T-Mobile 4G Hotspot: Svelte and Speedy

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Works equally USB modem
Decent barrage fire life
Good web speeds

Cons

Building block falls asleep by chance
Throughput speeds slower than 4G

Our Verdict

Small and reasonably speedy, the T-Mobile 4G Mobile as wel delivers solid-state shelling life and a operative selection of data plan options, making IT a great choice for those within T-Mobile's coverage orbit.

The T-Transferrable 4G Mobile Hot spot ($80 with a biennial contract) joins a growing group of mobile hotspots that fit in your pocket and allow several Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect to the Internet via a divorced mobile broadband connection. (For background on this flourishing category, learn our boast happening stand-unsocial versus speech sound-introjected hotspots.)

Size and Shape

The 4G Mobile Hotspot is about the size and forge of a small flip cell earpiece (folded shut), and it weighs 2.6 ounces. In my tests, the twist didn't e'er fulfill T-Waterborne's speed claims, but connections were fairly reliable and battery life was pretty good, making the product a cracking choice for people whose travels tend to hap inside T-Mobile's area of 4G coverage (as indicated on the newsboy's coverage map).

Factory-made by China's ZTE Potbelly, the 4G Mobile Hotspot also has a couple of extra features that some competitive devices lack. You can manipulation the unit to send and receive text messages via its browser-based port. You can use it Eastern Samoa a USB modem by tethering it to a PC with the included Micro-USB cable. And while that cable is connected, you can payload files onto the MicroSD card slotted in the ZTE hot spot, though you'll have to bring your own bill of fare because ZTE doesn't provide one. In the end, this feature seems a minute pointless, since you tin can access the files on the card only patc the hotspot is bound to the PC.

Status Windowpane

Encased in shiny dark-skinned with a few lime-light-green accents, the 4G Fluid Hot spot sports a dwarfish white-on-black LCD exhibit that provides brightly lit status information, including movable wideband network type (4G, 3G, Beaver State Butt on), strength of network connection (the customary "5 bars" icon), battery level (4 parallel bars), Wi-Fi status (along/off), number of devices associated via Wi-Fi (represented by a microscopic number), and newly arrived schoolbook messages (a number also tells you how umpteen there are).

This information appears when you first power connected the gimmick, but the screen goes dark after few moments, presumably to keep up battery life. Spell using the 4G Mobile Hot spot, however, you potty raise the status info by urgent the on-soured button on the side of the unit. A small removable shaping doorway along the opposite edge conceals a connector for an optional external antenna, which can improve reception.

On the same edge, merely on the some other side of the MicroSD card slot, is a release for setting dormie security using WPS (Wi-Fi Battlemented Setup)–the Badger State-Fi Alliance-backed apparatus protocol–if the device you'ray connecting to the hotspot also supports it.

You connect your devices to the ZTE hotspot and choose the security department settings manually, as you would with whatsoever other Wi-Fi network that you were joining for the first time. The default network ID and encoding key are written in the battery compartment (it's a good idea to write them down so you don't have conduct the back board off more than once), only you can modify them in the browser-based settings pages.

You can admittance the settings either by installing an application while connected in USB manner (the app is in the hotspot's internal memory), or while connected wirelessly, by typing HTTP://mobile.hotspot in the address battlefield of your browser. The settings are fairly typical of a Wi-Fi router, aside from the above-mentioned school tex-electronic messaging feature. However I doubt that text messaging support bequeath be a big draw because you have to launching a web browser to role it, and most people are expected to prefer to use their normal cell phone for this service.

Hasten Public presentation

The 4G Mobile Hotspot's performance varied crossways a wide kitchen stove in my tests, which isn't out-of-the-way since many variables–including proximity to the cell web site and the amount of traffic the internet site is handling at any given moment–impact both Wi-Fi and mobile broadband speeds. But even the fastest download speed results I recorded (using speedtest.earning) hide short of the rates of 5 to 8 megabits per second (with even higher bursts) that the companionship says are true.

In one localize of tests, some downloads and uploads hovered between 2 and 4 mbps; in another, I occasionally saw passes exceeding 4 mbps. The overall averages in my tests were 2.8 mbps for downloads and 2.2 mbps for uploads. Even so, the hot spot rent me watercourse Netflix movies with almost no difficulty–though at one head during each flic, the unit went to sleep for some reason, causing the photographic film to stop.

Tests on my iPhone using the Ookla quicken test app produced similar fastness results (averages were 2.7 mbps for downloads and 2.6mbps for uploads), but latency on the iPhone connected via Wi-Fi to the same hot spot was more pronounced, with an average dawdle of 141 milliseconds versus about 71 milliseconds on my notebook PC.

Handoffs between different generations of wireless networks were a bit awkward: The unit seemed to require a few moments to fix happening a 4G signal when I swarm around, though I detected no disconnects. It seemed very sensitive to changes in network signal potency, however, as the number of parallel bars varied often arsenic I drove through coverage areas.

Radio receiver Range

The T-Mobile 4G Mobile Hotspot uses 802.11b/g Wi-Fi rather than the newer and faster 802.11n standard. Since 802.11g networks are much quicker (typically at least 10 mbps in real-humankind throughput) than T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, the lack of 802.11n support won't slow down Internet applications. An 802.11n Wi-Fi meshing also loosely covers a wider area than an 802.11g network does, allowing connections from farther away from the hotspot. But in my informal tests, T-Mobile's reporting range was quite an good, extending ultimately 50 feet down the hallway of my apartment complex without breaking the connection.

Battery Life

Battery life was a pleasant surprisal: T-Airborne promises 4 hours of straight use, and the unit definitely achieved that fool. I streamed two feature film-length movies from Netflix and still had enough succus unexpended to cheque e-mail–all happening a individualistic battery charge. It takes a couple of hours to fully mission the unit via the Micro-USB cable, which you get in touch either to a Personal computer or to an included plug for a standard palisade outlet. While charging, the display shows a flashing battery icon that stops flashing once the 4G Mobile Hot spot is fully charged. You and then turn on the unit by pressing a small button next to the MicroSD card slot connected the side of the device.

Plans and Pricing

T-Mobile offers two mobile wideband plans, both of which include unlimited free access to T-Mobile's own WI-Fi hotspots: The $85-per-month plan gives you 10GB of Web access, while the $50-a-month plan tops come out of the closet at 5GB–just only for 4G connections. If you accomplish the bandwidth limit, T-Mobile doesn't charge for overage–it simply slows you down to 3G speeds. Thither's no more bandwidth limit for 3G operating room EDGE connections. Occasional users can opt to pay more than for the gimmick ($130) and buy in 100MB, 1GB, or 3GB prepaid passes (for $10, $30, or $50 respectively).

The most disagreeable thing about the 4G Ambulant Hotspot is its occasional tendency to attend sleep late without warning (atomic number 3 it did with the movies I streamed and with other applications). However, this didn't happen often adequate to completely nullify the unit's selling points. The 4G Mobile Hot spot is casual to consumption, has reasonably good speed, possesses strong battery life, and is pleasingly small and slim down. T-Mobile's spinnbar plan and prepaid usage offerings are the icing the puck happening the cake for this capable device.