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Forum Discussion
Netgear Nighthawk LTE MR1100
I am considering getting a Nighthawk LTE for AT&T. Before buying one I eas wondering how future proof it is. The chipset says it is x50. Does that mean from a hardware standpoint it is ready for 5G when AT&T goes live? Will the router just need a firmware update? Or will Netgear need to telease an entirely new device to be used with AT&T 5G?
2 Replies
Awe man,
These guys (Netgear) are killing me. At first, I though you were mistaken about the x50 modem. So I looked it up and found this:
http://www.netgear.com/images/Landings/Nighthawk-MR1100-Mobile-Router/AT-T-MR1100-Datasheet.pdf
Which in fact says it does have an x50 and will offer FUTURE (maybe) LAA support. This must be the Gen3 device I was anticipating. Interestingly there is no mention of Band 14 support which is already offered on the Gen2 MR1100.
My MR1100, which I bought in March of 2018 (AT&T) is Gen1 and doesn't support Band 14 nor LAA, and it has the x16 chip -- same as the one from Telstra. So far Netgear has refused to acknowledge the multiple versions and will not comment on what can/cannot/will not be upgraded by future firmware. Just for fun there are different retail and business SKU's that have different firmware features enabled/disabled as well.
Netgear and AT&T seem to be going out of their way to obfuscate these facts referring to all models as MR1100. AT&T is just as bad in doing the same. When you order it's a crap shoot depending on the age of the inventory your pulling from. There is another post on this board that lists the SKU's of the 4 different products AT&T is currently selling (prior to the Gen3). These are, essentially, Gen1 consumer and business, Gen2 consumer and business. But having been a long time AT&T business and personal customer for >20 yrs and I've not yet found any specific reference to these different SKU's.
While I agree with your sentiment, the reality is that nothing is "future proof." These are commodity devices intended to be discarded when the next shiny object is released in 6-12 months.
Good luck!
Haaaa!
Looks like Marketing got ahead of itself again, as usual. If you go to this Netgear link (which says the MR1100 has an x50)h
https://www.netgear.com/home/products/mobile-broadband/mobilerouters/MR1100.aspx#tab-apps
Then click on "Buy" you are redirected to an AT&T website.
When then says the MR1100 has the x16. "Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X16 LTE Modem" and says it has band 14, too.
Overall, I like my MR1100. It would be awesome if mine didn't crash/lockup every day. Also the battery life if no where near 24 hours with constant use. Note that they quote "worse" case as streaming youtube for 60min, then idle for 30, then repeat for 24 hours.
So that's actually only 16 hours of usage (I get 12-14) and it conveniently hides the poor thermal management of the device. Aka it gets quit warm with usage.
Why oh why won't Netgear and AT&T just fess up and make the differences between Gen1, Gen2, and Gen3 obvious so that we can be sure we are buying the model we want?
Obviously we all want an x50 with Bands 14 and LAA. How about a trade-in or upgrade program where we pay you a nominal fee to upgrade our early adopter products for the new Gen3 unit?