the hotspot without any issues. In Chicago we maintained a good connection throughout with a few exceptions. I had to restart/unplug the Spark a couple of times after we did underground parking at the museums. It happened twice and both times the Spark refused to reconnect the Wi-Fi or work with the app. I unplugged the device and plugged it back in and it came back on. There were the only 3 times that this happened, and 2 of them came after underground parking. Using the Harman Spark+ app is pretty straightforward. The app shows your cars location on a map as well as some other items – fuel level, speed, trip counter, and vehicle health. Within the app you can define a number of things. You can set up boundary zones, enact notifications for crashes, if a certain speed is exceeded, and a curfew. These are mostly nanny features that would allow a parent or whomever to monitor the vehicle. For parents, this allows you to check your child’s whereabouts, make sure they aren’t driving recklessly (speeding, hard turning, hard braking), and that they arrived at the destination. Some of these can be a little overbearing, but it can give the owner of the car some piece of mind. I setup a boundary zone around my house and office as well as a curfew, and speed limit just to see what the app would do. Surprisingly the boundaries are really accurate and consistent with the notifications. I got used to hearing my phone ding at a particular intersection that my defined boundary passed through. Curfew worked as well and was easy to report. The speed limit one was a bit trickier. I had to exceed my limit by a few MPH for about 30 seconds before it would report that I went over. Overall these features worked pretty well for me. Use cases for this would be someone who travels for work in their car. They might need the hotspot to connect a laptop or any other device. I found that having my (and my partner’s) phones on different networks from the Spark gave us plenty of redundancy in case we were in an area with poor signal strength. The main groups I feel this device targets are families travelling with kids and all of their connected devices. DaveW

I have been using this interesting product for almost two months. It is shaped somewhat like a fat thumb drive and plugs into the OBD-II port on your car. The OBD port, you say, where is that? It is usually underneath your dashboard, and sometimes hard to find. The Spark device plugs into it and receives both voltage to power it as well as the diagnostic data from your car. One problem I have had during its usage is getting the Spark to stay in place. Because of the position of the OBD-2 port on my Honda Accord, it was easy to knock the device out of the port an onto the floor of the car as I got out of the car. This happened four or five times and was probably unique to my vehicle. I did not feel the contact with the unit or hear anything when this happened. The included software immediately sent me a phone message, alerting me to plug the unit back in. What does the Spark do? Lots. It contains an LTE 4G SIM from AT&T and provides an in-vehicle hotspot for both your devices and those of your passengers to keep a constant connection to the internet. This is a great convenience on the road, and the quality of the connection depends on the distance between your car and AT&T towers offering service. Speed was more than serviceable in our area, and more than adequate for mobile devices, usually averaging about 30mps for downloads and 10 to 15gbs for uploads. You can connect up to 8 devices. The Spark records every aspect of your vehicle’s performance and notifies you of a problem or an issue that needs to be serviced. I have not had any major problems with my car during my testing but would have been notified had they arisen. The alerts are issued to your smartphone by the Harmon software. You are reminded of the status of your fuel, whether the device has been removed, whether you have exceeded the speed limit, whether your vehicle is being towed, running idle for an inordinate amount of time, and whether there has been any disturbance while the vehicle is parked. When you go to your car and open the door, you may get a notice that there has been a disturbance. This warning would certainly be triggered if someone tried to break into your car. As I type this, the software tells me my fuel level is at 23 per cent and normal, battery is at 13.1 volts and normal, engine coolant temperature is 190 degrees and normal, and air intake temperature was recorded at 125 degrees and normal. The software also provides navigation services and tells you from your office or your home the exact location of your vehicle. I am sitting in my office, and the software now shows my car parked with a map of its location. It does without saying that if you had a small fleet of vehicles, you would be able to monitor their location at all times using this software. You can also set up boundaries for usage and be alerted if the driver exceeds the defined area. The software records the driving habits of the operator and makes recommendations for safety. If you must know, I scored well and was never reprimanded or told to slow down. You can also summon roadside assistance and make parking reservations and pay for both inside the app. The monthly charge to use this service may be a small premium to pay for the great utility, convenience and safety it offers to the users of the protected vehicles.mobilelawyer

