Nighthawk LTE @ 400Mb speedtest

To be fair, I did just get a ZTE Velocity 2 as well, and the MR1100 does seem a little bit faster -- perhaps 5-10Mbit.  I'm not sure why this is, from a modem spec perspective, both should have adequate capability to handle whatever AT&T has available under most circumstances.

The Velocity 2 has the Qualcomm x12 where as the Nighthawk has the x16.  But the Velocity 2 is much smaller, has better wifi range, and is so far much more stable.  Even with the recent (March) firmware update from AT&T/Netgear my Nighthawk still usually crashes/hangs at least once per day.

I do really like the Ethernet on the Nighthawk, and the ability to run without the battery.  Connecting an antenna via TS9 to the Velocity 2 does actually seem to help for the Velocity 2.  Not so much for the Nighthawk.  The App and Web Management on the Nighthawk is better than the Velocity 2.

Still holding my breath that Bands 14 and 46 will come to all of the MR1100 models via a firmware update.

Yeah, rural, hmmm, tough to justify from a cost perspetive.  Highspeed cellular is very dense from a tower perspective.  Though I agree, AT&T needs to do a better job of at least having low band LTE everywhere.  When I fall back to 3G most of my modern apps don't really work well/at all given all of the bloat these days.

But at least I have some sort of coverage more or less everywhere unlike on my Tmo hotspot (ZTE 917).  Though they have improved substantially in the last couple years.  I only switched my hotspot to AT&T since it was cheaper on the unlimited plan.  My phones have been on Cingular/CellularOne/AT&T for 24 years now.

-Jonathan