UNBOXING, SETUP, AND INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: The packaging is about as simple as it gets. Other than an adhesive label (containing thew IMEI, and a few other pieces of info), the packaging uses a magnetic closure…and, other than a very small plastic “bag” containing the Spark unit, no other plastic is used. Included in the box is the Spark unit, a small fold-out instruction manual, and a warranty ‘pamphlet’. For those already having a Spark account, setup is an extremely-simple 3-step process. For those not already having an account, it’s highly advisable to create an account before setting up the Spark. As for setup, it’s as simple as 1) installing the app on your phone, & logging in; 2) scanning the QR code on the back of the device; and 3) plugging the device into the OBD-II port. Before I continue, there is one piece of advice I would HIGHLY recommend following. Instead of plugging the Spark directly into the OBD-II port, get yourself an OBD-II splitter. There are quite a few on the market, with more than a few designs. The design I like best is one that uses a “pass-through” port, with a cable running out the side/top/bottom, which leads to the second OBD-II port. With this design, the ‘unused’ port is still in the original location, giving said port a “factory look”. This way, when a mechanic has to plug someone into the vehicle’s OBD-II port, he/she will already know where to look, and won’t have to “search out” the unused port on the splitter. Moving forward, those purchasing this device will have to set up a payment process…something I am unable to provide info on, as my device came “pre-registered”. If I could be of more assistance here, I would…but, I am unable to. Knowing that this is an AT&T Wireless device, I can only say, the best of luck (I’m a uses of the ‘V’ network, not AT&T). Also of note (as mentioned in the instructions) – once the Spark is plugged in, you might have to drive around for up to 15 minutes, for AT&T’s network to recognize & activate it. In my case, I had the vehicle stationary for almost 20 minutes after plugging it in, and it never activated. About 8-9 minutes into driving the vehicle, it was finally showing as “activated” within the app. IN-USE, SPEED TESTS, ETC: Starting with connectivity, I ran into problems…as in, there were countless times the Spark, for whatever reason, COMPLETELY disconnected from the network. I’d be driving along the freeway, when, all of a sudden, my cloud-connected dashcam would inform me that it had no internet connection. There were also countless times that I couldn’t even use Waze, simply because there was NO internet connection. The moment I’d turn off the phone’s Wi-Fi, and my phone connected via 5G (or 4G LTE), I’d instantly get navigation info. I would also receive notifications inconsistent with reality. For example, on more than a few occasions, I’d be near my car, and, out of the blue, I’d receive a notification, such as “Your vehicle may be being towed”. Obviously, I can see my car…it’s sitting there, completely undisturbed…so I know the notification is incorrect. The speed testing is where things got ‘interesting’…and not in a “good” way. I’ve been using this for the past 45 days, and have run more speed tests than I can (or care to) remember. The good news is that, for all but a few vehicles, the Spark will continue to operate when the vehicle is parked. The “bad” news…ok, the first of a few “bad” things…is that the speeds are bad…REALLY bad. The great majority of the time, we’re talking barely 3G speeds. I don’t know if this has to do with AT&T (I’m on Verizon), or the chipset within the device, or the device’s firmware, a combination of these things, or something else. All I know is, it’s SUPER-slow. For example, in one test, the Spark produced download/upload results of 17.1/4.97 (its highest download speed during all testing), while my Verizon phone did 50.7/24.2. On another day, at an entirely different location (20 miles from the previous one), the Spark did 4.17/1.43, while my Verizon phone did 55.7/13.0. The biggest ‘discrepancy’ took place near SFO, on April 3, where the Spark did 16.6/2.73 vs 96.8/31.7 on my Verizon phone. While my phone is 5G, all tests were done when the phone was connecte3d via 4G LTE. ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: Before I get into my actual ‘additional thoughts’, I have something to say to those already owning the “old” Harmon Spark – other than the addition of Band 14, there is NO difference between the “old” & “new”…they are, essentially, identical (I say “essentially” because there is a strong possibility that the ‘new’ unit has a more recent firmware). Unless you truly NEED Band 14, there is NO reason to waste your money upgrading to the “new” spark. Band 14 is nothing more than a 20MHz section of the 700MHz spectrum, of which the primary purpose is for emergency communications. Those interested in more information can Google it…but, in short, Band 14 will be utilized for normal Panther68